8.—2.

[Appendix A.

The increase in the mean of the weekly roll-number for the four quarters is thus .shown to be 259, or I' 3 per cent. The roll-number for Duneriin and suburbs for 190!) was 7,877: last year it was 8,038, an increase of 206, or 26 per cent. The average daily attendance for each quarter of L 909 and L9lO, and the percentages of those attendances to .the weekly roll-number, arc shown in the following table: — Average Attendance. Percentage of Weekly Roll. 1909. 1910. 1909. 1910. First quarter ... ... 17,G70 17,943 90 - 5 9T2 Second quarter ... ... 17,587 17,869 89"6 89"9 Third quarter ... ... 17,740 17,828 !)<>• I 893 Fourth quarter ... ... 18,071 18,608 90*5 91-6 Whole year- ... ... 17,769 18,(Mil' 90"2 905 The increase in the mean of the average attendance for the four quarters is thus shown to be 298, or I*6 per cent. The highest average attendance ever attained in this district (19,607) was in the year 1895. From thai time ii steadily declined till in the year 1906 it st I at 17,088—a fall of 2,51!) in eleven years, the average annual rate of decrease being 229. Since I !>()(> the attendance has steadily increased to 18,067 at an average annual rate of recovery of 245. This average of 15,067 attained last year is the highest since the year 1898. The average attendance ai the Dunedin and suburban scl Is for 1909 was 7,303: last year it was 7,177 an increase of 171. or 2'-I per cent. In regularity of attendance the pupils of the Otago schools have for many years excelled those of all the other districts in the Dominion. In 1909 the percentage of attendance to roll-number was !)o'2; in 1910 it was 905, an increase of <>••! per cent. For the schools in Dunedin and suburbs the percentage was 927 in L 909, and 925 in 1910. The recent amendment of the Act, by which all children between seven and fourteen not entitled to exemption are required to attend school on every day that the school is open, will no doubt have the effect of raising the high percentage already attained. \i,i:s in- . Pupils.—The average ages of the pupils in the various classes were: Preparatory, (I years II months; SI, !> years - months; S2, 10 years 2 n the; S3, II years 3 months; S-l, 12 years 3 months: S5, 13 years I month; S6, II years; S7, 15 years 2 months. The per-' centage of pupils under ten years of age was ">M. and of those of ten years of age anil upwards t.Vt). These figures show very little difference from those of last year. The opinion has been authoritatively expressed that the average age of the pupils in S6 (13 years II months for the Dominion in 1909) is much too high, and in this connection comment has been made on the fact thai. whereas the number of pupils between the ages of live and eight increased between 1905 and !!)()!) by 16 per cent., the number of pupils in Class P increased in the same period by 45 per cent. The conclusion has been drawn that there is a tendency to keep pupils too long in the infant-room, and that thus their progress through the standards is retarded. This disproportionate increase in the number of pupils in Class 1 , , which the figures Eor the whole of the Dominion show, appears to have occurred in the Otago schools also, as the following table '.rives evidence : — Increase L 906. 1007. 1908. 190!). 1910. from I!"). - ) to 1910 / Number. Number. Number. Number. Number. Number. Pupils between five years and 5.661 5,459 5,987 6,341 6,473 812 eight years , Percentage. Percentage. Percentage. Percentage. Percentage. Percentage. ( 29-8 28-7 30-8 32-1 31-8 2 . Number. Number. Number. Number. Number. Number. 4,996 5,579 7,132 7,313 7,449 2,453 Pupils in preparatory classes ; Percentage. Percentage. Percentage. Percentage. Percentage. Percentage. \ 26-4 29-1 36-4 36-7 36-8 10-4 It is apparent therefore that, whereas the number of pupils in the Otago schools between five and eight years of age has increased since l!)d.~> by '1 per cent., the number in the preparatory classes has increased by Lo'4 per cent. In the same period the average age of the pupils in SI has risen from 8 years 10 months to 9 years •_' months, and that of the pupils in S6 from 13 years 8 months to 14 years, in the latter case at an even rate of one month per year. The fact that the increase in the percentage of pupils in the preparatory classes has not been confined to one or two districts. but is general throughout the Dominion, and also the fact thai the Boards' tnspectors of Schools have not deemed it necessary to advert to it, would seem to show (I) that the teachers are agreed us to the necessity and desirability of lengthening the time spent by pupils in the infant-room ; (2) that the Inspectors of Schools have found in the practice referred to nothing to c pel censure or even to excite remark. Probably the main contributing causes both of the increase in the average age of S6 pupils and the increase in the percentage of pupils in the preparatory classes are —(i) The raising of the standard of the certificate of proficiency; (2) the increase in the work prescribed, due chiefly to the introduction of handwork instruction ; (3) tin adoption of new and relatively slower methods of work necessitated by the present syllabus; (I) the fixing of a definite ti me —viz., the beginning of the school year—for the general promotion of the pupils. The Board is of opinion that no apprehension need be entertained regarding the changes here referred to, as these changes are, it believes, quite normal, and are due almost wholly to the nature and amount of "work prescribed for the various classes, and to the stage of efficiency the teachers have attained in presenting the work by the new methods.

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