Appendix D.|

E.—St

V

The total roll for the year was 155, this number being made up as follows : Senior student?, 69 ; junior students, 86. Of these 31 were men and 124 women. Division A numbered 123 ; Division B, 24 ; Division C, 4 ; Division I), 1. Of those in Division A, 48 had been pupil-teachers and 75 had been probationers. There were 1 1 returned soldiers on the roll, of whom 4 had had no previous experience in teaching. The various districts were represented as follows: Wellington, 61; Wanganui, 4-3; Hawke's Bay, 22 ; Taranaki, 15 ; Marlborough, 1 ; Nelson, 8 ; Canterbury, 2 ; Otago, 1 ; Auckland, 2: total, 155. The continually recurring problem of accommodation was more acute than ever, owing to the larger numbers and the congestion in Wellington consequent on the return of thousands of soldiers from active service. The Friends' Hostel accommodated forty, the Women Students' Hostel, fortyone, and the Y.W.C.A. sixteen, thus leaving twenty girls to find lodgings in private, boarding-houses. The men had to shift for themselves. In March a deputation from the Education Board and the Council of Victoria College waited on the Minister of Education and pointed out the fact that no official provision was made for the accommodation of students, and that consequently there was much unnecessary wastage of money, energy, and that corporate spirit so valuable in the training of the youth of a country, and of teachers most particularly. The attendance at University lectures was as follows: English, 45; Latin, 16; French, 17; philosophy, 65; education, 71; history, 12; economies, 7; mathematics, 15; biology, 14; chemistry, 3 ; physics, 3 ; geology, 2. This gave an average of 1.-7 classes per student. The results of this work were that the following class passes were gained : First, 15 ; second, 96 ; third, 138. Although education has been a " pass " subject for the B.A. degree for the last thirteen years, no provision has yet been made to allow teachers to present it as a subject for honours or the M.A. degree. This fact places the teaching profession (which provides the groat majority of the University students) at a disadvantage academically, and is further a very distinct loss to the Dominion, in that the best intelligence in the profession is devoted to such subjects as Latin, philosophy, or economics, where much of it might be utilized in dealing with the. living problems of the school. I can imagine no academic reform which would have, such a far-reaching effect in raising the professional standard of the teaching-power in tin; country, which should most naturally look to the Univesrity for assistance in directing its educational policy. Seventy-three students completed their course of training in December last, and the joint results of the various departmental examinations and the Training College recommendatious were as follows : D and partial 0 certificate, 17 ; C certificate, 46 ; B certificate, 5; A. certificate, 1. Many of these young teachers, who have now officially severed their connection with the College, have gone, to positions where the circumstances of location, staffing, &c, will exclude them from professional assistance, other than that obtained from a very hard worked headmaster or the rare visits of a busy Inspector. However good the material, these conditions must make for the, inevitable groove, just when it is most important to infuse those enthusiasms without which a teacher's work can only be half done. For this reason the training colleges are unanimous in advocating some system of post-college probationership, whereby students could spend their first teaching-years in specially selected schools. Though the, new school at Kelburn was supposed to be ready for occupation in February, it was not opened until. June. As no suitable accommodation could be found in the district (a large, marquee lent was tried), Standards 111, IV, V, and VI were placed in two rooms in the College building for five months. Owing to the large number of students and the number of temporary teachers it was found extremely difficult to provide, adequate teaching practice for the students ; this was met in part, however by the appointment of eight associate teachers. To supplement the physical training of the students one afternoon a week was set aside for games, and the whole. College adjourned to Karori Park, where a course of school games was carried out. The experiment so far has been extremely successful. The ordinary social life of the College was modified somewhat by war conditions, but both glee and dramatic clubs had very successful years, each giving several very interesting evenings. During the year a teachers' club was formed for the discussion of educational problems. As the meetings were held in the evenings, comparatively few students were able to attend regularly, but six meetings were held, and in addition to the valuable matter introduced they served to bring the College staff into much closer touch with the teachers and their views on the technical questions discussed. The, Department's physical instructors gave short courses of instruction to the, students in March and December. The Medical Inspector gave a course of lectures to students in March. CHRISTCHURCH. (.1. E. Purchase, Esq., M.A., Principal.) In February, 1919, sixty-four students had completed one year's training and there were sixtysix entrants, making a total of 130 students in training, twenty-two of whom were young men and 108 young women. The number of male students is larger than in previous years, as the demand for military service has now ceased and pupil-teachers are able without interruption to enter the Training College for a further period of training. Still, the number of men, 17 per cent., is too small to satisfy the demand for male teachers, and it is to be regretted that so few are offering for the profession. It is to be hoped that the, increased remuneration now being paid will tend to improve the position in this respect.