E.—l

16

It is encouraging to find from, the reports of the inspectors of technical schools and manual training classes that the work done in the special manual training classes for children in Standards V and VI is showing steady improvement from year to year, while the numbers attending are increasing rapidly. Considerable local interest is taken in these classes, and there is a steady demand for the extension of facilities for special manual training in cookery, laundry work, dressmaking, woodwork, and metal work. Nature study and rural science occupies an important place in the curriculum, of the country child, and the practical work in connection with these subjects, particularly work in school gardens, in experimental plots attached to District High Schools, and in connection with Agricultural Clubs for school children, has been well done under the supervision of travelling instructors in agriculture, of whom twenty-three were employed during the year. The -Department's total payments for the year 1922-23 on account of manual instruction, including handwork', amounted to £73,835, the salaries of instructors costing £38,000 and materials and incidentals £21,000. Visual Education. The Department has for some time.had under consideration the desirability of adopting some effective scheme of visual education in the schools, and only the expensive nature of the equipment has prevented definite steps being taken to install cinematograph machines where electric current is available. At present there are very few machines manufactured specially for instruction a, 1 purposes. It is considered that no machine that does not provide for any portion of a film being shown as a still picture should be adopted for school use. The supply of suitable films does not present any difficulty, since several English and American firms have produced large numbers of educational pictures. In the meantime tentative approval has geen given to a private company to show carefully selected educational pictures to school-children during school hours. This scheme is at present in operation only in the larger towns. The pupils with their teachers attend, one of the public picture-theatres, the subject matter of the pictures having been previously taught in the ordinary school lessons. All. pupils are provided by the company with descriptive and explanatory reading-lessons printed in a monthly magazine similar to the School Journal. Staffs of Primary Schools. (Table El in E.-J2.) The number of teachers employed in the primary departments of public schools at the end of 1922 was 6,052, or 236 more than in the previous year. Of the total number 5,465 were adult teachers (1,842 males and 3,623 females) and 587 were pupil-teachers (182 males and 405 females). In addition to the staff of adult and pupil-teachers 767 probationers (171 males and 596 females) were employed as compared with 692 (127 males and 565 females) in the previous year. The increase in the number of teachers is greater than usual, and the substantial increase in the number of males, especially among the pupil-teachers and probationers, is gratifying. The following table shows the number of adult teachers in each, grade of school classified under the headings ol sole, head, or assistant teachers: —

Number of Adult Teachers employed in Primary Departments of Public Schools, December, 1922.

Grade of School. Sole Ti saohers. Head Ti F. M. 'eaohers. i Assistant Teachers. M. !<\ Total Adult Teai .ehnrs. M. I, M. j B". Total. i t I Grade 0 (1-8) I (9-20) II (21-35) „ IIIa (36-80) „ IIIb (81-120) IV (121-240) V (241-400) VI (401-480) VII (over 480) 18 207 231 18 184 489 202 22 10 402 120 109 85 25 101 10 124 3 4 4 28 3 543 5 237 52 ; 277 107 406 40 147 291 888 18 207 253 423 125 101 192 71 392 184 489 306 677 240 281 410 147 889 202 090 559 1,100 365 412 002 218 1,281 i I , All grades 474 945 864 804 152 504 ] 2,520 1,84-2 3,023 5,405