E.—7 A

32

teachers can at present be obtained in New Zealand, and that the schools must rely upon engaging men who are trained in Great Britain or elsewhere. This must necessarily be unsatisfactory, for a junior staff of locally trained men and women will be found necessary, and it is bad administration to engage such a staff and retain them as non-promotable teachers. A really efficient institution for training senior teachers of applied art will require additional expenditure, but the technical schools cannot progress without such a provision. We are, however, of opinion that care should be taken to provide a course definitely directed to the production of skilled teachers of arts and crafts, and that little is to be gained from the proposal to add art subjects to the present B.A. degree course. Under present conditions the Christchurch School may be described in the words of the Principal as " rather a school of fine arts than a school of applied arts and crafts." What, is needed at present is capable teachers of art subjects for all types of schools, and especially trade and technical schools, and while it is agreed that some training in line arts is essential to their education, the application of art to life and to industry must be an ever-present objective. We are not sufficiently informed with respect to the development of art work in the different types of school in the Dominion, but there can be no doubt that art should have a prominent place in all courses of study. We would also point out that a School of Architecture is established in the University College at Auckland. While much of the training of the architect is to-day associated with the Engineering School, much must be associated with the work of a good art school. We are not aware whether the art and applied art subjects prescribed for the architectural courses are taken in the University College or in the art department of the Technical College or in a special Art School. We consider that a strong department of art should be the objective of every technical college, and that the students in the School of Architecture should receive training there under a proper system of co-operation between University and Technical College. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS IN THE UNIVERSITY. One of the most interesting and profitable developments in university work during recent years has been the introduction of a system of training for teachers, and more especially for secondary teachers. Nearly all British universities have a School of Education or a Day Training College, offering courses of four years' duration to candidate teachers. In the Australian States the universities co-opeiate closely with the State teachers' colleges, and, as a rule, the Professor of Education is the head of the University School of Education, and is at the same time Principal of the Teachers' College. He is thus able to organize and direct the various types of training—primary, secondary, &c.—and to bring all of them into organic connection one with another. At the present stage of development of State education it is not practicable, even if it were desirable, to give all candidate teachers a full or even a partial university course together with a course of training in practical education. The best that can be done is to select groups of students for full or partial university courses, and the Australian organization allows this to be done easily and effectively. The regulations of the Education Department provide, as a rule, that while all students admitted to the Teachers' College must receive a minimum of, say, two years' training, selected groups may have their course extended to a third, a fourth, or even a fifth year. In this way it is possible to give the most advanced students a full university course for a Bachelor's degree in Arts or in Science, as well as a training in teaching, while other students who show promise in their college work may be given partial courses, which may be completed later as circumstances allow. Where, as in New South Wales and in Victoria, complete arrangements have been made for training secondary teachers, well-marked and necessary differences in the training of these teachers are provided, and both in the subjects taken for the degree course and in the type of training given, the future work of the student as an effective teacher in a special department of a secondary school— e.g., classics, modern languages, mathematics, science —is kept in mind. It is recognized that, while there is room in a secondary school for teachers of good.

University School of Architecture.

Teacher-training a feature of modern university.

Special department of Secondary Training.