B.— 3

8

no small educational benefit. We heartily commend this practice to all teachers. The school concert extends the influence of the school, and affords the pupils and parents a source of interest and enlightenment that constitute a direct benefit to the school and to the community. Physical Instruction. —ln a very large number of schools the physical instruction is given in a very satisfactory" manner, and it is evident that the children have received regular practice throughout the year. The " Manual of Physical Instruction " supplied by the Department contains exercises which, in our opinion, are well suited to the requirements, and it is surprising to find that there are still teachers who appear to be reluctant to adopt it, clinging fast to exercises which they have been using for the past ten years, and with which the children must be familiar ad nauseam. Variety is just as necessary in the case of physical instruction as it is in other subjects, and no good results can be obtained when, the element of interest having disappeared through long familiarity, the children find themselves engaged in doing the same exercises year in and year out. In most of the schools some apparatus for use in physical instruction— e.g., clubs and dumb-bells—has been supplied. The mere manipulation of these by the children cannot be regarded as constituting physical instruction, and some of the best work we have seen has been done by children using no apparatus whatever. Discipline. As a rule Maori children are very amenable to discipline, and teachers generally experience little difficulty in maintaining it. At the same time, they are quick to detect weakness in the teacher, and can, under favourable conditions, behave quite badly. The discipline in most of our schools is very creditable ; in many it is excellent; where it is less satisfactory the teacher should realize that to a great extent the fault lies in himself. We have received complaints in respect to the bad behaviour of children whom we know to have been, in the, presence of both ourselves and of other teachers, quite tractable and well behaved. In not a few schools we should like to see greater attention given to securing promptness and orderliness in the assembly and the dismissal of the children —an important aspect of the school discipline, and one which forms an unfailing index of the teacher's capacity to control the school. Again, we find that there is a tendency to neglect the teaching of ordinary courtesy and politeness in manners. It is not that the children are intentionally rude, but that they simply do not know the customs and forms of civilized society, and require instruction in them ; hence, all the little courtesies of life should be regularly practised—the respectful address, the becoming manner and speech, the raising of the hat, courtesy to ladies, and a due regard for conventionalities generally. Organization. Under this heading are comprised the construction of the time-table, the arrangement of the schemes of work, and the methods of teaching in use in the school. In regard to the first, we have found here and there a tendency to use the same time-table for a considerable time without any changes being made in its provisions. To such an extent has this practice been carried that we have seen work allotted to classes which were not in existence in the school at the time of our visit. It is quite a misconception to think that a time-table once prepared must not be altered. The time-table should be suited to the present needs of the school, not to the circumstances of bygone days, and may therefore require amendment as the year's work develops. The time at which such amendment is most likely to make itself evident is at the conclusion of the term examination, and teachers may thus find it necessary to rearrange the time-table, or modify it even in some small way, two or three times a year. Teachers are showing a better appreciation of what is understood by drawing up suitable schemes of work, and in several schools we feel that much attention has been given to the matter, and considerable skill displayed. On the other hand, there are schools in which the schemes of work appear to have been drawn up in a perfunctory manner : they are vague and indefinite—mere skeletons, or else merely a reprint of the syllabus. The scheme of work should show the plan by which the teacher proposes to accomplish the requirements of the syllabus, and is not essentially a document to be prepared for the edification of the Inspector. The ground to be covered in each subject in every class should be carefully reviewed by the teacher at the beginning of the school year, and should then be planned out into divisions containing the amount he proposes to cover in each term. Using this arrangement as his guide, the teacher is prevented from approaching his year's work in an aimless, haphazard fashion. He knows exactly what amount of work is to be covered in the term, and the order in which it has to be done, and at any given time should be able to state definitely the point he has reached. In a few schools it has apparently been thought that schemes are all very well for the standard classes, but are quite, unnecessary for the preparatory classes. This is, of course, entirely wrong, and head teachers should regard it as part of their duty to draw up the schemes showing how the work has been arranged in these classes. The great majority of the schemes of work are absolutely barren in regard to English composition, and this confirms our opinion that teachers have no defined method or plan for the treatment of that subject. Where teachers are being transferred to other schools they are expected to make up all books and records to the date of their leaving. The schemes of work must be regarded as part of the school records, and a very essential part too. When a successor takes up his duties, absence of this record causes much confusion and waste of time, as he is quite in the dark as to the point reached by the pupils in the year's work. To overcome this difficulty we propose to supply a book in which the schemes of work are to be entered, and this will constitute one of the permanent records of the school. In connection with the annual visit, teachers are asked to submit programmes of work in various subjects— e.g., singing, recitation, geography, and English composition—and there appears to be some