Page images
PDF
EPUB

serves the purpose contemplated by those who impart it, and is valued by those who receive it. Very formidable difficulties will, no doubt, present themselves; but the Commissioners appear to have anticipated some of them; and they take pains to remind their Assistants that they have no power to compel any attention to their inquiries, and will possibly meet with suspicion, if not with opposition. But the subject is one on which information is greatly needed, and on which this investigation, undertaken as it is from a new point of view, cannot fail to throw important light. The preliminary steps of the Commission have been marked by singular judgment and breadth of view, and by a fairness which augurs most favourably for the results of the inquiry. We trust that those of our readers who may receive, either in the form of a visit from the Assistant Commissioner, or of a printed paper of inquiries, any request for information, will take pains to obtain accurate and trustworthy particulars, and to lend all possible aid in furtherance of the important object which the Commission has in view.

We may add, for the convenience of those who may desire to communicate with the Commissioners, that the office of the Commission is No. 17, Great Queen Street, Westminster, and that the secretary is Fitzjames Stephen, Esq., barrister-at-law.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE.

THE second meeting of this great Association was held in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, in October last, and was even more fully attended than the meeting at Birmingham of the previous year. The Right Hon. Lord John Russell was the president for the year, and delivered the inaugural address, which contained a lucid resumé of the progress made during the past year in the several departments of Jurisprudence, Education, Punishment and Reformation, Public Health and Social Economy. In so wide a range, the subject of Education necessarily only received a brief notice; but in the course of his remarks his lordship said:"For my own part I confess that, anxious as I am for the progress of education, I am quite willing to renounce any desire to establish in this country the system of France, Austria, or Prussia. The freedom of choice in our modes of popular instruction, the noble fountains of literature-sacred and secular-which are open to the youth thirsting for knowledge-the power to range over the writings of Bacon and Shakespeare, and Milton and Addison, seem to me to make our national education, imperfect and incomplete as it is, still far superior to those Continental modes."

The president of the Department of Education for the year was the Right Hon. W. F. Cowper, M.P., lately the vice-president of the Committee of Council on Education. In the course of his address the right hon. gentleman said :— "In the lower class schools, the irregularity and shortness of attendance hinder the results which would otherwise be obtained from much admirable teaching. The children of the labouring classes see very little of school after the age of ten. Their habits are so migratory that only 34 per cen.. are found in the same school for more than two years; and of 2,262,000 children between the ages of 3 and 15, who are not at school, 1,800,000 are absent without any necessity or justification. Some learn nothing, and more forget entirely all they have learned. The early impressions fade away, leaving little traces upon their minds for want of renewal. As the remedy for this state of things the first impulse was to turn to the seat of authority. In France, children remained at school until 13 and 14; yet 850,000 grew up without education. From the Baltic to the Adriatic the schooling received was six or eight years; and yet the lower classes were not very differently circumstanced from our own. England was the only civilised country without a national system of education; but

we had also no conscription, passports, or minister of police. Parents here were assisted by the State, the church, and individuals. On the Continent, the State only had schools; here, individuals and the church. In Germany, education became a necessity consequent upon the Reformation, and Luther's argument was, the State should train moral as well as fighting soldiers. Prussian schools are national establishments, provided out of local rates; parents of absentees between six and fourteen are fined and imprisoned." After reviewing the state of feeling on this question in the country, and the introduction of State aid, he said, "The State system abroad acted mechanically by regulations; lacking this element, ours, which could hardly be called a system, and yet was strong in moral influence, originated by compassion, sympathy, and religious zeal, which imparted vitality regulations could not. It was a labour of love, not of office. The differences were so fundamental that we could gain nothing from them. We must have the intervention of the State in its present auxiliary position. If we could not rest upon a law, but must take a part in a great work, it was well to decide upon the chief hindrances and the best means of overcoming them. In some places school-rooms were wanted; in others, the accommodation was one-third more than was used; and the increase was gradual. Parents' indifference was not as to the welfare of their children, but arose from doubts as to the practical utility of instruction in the daily struggle of life. They would make sacrifices for higher wages ultimately and greater comforts. The reason was, their own want of education and appreciation for it. The chief cause is the early commencement of labour, and I am not sanguine enough to expect that this hindrance will ever be removed. The child, as well as the parent and employer, is anxious to assume as early as possible the independent position of an earner of bread; and, no doubt, the early acquisition of habits of industry and of special aptitude have tended to make the English workman what he is, the best workman in the world. But if study cannot be substituted for work, it may be combined with it. The combination of head-work with hand-work is favourable to both, as is proved by the factory and the industrial schools. Wherever children are working in numbers under circumstances that call for the intervention of the law, opportunities should be secured, as for instance the children between 10 and 14 in mines, who might easily have secured to them the same amount of instruction as those in print works-viz., 150 hours in the half-year. If the education of the children cannot be protracted, it may be commenced earlier, by the improvement of infant schools; and though I feel there is in theory a forcible objection to infant schools, on account of their removal from the mother's care, yet in practice, mothers who are busy with household cares are utterly unable to give their infants that training they require, or to prepare them for the regular school; and I am sure that infant schools are a necessity of our present position. We require primary schools for all, wherein the elements of useful knowledge may be acquired, and also secondary education, not for all, for neither among the highest nor the lowest will very many be found equal to take pains in self-education, but for as many as have the desire for improvement and energy enough to strive for its attainment."

The three following days were devoted to the reading of various papers in the several sections, and to discussions thereon.

The following were the titles of the papers which were read in the department of education:-By Mr. Horace Mann, of the Civil Service Commission, on the Practical Working of the plan of Competition for the Civil Service-Rev. J. S. Howson, M.A., principal of the Collegiate Institution, Liverpool, on the progress and probable Results of recent Examination Schemes-J. G. Fitch, M.A., Principal of the Normal College of the British and Foreign School Society, on Examination Schemes and their Incidental Effects on Public Education-H. J. S. Smith. M.A., fellow of Baliol College, Oxford, on the new Oxford Examinations-W. Ihne, Ph.D., on the Organisation of Middle Schools in Germany-W. Knighton, LL.D., on Middle

Class Elementary Education-Rev. J. S. Howson, M.A., Liverpool, on Statistics of the Liverpool Collegiate Institution-Rev. N. Stephenson, M.A., on Book-hawking Societies-Professor Hennessey, F.R.S., on Freedom of Education-John Ruskin, M.A., on Education in Art-Rev. W. Taylor, on Colleges for the Blind, for the Middle and Upper Classes-John Stewart, Edinburgh, on Art Education-Rev. James Begg, D.D., Edinburgh, on Obstacles to a National System of Education in Scotland-Margaret Fison, on the Institutions of De Fellenburg-Rev. C. H. Bromby, M.A., on Training Colleges-Rev. Canon Girdlestone, on the improved Administration of existing Charitable Funds by their application to the Endowment of Parochial Schools, as illustrated in the cases of St. Nicholas's and St. Leonard's, Bristol-Rev. J. G. Lonsdale, on the effect of Sunday Schools in educating the Poor-Rev. D. Melville, on a Prize System as an Element of Lower EducationG. H. Bengough, on Prize Schemes for Elementary Schools in Agricultural Districts-Rev. A. Hume, D.C.L., LL.D., Some Account of the Education of the Poor in Liverpool, with Suggestions for its Improvement-Rev. A. J. Tomlin, on the Improvement of Instruction in Schools for the Poor-T. B. L. Baker, on Industrial Schools for Villages and Small Towns-B. Templar, on the importance of teaching Human Physiology and Social Science in Public Elementary Schools for the Working Classes-J. Gregory Jones, on the importance of teaching Addition, and an improved mode of teaching it, to younger Pupils-J. C. Symons, H.M.I., on how to make Common Schools more practically useful-Rev. J. Armistead, on National School Kitchens for the Sick and Aged Poor-Professor Pillans, on Hints on some Prevailing Errors in the Education of the Working Classes-Louisa Selwyn, on the Importance of combining Training in Useful Occupation with Instruction in National Schools-Rev. D. Nihill, on Popular Education-Ven. Archdeacon Allen, on the Part which the Government should take in promoting the Education of the People of England-Rev. H. G. Bunsen, on the Effects of the Government System of Education in small Country Schools-Rev. N.. Stephenson, on the Principles on which Educational Legislative Measures should be based; and on the need of an immediate and liberal Extension of the present Government System of Education, more especially with the view of reaching Rural Parishes-Rev. W. Fraser, on Compulsory Education-Ellen Higginson, on Observations suggested by the recent Report of the Rev. W. H. Brookfield, H.M.I.— J. C. Symons, on Union Schools -Mary Carpenter, on the relation of Ragged and Industrial Schools to the Parliamentary Educational Grant-Thomas Bazley, on National Education, what should it be?-Rev. J. P. Norris, on Education in Staffordshire.

It will be observed that the subjects were very miscellaneous and varied in character, but several of the discussions which were taken on particular groups of papers were especially interesting. We may mention in particular that on Prize and Competitive Schemes, which followed the reading of the first four papers; that on Industrial Training in Village Schools, which grew out of the papers of Mr. Armistead and Miss Selwyn; that on Ragged Schools, and Miss Carpenter's paper; and the lengthened discussion which was initiated by Mr. Thomas Bazley, now M.P. for Manchester, on Secular Schools.

It was recommended in the final report of the Council, which was submitted to the Association on the last day of meeting, that a separate section should be established, at future meetings, "for considering the best means of promoting the trial and introduction of improved methods of instruction into elementary schools, and otherwise cultivating the science of method in teaching." We believe that this was suggested by Sir J. K. Shuttleworth, who was present throughout the meeting, and took an active share in the proceedings. It is probable, therefore, that at the next annual meeting the transactions of the Association will possess still more interest for the teachers and managers of British Schools.

NEW MINUTE OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION,

At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 26th day of July, 1858,

BY THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF HER MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL.

Their Lordships had under consideration

I. The state of schools in small rural parishes.

II. The conditions of age, attainments, and stipend attached to the several years of a pupil-teacher's apprenticeship.

III. The position occupied by teachers between the end of their period of training and the time of their becoming certificated.

IV. The means of providing further, by means of night schools, for the continuance of instruction beyond the age at which labour must be commenced.

Their Lordships resolved

1. To cancel so much of the Minute, dated 29th April, 1854, as excludes mixed schools under mistresses, in parishes where the population exceeds 600, from receiving capitation grants.

2. To cancel the Minute of 23rd July, 1852, in regard to all pupil-teachers who may be apprenticed after 31st December, 1859.

3. To allow candidates who are not less than sixteen years old to enter upon the office of pupil-teacher with the standing of the fourth year of apprenticeship, provided that they can pass the examination for the end of the third year. Such candidates will be apprenticed as pupil-teachers for two years, and will be paid at the rate of £17 10s. for the first, and £20 for the second; but in their case the particular kind of probationary service, which is mentioned in the next clause, and which is optional to other candidates, will be compulsory, before they can become certificated teachers.

4. To grant a stipend of £25 per annum to male, and £20 to female teachers, during the probationary period (Minute 20th August, 1853, § xi.) of two years following the date at which they have passed the examination now required for a certificate, including The Schedule, on condition that such period be passed either

(a) as principal teacher in a rural school not containing more than 1,200 square feet of superficial area in its school-rooms and class-rooms, or which can be certified as not needing, nor likely, to be attended by more than 100 scholars,

(b) as second teacher under a certificated, or registered, head teacher in a school with an annual average attendance of not less than seventy-five. The certificates of probationers who have passed the College examination will be fixed in this, as in other cases, after two years of service; whereupon they will cease to be entitled to any allowances except those now made to certificated teachers, and upon the same conditions.

Scheduled students may serve as teachers pursuant to this clause for three years; but, at the end of that period, they will cease to be entitled to any public payments whatever, unless they have previously passed the examination for a certificate; for which purpose they will not be required to return into residence at college, but may attend the first year's examination from their own schools. In the meantime, they will not be admissible to take charge of apprentices. Their certificates, when fixed, will carry the same conditions as in other cases.

5. To leave all pecuniary conditions beyond the public grants of £25 or £20, to be settled in these cases between the teachers and the managers according to agreement.

6. To modify the ordinary rate of apprentices admissible at the public expense, viz., one for every forty scholars, so far as to reckon a second teacher under Section 4 as sufficient (with the head teacher) for seventy-five scholars,—after which number, the allowance of apprentices (in addition to a second teacher) will be one for the next twenty-five scholars, and one for every forty beyond. No additional teacher under Section 4 (b) will be admitted after the first, except in consideration of seventy-five additional scholars for whom no pupil-teachers are provided at the public expense.

Night scholars may be reckoned with day scholars in making up seventy-five. The numbers are to be reckoned on the average attendance of the year preceding the date fixed for inspection, except in the case of newly established schools, and then on the present average attendance.

7. To allow, where a night school is organised conformably to the Minute of 1st March, 1855, the number of scholars who have attended it on fifty nights per annum to be added to the number of day scholars for whom the school may receive capitation grants; no scholar being reckoned as belonging to both schools, nor any scholar under twelve years of age as belonging to the night school. Where the Minute of 1st March, 1855, mentions an assistant teacher under the Minute of 23rd July, 1852, a probationary teacher under this present Minute will satisfy the condition, but without excluding such assistant teachers, as long as any of them remain (under Section 1, suprà).

We wish to direct the special attention of our readers to the foregoing Minute which has recently been put forth by the Committee of Council. It may be convenient also to indicate, in brief, the main features of the proposed changes.

I. Pupil-Teachers.-Hitherto all apprentices have been required to serve for five years, i.e., from the age of 13 to 18. But by Section 3, young persons may be apprenticed at 16, as pupil-teachers for two years only, on passing the examination which is ordinarily passed by pupil-teachers at the end of the third year. In these cases, however, the period of probation described in Section 4, will be compulsory, while in other cases it is optional.

II. Assistant Teachers.-Hitherto certificated assistants have received augmentations to their salaries under the same conditions as masters and mistresses, and according to their standing in the class-list. Henceforth, under the special conditions described in Section 4, they will be entitled, for a period of two years, to receive an augmentation of £25 or £20. By Section 6, it is provided that a school of 100 children, for example, may have one such assistant and one pupil-teacher; a school of 140, one assistant and two pupil-teachers; and a school of 150 may, if desired, have two assistants instead of pupil-teachers, besides the head teacher.

III. Scheduled Teachers.-Up to this time, teachers whose names were placed in the schedule at the examination for certificates, have not been permitted to present themselves a second time for examination until they had received another year's training at the normal college. Section 4 of the new Minute permits them, in future, to become probationers for three years instead of two, and to present themselves for examination at any time within that period without passing through a second year's residence at College. This provision will relieve many teachers who have been scheduled, and who have not been able to obtain admission to the colleges, of a serious difficulty. It must be observed, however, that teachers in these circumstances are not entitled to take charge of apprentices, until the examination shall have been successfully passed.

IV. Rural Schools. At present, many village schools are precluded from taking

« PreviousContinue »