10

E.—6

2. MEMORANDUM FROM THE INSPECTOR - GENERAL OF SCHOOLS TO THE HON. THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION.

Education Department, Wellington, 16th August, 1909. Secondary Education. —Secondary Schools. At the end of 1908 there were 30 schools usually included in the list of secondary schools. The " secondary schools " (within the definition of the Education Act) in actual operation were 28 in number, of which 3 were established by the Minister under the terms of section 94 of '* The Education Act, 1908" (or the corresponding section of the earlier Act), and the remainder were " endowed secondary schools " established under the authority of special Acts. The other two secondary schools (the Wanganui Collegiate School and Christ's College Grammar School), although maintained partly out of the proceeds of endowments derived from grants by the Crown or the provincial authority, are not included in the list of secondary schools contained in the Schedule to the Education Act. Four other schools which depend in like manner partly upon the proceeds of lands held under Crown grants are in operation as secondary schools for Maoris (St. Stephen's, Auckland ; Queen Victoria School for Maori Girls, Auckland ; Maori Girls' School, Hukarere, Napier; and Te Aute College for Maori Boys, Hawke's Bay). In five cases the secondary schools named in the Eighth Schedule to the Act had not in December, 1908, been established by the governing bodies. One of these has been opened, however, since the beginning of the present year (1909). In addition to the above, 9 private secondary schools have applied for inspection under section 170 of the Act, and the district high schools, 62 in number, are also subject to inspection by the Inspectors of the Department. The total number of secondary schools of one kind or another subject to such inspection is therefore at the present time (August, 1909) 106. Strictly speaking, to these should be added the day classes of certain technical schools, in which the programme consists of secondary work having a technical bearing. Secondary Schools subject to Inspection by the Department {August, 1909). Endowed secondary schools within the meaning of section 89 of the Act (open) 26 Secondary schools established under section 94 .. .. .. 3 Other endowed secondary schools — (a.) General . . .. .. • • • • • • 2 (o.) For Maoris .. • • ' District high schools .. .. .. • • • • • • .. 62 Private secondary schools " subject to inspection " .. .. .. 9 Total .. .. .. •• •• ..106 Duration of Secondary Course.—The length of time during which a boy or girl attends a secondary school is a matter of very great importance from the point of view of the benefit to the individual pupil, which increases in a higher ratio than the number of years he spends at such a school ; it is equally important in the general interests of the secondary schools, where the programme of work is as a rule drawn up to suit a four- or five-years' course, so arranged, however, that those compelled to leave at the end of two or three years may have gone through a course of work appropriate to their needs, and more or less complete in itself. This is, at all events, the ideal towards which the programmes of the best schools more or less approximate ; a definite conception of this kind materially aids in securing a good organization of the several classes and the sound co-ordination of the several subjects of study and of the work of successive years. Examining the rolls of the secondary schools of New Zealand for 1908, we find the number of pupils of the various years to be as shown below, the figures for the New York and Chicago High Schools being given for comparison :—■

Secondary Schools: Duration of School Life.

Year of Courso. Percentage oi New Zealand. Roll in each Year of Course. New York. Chicago. First year Second year Third year Fourth or a higher year . . I 40-1 29-9 16-6 13-4 48-9 28-2 151 7-8 47-8 26-2 15-8 10-2 '•<! 100-0