large school with its £100 grant would receive £99. These deductions are so small as to be scarcely appreciable, while the amount of benefit to aged teachers would be immense. In this way every school receiving a share of the public grant would contribute its proportionate share towards the fund for superannuations. The amount of superannuation should be in proportion to the number of years a person has taught; and every one to be eligible for a superannuation should have held a Government certificate of some kind a minimum number of years; female teachers to receive two-thirds as much as male teachers: (say) one who has taught 20 years might have (males) £20; (females) £16 13 4 If a man had some such provision as the above to look forward to, it would cheer bim in his labours, put all desire for other occupations out of his head, attach him strongly to his calling, and be a strong inducement to young people to enter the profession of teaching. Taking the one per cent. deduction, or £6,000, let us see how it could be used. It would provide or 175 superannuations for a total cost of £6,000; and allowing that some of them would be for females, and at a lower rate, there would be ample funds for 200 superannuations at a charge of only one per cent. on the grant. It is highly probable that but few applications for superannuations would be made by male teachers before the age of fisty, and as most young men who have been pupil teachers take charge of schools at about twenty years of age, the country would have had the benefit of thirty years' at least (besides the five years' service as pupil teachers) before they discontinued teaching. Many continue teaching till sixty, and thus spend forty years and above in the profession. By careful economy, a man during this long period may save sufficient to bring him in some £20 or £30 a year, or he may purchase a Deferred Annuity for a like sum, to commence at sixty; this, with a superannuation and what he could obtain by other means, would enable him to pass the last few years of his life in comfort and respectability. Instances are not unfrequent when a teacher is compelled by circumstances to continue at his post long after he is able to discharge his duties satisfactorily; his own means are too limited, and the managers have no funds to afford him aid to retire. He thus continues to occupy a place that should be filled by a younger and more energetic teacher, and the school suffers in consequence. As a rule, no teacher should be allowed to enter the superannuation list till he or she is at least fifty years of age, except in special cases, to be determined by the Committee of Council on Education. If the number of applications should in any one year be greater than the funds at the disposal of the Committee of Council admitted of, a selection, according to length of service, age, &c., could decide the question of priority of claim. Mr. Redgrave, one of the factory inspectors, in some remarks on schools not examined by her Majesty's inspector of schools, observes:-' Of geography, where it is taught, the less said the better. At one large and otherwise good school, when I was asking some children of the third and fourth standards if they could tell me the names of any towns or rivers in England, I was, after an answer or two, and a subsequent pause, requested by the master to try them in Continental Europe, as it was a month or so since they had done England. At another school, an intelligent lad, working for the V. standard, could give me no idea whether Dublin and the Thames were towns, countries, mountains, seas, or rivers. He was not nervous, and my dialect and language were quite intelligible to him. He did know that London was a town, and that was all. These are not exceptions, but, as far as I know, samples. I do not think that the half-timers get much good from their exercises in Scripture history. Their attention is directed solely to the events of the story (if I may so call it) which is the subject of the lesson, and even when the the questions do aim at pointing a moral, it is pointed only for the particular case, without any attempt being made to extend its application. The answers of the children expressed, for most part, in the very words which the master has used in explanation, seem to prove that they only repeat parrot-like what is ringing in their ears, and that, as far as any moral lesson goes, they might as well be answeriug in "Jack the Giant Killer." In some schools the way in which the changes are rung upon the early history of Moses has something ludicrous about it. The questions, 'where was Moses found ?' 'Who found Moses ?' 'Where did Pharaoh's daughter find Moses?' 'Whom did Pharaoh's daughter find ?' follow each other with such confusing rapidity that the excited answer sometimes makes Moses find Pharaoh's daughter, or Pharaoh's daughter find herself, Papers for the Schoolmaster. No. XLV. NEW SERIES. SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1868. SUMMARY OF THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF The Report begins by noticing that the number of schools or departments inspected, as compared with the previous year, was increased by 1005, and that of the children by 103,496, including 45,835 evening scholars. The number of certificated teachers was greater by 742,of assistant teachers by 163, of pupil teachers by 564. For the first time during the last five years, the number of pupil teachers has increased. The causes of the decline in the number of pupil teachers since the introduction of the Revised Code are stated thus :—a. The withdrawal of the direct payments made to them previously. b. The constant rise of wages in the class from which they are drawn, coupled with the fact that whereas the average payment per annum of a pupil teacher by the Committee of Council was £15 for male and female alike, the average under the Revised Code has been £13 9s. 9d. for a male, and £12 15s. 2d. for a female pupil teacher, and in the large majority of cases this payment has still been made annually and not more frequently, as it might easily have been. The increase of school fees is pointed out as one remedy for the lack of funds for paying pupil teachers, and this is noticed as being already in use. The minute of February, 1867, has been another remedy, and its effect has been shown in the fact that out of the 564 new pupil teachers 392 belong to England and Wales, to which its operation is confined】 Inspectors' Reports are quoted to show that it has not yet produced its full effect. In a subsequent table made up to the end of the year, the total increase in the number of pupil teachers is shown to be 715. By a second table brought down to the same period, the number of assistant teachers is shown to have decreased, so that it would seem that during the last part of the year school managers have been replacing assistants by new pupil teachers. Still my Lords point out that pupil teachers are not the only source from which the Training Colleges should be filled; and suggest that such persons as voluntary teachers in Sunday schools, or persons engaged in occupations implying a certain degree of instruction, would form excellent candidates for training. It is thought that without lowering any further the standard for admission, a very moderate amount of aid from a certificated teacher, or from a clergyman would supply their educational deficiencies. The request to lower the standard of admission into the Training Colleges, which has been strongly urged upon my Lords, they refuse to grant on the ground that the Training Colleges are not elementary schools, and that the stay in a Training College should be employed in mastering and digesting, rather than in acquiring, knowledge. Training Colleges are next noticed. They are capable of accommodating 3,205 students, and of supplying at least 1,500 trained teachers yearly, which number is enough to maintain a body (if once created), of 21,400 teachers, and these again, allowing the present rate of 85.8 day scholars for each certificated teacher, are equal to the instruction of an annual average number of 1,836,120 day scholars, or (adding one third for the difference between the annual average number present, and the number of scholars on the register), 2,448,160 children receiving more or less of daily instruction. But actually only 922 male students and 1,335 females are in these colleges. So that instead of maintaining a body of 21,400 teachers, they can only maintain 14,600. This, which is regarded as a question of the utmost gravity, arises from the want, not of funds, but of suitable candidates. This deficiency of candidates does not arise from a deficiency in the demand for trained teachers, but rather from the fact that the remuneration offered, though gradually increasing, is not sufficiently attractive compared with that of other occupations. The average income of a master was, in 1867, £88 18s. 5d., of an infant mistress £53 11s. 3d., of other mistresses £55 11s. Rather more than one half have also a home or lodging rent free in addition. Though some few of the best paid masters may, in towns, receive larger incomes, and even as much as £250 or £300 a year, yet a man of average ability cannot, under ordinary circumstances, expect more than £100 per annum. There is, practically, little hope of any advancement. Uncertificated masters in unaided schools have an average income of £52 14s. 9d. Mistresses in Infant Schools receive £29; and other mistresses £32 17s. ld. In 1867, 149 acting male teachers, and 123 acting female teachers were certificated; and 19 male and 76 female pupil teachers were provisionally certificated. The work of such teachers is well reported of, when engaged in schools of suitable size and character, Mixed schools, in which boys and girls are taught together, are shown to have increased, from 1864 to 1867, in the proportion of 26.84 per cent. although a portion of this increase is due to the different forms in which returns are made to the office, and not only to the consolidation of departments. This increase of mixed schools is not considered desirable. The employment of mistresses rather than masters is on the increase throughout England and Wales, though slowly. In 1863 the per centage of male and female teachers was 55 and 45 respectively. In 1867, it was 52.4 and 47.6. This is in a great degree, owing to the employment of women in small rural schools, when economy demands it. To avoid the injurious effects of having infants and girls taught in one room, under one teacher, my Lords suggest that an increased grant should be made for infants under 40 in number, when the Inspector reports that they are taught by a certificated or probationary teacher, in a separate room, and are under seven years of age. Schools under simple inspection are uniformly ill reported of. There are still a large number of schools not reached by inspection at all. The number of children in average daily attendance in aided schools in England and Wales is 911,681. This is about 4.2 per cent. of the population. Therefore of every 11 children of the labouring classes at school, the average number of those attending aided schools last year was about 4. This estimate does not include workhouse and reformatory schools. Of these scholars 708,468 were qualified for examination. The number examined was 592,005. Of these 364,523 were under 10 years of age. Those presented in Standards I-III. were 342,642 under 10 years of age, and 102,398 over that age. In Standards IV-VI. there were 21,881 under and 125,084 over 10 of age. years The number of complete passes was 234,995 under and 70,618 over 10 years of age, in Standards I-III.; while in Standards IV-VI. the numbers were 11,776 under and 71,386 over 10 years. The total amount of those who passed without any failure was 42.6 per cent. Irregularity of attendance appears to be the great cause of these figures not being more satisfactory. This again partly arises from the migratory habits and capricious preferences of the poor, by which it happens that the same child attends many schools in the course of its school life, or even in the same year. In reading, the average of passes was 90.71; in writing 87.59; in arithmetic 76-28. The Inspectors express themselves best satisfied with the writing, least so with the arithmetic, and doubtful what value to put |