Mr. W. M. In addition to work entailed in preparing for and holding classes for teachers and in the marking of lecture, laboratory Organising and Object-lesson notes written at these classes, the visits of inspection to schools have occupied a large part of the organisers' time. The following table gives an analysis of the year's work: visits to Schools. My own duties have, among other things, comprised : (1.) Preliminary visits to centres to arrange for accommodation of classes. (2.) Conferences with district inspectors to select teachers for admission to classes, and preparation of office lists. (3.) Incidental and final visits of inspection and examination of classes. (4.) Incidental inspection and final examination of classes for National teachers in Technical Schools. (5.) Individual practical examination in Elementary Science and Object Lesson of King's scholars. (6.) The conduct of summer courses in Dublin. (7.) Visits to equipped and unequipped schools. HELLER. In the statistical work involved in the registration of Mr. W. M. teachers, the keeping of stock at out-centres, and in the practical examination of King's scholars, I have received most valuable assistance from Mr. Ingold, who also, in my absence, transacts the routine office work. revision courses of As I have repeatedly pointed out in these reports, the Urgent majority of the teachers who have been through the first part necessity for of the course, would immensely profit by a revision course; in fact, in many cases it is impossible to expect efficient teach- instruction. ing until this opportunity is given to them. Many of the best and largest schools are already marking time because the teachers have come to the end of their tether of instruction. As 1 have received official intimation that the services of Necessity for the majority of the organisers will be discontinued after March instructional 31st, 1905, it is therefore ultra vires for me to discuss the work for problem at greater length; but I sincerely hope, in the inte- many years to rests of the educational efficiency of the schools, that this apparently retrogressive change has not been made without the provision of some constructive substitute. Before my actual appointment by the Commissioners in 1900, in conversation with the late Professor G. F. Fitzgerald, F.R.S., I mentioned the impossibility of accomplishing the work contemplated in five years; he replied that he regarded "the five years' limit as a matter of form, and that the work to be done would take at least a generation." I mention the incident merely in evidence that he appreciated the magnitude of the task from the beginning. In the matter of scientific training we are, generally speaking, ahead of the English schools; the local authorities in England have been watching our Irish experiment carefully, and are now beginning to imitate the constructive work initiated by the Commissioners in 1900; in fact, England is now awake to the permanent necessity of some organising system, which will provide for the refreshment of the minds of teachers regarding aims and methods of instruction throughout their career as necessity arises. The Right Hon. Henry Hobhouse, M.P., who, as Chairman of the recent departmental Committee on the Training of Teachers, is specially qualified to speak, said, in a paper read at Cambridge last August : "It must be-remembered that for a long time to come many of our elementary teachers will require liberal facilities for training in special subjects elsewhere than at Training Colleges, and that the local authorities will be required to find funds both for this purpose and to supplement the Government grants for training pupil teachers." come. At the present moment I have applications on my books for Demand for nearly one hundred classes, and estimate that the following more classes, classes are necessary: Part I. courses in centres not yet tapped, Part II. courses, Revision, Part I. courses,. Total, 50 25 50 125 Mr. W. M. Training colleges. Reasons for the greater efficiency of organisers' classes. Unpreparedness of Kings scholars on entering the college. Note books of Training college students. As I have repeatedly stated, these revision classes are of primary importance, not only for the teachers who have been already through our classes, but more so for the teachers who have received instruction in Training Colleges since 1900. It may cause surprise that the preceding statement should be deliberately made, but the evidence is so overwhelming, that the teacher trained in organisers' local classes is superior to the great majority of students trained in the Training Colleges since 1900, in methods of instruction, in knowledge of the subject and in the interest displayed in the work, that I do not think it can be seriously disputed. It certainly seems paradoxical that the student who during two years receives instruction in well-equipped laboratories, should not be greatly superior to teachers who, after a hard day's work come to organisers' classes, and attend on twenty-four occasions for three hours each evening; such phenomena require close investigation. Teachers attending our classes have mostly several years of experience, which gives a meaning to the pedagogical advice they receive there; they attend always at a considerable sacrifice of spare time, and often at great inconvenience and pecuniary loss. In general, I think, they appreciate the opportunities the Commissioners have offered them, and realise that they will shortly be called upon to put into practice the methods they are taught. At the same time the organisers have had a very congested experience of such classes and of school inspection, and know they have to deal with a critical audience demanding the useful employment of its time; the fact that it is a training class is never forgotten, and the point of view dominating the instruction is that of teaching. The complaint of the Training College professors that the students often enter in a condition wholly unprepared for training is only too true; but this poor scholarship at entrance should not be allowed to mask the fact that the primary func tions of a Training College are to teach methods of instruction and organisation, and to create in the minds of the students some ideals for their life's work. In focussing attention sharply on the annual examinations, the view of the future career is left blurred and ill-defined; the situation needs to be viewed through a lens of greater depth of focus, which will produce a clear image of the foreground and the distance at the same time. The subject is, apparently, not regarded by the authorities of the Colleges as of much importance, and the professors have to endeavour to teach in one hour and a half or two hours a week, work that requires from three to four hours per week, if we consider that it embodies the fundamental principles of all teaching method; this starving of the teaching of scientific method will not be remedied until the fact is more generally recognised, that it may be made to provide almost a complete training of the teacher. The notebooks of the students, often excellent samples of penmanship and decoration, are by no means satisfactory; in many cases they merely record a series of disconnected experiments not always performed by the student who records them; there is Mr. W. M. little attempt to show why an experiment is performed, and HELLER. still less to record introductory qualitative experiments, or to illustrate the meaning of logical experimental enquiry. Reference to methods of instruction, organisation of practical work, preparation of lessons, keeping of apparatus, selection, preparation and giving of Object Lessons, and the necessity for, and means of obtaining, good written compositions, are conspicuous by their absence. They may be dealt with, but as examiner 1 can obtain no evidence of it. A few lectures might well be devoted in future to the explanation and development of the Commissioners' "Notes for Teachers" on this branch of the programme. A great experiment has been commenced, but we cannot pretend that it has been pushed to its logical conclusion; that it has been successful so far cannot be denied; if one lesson more than another has been taught, though perhaps not generally learnt, it is, that critical inspection must be supplemented by constructive help, and that these must be thoroughly coordinated. What has caused the extraordinary improvement in methods of instruction during the last ten years in the schools of the English towns? Fine buildings do not alone make good schools, but the constructive work of the organising inspector of the local authority have kept the schools and their teachers up to date. From the point of view of efficient teaching, the issue by The "Notes the Commissioners of the Notes for Teachers has been one forTeachers." of the most satisfactory events of the year. Inspectors, organisers and teachers have in this little volume definite suggestions in black and white, which, if utilised as it should be, would leave little excuse for inefficient work. Karely, however, in a school have I seen a well-thumbed copy; it is desirable that the Commissioners should make clear that these are intended to be read, and that an immediate attempt to carry out the suggestions is expected, unless satisfactory alternative methods are employed. The Notes have been most favourably criticised by such English educationists as have seen a copy. One county authority was anxious to secure a copy for every teacher in the county. An eminent Yorkshire professor writes I have been immensely interested in the Notes for Teachers,' and I should much like half a dozen copies, which I would gladly pay for. It is really encouraging to see such literature go forth." I have not yet had to make a suggestion in a school, which I could not underline in the "Notes." The keenest and most enthusiastic teachers were naturally Falling off in the first to avail themselves of the means and opportunities applications that the Commissioners have provided for training in this for grants of branch of instruction; it is not, therefore, a matter of surprise that there is some slight falling off in the number of applications for free equipment grants of apparatus during the past apparatus. Mr. W. M. Object teaching more difficult than Science. year; our organising classes have made it clear that science teaching means hard thought as well as hard work, and the realisation of this fact has tempted some teachers to adopt a line of least resistance. The significant question is often asked " If I attend a class and get an equipment grant, must I teach the subject?" The answer given is in the affirmative; equipments are not awarded Experimental where the district inspector is of opinion that elementary Experimental Science could not be taught with advantage. As a result, in many cases, even after the teacher has successfully undergone the course of training, no application is made for a grant of apparatus, in the hope of negotiating more easily this section of the programme through the medium of Object teaching; on the ground of both a saving of personal trouble and of educational effectiveness, such a decision is a mistake, for to produce the same formative and informational effect a satisfactory course of Object Lessons requires very much more thought and teaching skill than the systematic course of experimental work demonstrated in the organiser's class. As public funds have been generously spent-more so, indeed, than in any other part of the United Kingdom-in this local provision for the training of teachers in special subjects, it is only right that Inspectors should insist that the schools receive some return for the money expended, and that where Object Lessons are taken by a trained teacher as a substitute for Experimental Science, these should reach a reasonably high standard, and the suggestions regarding them in the "Notes for Teachers" should be fully carried out. Applicants for grants deterred by the cost of storage provision. Too much to mensura In a very considerable number of cases the press and table necessary for the storage and use of the apparatus, have been provided by the teacher or by funds raised through him; where the teacher is expected to make this provision, it constitutes a serious charge upon his income, and it is not surprising that he hesitates to apply for a free grant that will leave him considerably out of pocket. When a teacher has attended an organiser's class he makes time devoted a start in his school with simple measurement exercises, pendtion exercises. ing the supply of apparatus, and usually spends a great deal too much time on this kind of work; at this stage measurement exercises should be alternated with interesting and useful Object Lessons; unless the teacher goes to some pains to make these measurement lessons interesting and practically useful, and insists on accuracy and care in their working, the pupils will quickly tire of work mechanically repeated month after month, and will gain little or no benefit from it. Rate of progress. Even when a school has received the grant, there is often an extraordinary diffidence about using it; in general, it is only after the organiser's visit that much attempt to use apparatus is made. The pencil and paper measurement exercises need not be taken at one big dose, but should be interspersed |