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Mr. EARDLEY :

National

"Unlike its predecessor, the new system was received with some Reports on misgiving and much misrepresentation, but I have no doubt the the State of change will be highly beneficial, based as it is on rational lines by Education. appealing to the intelligence rather than to the memory, and, as far as possible, by dealing with realities rather than words.

Mr. A. Purser.

The New Programme for the first time gives to Reading that pre- New System. eminence which it deserves. This, though the most important of all the school subjects, was the worst taught of any. It was often a matter of remark how much better a stray child, who had been taught in England, Scotland, or America, read than those taught at home. The contrast was painfully evident in the indistinctness, faulty grouping of the phrases, and deficiency of expression."

M1. HYNES

"A good deal of work on the lines of the New Programme has already been commenced.

"I am pleased to find that the key-note, 'Quality, not quantity,' so judiciously struck in the recent instructions, is awakening a response.

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The Metric System and Practical Measuring nave been taken up in quite a number of schools, and Practical Weighing in not a few. Physical Drill, so far, is the favourite amongst the new branches, and has been the most extensively practised.

"Drawing and Vocal Music have, so far as I have had an opportunity of seeing, been taken up in all schools in which there are teachers holding certificates of competency to teach same. Some noncertificated teachers have likewise essayed, with some success, to introduce them.

Much has not yet been done in the way of Elementary Science or Manual Instruction proper. There are two reasons for this-the comparative smallness of the number of teachers who have received training therein (and in the former particularly); then the cost of the requisite appliances."

Mr. PEDLOW :

The

"The year just ended has been one of unsettled thought. sweeping away of the Results system of payments, and the radical changes in the Programme so quickly made, astounded and bewildered teachers and managers alike. At first there was anxiety about incomes, then anxiety as to how the requirement of the new Code could best be carried out. Good teachers realised at once that complete changes in method were necessary, that school life must assume a different tone, and that the hurried cramming must cease, and be supplanted by systems requiring activity and development of intellect. It is very gratifying to find that the new regulations were most loyally received, that they were hailed as a vast reformation, that not a single grumble, not a single murmur, was ever made to me by manager or teacher regarding them. I was simply inundated with questions. at every visit of inspection, and welcomed in the schools as a bearer of information. I am afraid that sometimes I was unable to elucidate difficulties encountered. Already parts of the Programme have been thoroughly discussed and mastered, but before it can be fully taken up special training is required. In Belfast, where there are more than 1,500 teachers, all, or almost all eager for knowledge,

Reports on
National
Education.

courses in Elementary Science and in Hand, Eye, and Ear Training would be profitable, and I trust that before long they will be successfully conducted here. In official letters to the Board I have pointed out the importance of local classes. Applications for Science Mr. A. Purser. training are constantly made to me.

New System.

'I cannot speak too highly of the efforts made by many of the teachers to introduce fully the New Programme. At considerable expense some have employed extern specialists, and others have gone to private classes to thoroughly qualify themselves for their new

duties.

Dr. BEATTY :—

It is yet impossible to report on the teachers' handling of the Revised Programme.

The district generally is stirring briskly with the Revised Programme. Singing and Drawing are being widely introduced, and the recent successful and skilful course of Tonic Sol-fa teaching, as well as the course now proceeding at Kilkeel, will, I have no doubt, prove most beneficial. Apparatus for the Arithmetic programme has been provided in a good many schools. A large number of the teachers have attended classes in Drill, and in some cases the movements are already executed with praiseworthy precision. Miss Cullen visited the girls' schools of the district, and a few of the mixed schools, with rapidity and energy, in order to introduce the collective system of Needlework instruction and improved methods in this branch, and samples for the collective teaching are being prepared in the schools. A course of Cookery and Laundry instruction is to begin in Newry at once."

Mr. HEADEN :

"I have great pleasure in reporting that as soon as the New Programme came into the hands of the managers and teachers of this district, the universal attitude was one of earnest anxiety to adopt it as early and as fully as possible. In a few cases in the beginning, there were some doubts and perplexity respecting certain features, arising through misconception, and in regard to the introduction of two or three branches, there are difficulties still which only time can solve; but at present the New Programme, to a greater or less extent, is in operation in every school in this district.

"In forty of my schools English with its several sub-heads, is taught fully in accordance with the New Programme. Twenty-five of these are Infant schools. In the remaining fifteen, three sets of Readers-Literary, Historical, and Geographical, are

use; and Writing, Spelling, Word-building, Composition, and Analysis are attended to in accordance with the new requirements. In sixteen other schools Historical Readers, and in thirty-one other schools Geographical Readers, are in use, in addition to the ordinary Literary Readers. In thirty-seven schools the managers are awaiting the publication of more suitable Historical and Geographical Readers, and in the remaining fourteen schools the annual examination has been held recently, or is to be held at an early date, and the managers and teachers have not yet decided on the series of Readers they will adopt.

"

'I may state that already I find extra attention paid to Reading and its sub-heads everywhere. In some of my large schools in the city, the managers have engaged the services of professional elocu

National

tionists to conduct Reading lessons daily with the senior classes. Reports on The results are quite beyond expectation in a primary school. I have the State of recently heard difficult pieces recited in two or three of these schools Education. in most finished style articulation, modulation, and gesture being faultlessly correct; and I am pleased to report that in general I find Mr. A. Purser. greater intelligence shown in the Reading everywhere, including better New System. grouping of words, and readier and more accurate explanation.

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The course of instruction in Arithmetic laid down in the New Programme is fully adopted in twenty-six of my schools. It is carried out in all respects, except those of measuring and weighing, in 107 other schools. In the remaining five it has not yet been adopted, except to a trifling extent. These, with one exception, are schools whose annual examination will be held in the month of January, 1901. They are waiting till after that event to introduce the branch in its new form as fully as possible. The chief difficulty in all cases has been the providing of scales-weights and measures for practical This involves expense, and the question of meeting it has to be discussed. In twenty-seven of my schools these scales, weights, &c., have been provided, and are in daily use by the pupils. In connection with this subject I have endeavoured to impress upon the teachers the duty of seeing that every pupil from First Standard upwards is provided with a rule for measuring, which can be used for its specific purpose in drawing as well. In 105 of my schools the pupils are thus fully supplied. In five schools the pupils of the senior classes are fully supplied; in nine schools the supply is fair, while in the remaining nineteen schools the supply is inadequate.

use.

The introduction of Manual Training is perhaps the most fundamental feature in the departure of the New Programme. In twentyseven schools it is now in operation in this district, on correct lines; while Manual Training in the form of Kindergarten has already been carried on for some years in the twenty-five Infant schools referred to above. This Kindergarten work, however, had hitherto been conducted mainly by lecturing and showing; and in such gifts and occupations as stick-laying, tablet-laying, and weaving it had become purely mechanical, patterns being always the same for years, and no attempt being made to create or develop originality or design. Thus the gifts which were specially intended to cultivate observation had largely ceased to be the means of effecting any such purpose. The teachers of all these schools, with more or less skill and success, are now employing the heuristic instead of the didactic method of teaching: they are training the children to examine and find out from their own observation; they are endeavouring to make them proficient in arranging the gifts severally, according to patterns and designs, with equal ease and accuracy from (a) directions, or (b) imitation, or (c) drawing; and they are making Drawing the foundation of every branch of Hand-and-Eye work, and thus giving it a practical value. Drawing is now taught in 125 schools of this district, and in ninety-one of these it is taught on the lines of the New Programme. In forty of these schools it has been introduced for the first time this year.

"

Singing is now taught in 103 schools of the district, and in thirtyfive of these it has been introduced for the first time this year.

"In 126 schools Drill is now part of the daily course of instruction. Some form of Drill had been practised heretofore in the twentyfive Infant schools and in eleven others, but it has been introduced for the first time this year in eighty-nine schools of the district. In

Reports on

the State of National Education.

Mr. A. Purser.

the majority of these cases the introduction has been subsequent to last July. I never had experience of such enthusiasm in an undertaking as that which has inspired teachers and pupils alike in the adoption of Drill as a branch of school work.

Five of my teachers have already had an opportunity of attendNew System. ing Mr. Heller's course in Elementary Science. In one only of these cases has a beginning been made in teaching the branch. There is another difficulty. The apparatus, though not in a sense very elaborate or costly, is expensive for our schools, and will not be provided, I fear, unless the Commissioners make a grant. It is to be hoped that this will be done. Meanwhile, however, I am pleased to report that Object Lessons are already introduced, and form part of the ordinary course in seventy-nine of my schools. In most of these schools the objects are selected with care and judgment. In girls' schools they are connected with Cookery, Laundry, and Domestic Science generally, and in rural schools with Botany, Agriculture, &c.; and while, in a few cases, I have heard very bad Object Lessons given-lessons which were 'lectures' rather, displaying the teacher's own knowledge and his effort at imparting information by an inordinate lot of talkI have, on the other hand, listened to some excellent Object Lessons in which the objects were handed round to the children, who, by suggestion of well-arranged questions, worked out themselves the properties, uses, and sources of such objects, being required at every step to frame their answers in complete sentences, and being encouraged to express themselves, no matter how simple or how apparently irrelevant the remark.

'Laundry has not yet been introduced into any of my schools, but early in January it will be taken up in one. Cookery classes are in operation in seven of my schools, and they will shortly be formed in at least one other school. The difficulty in connection with these subjects is mainly one of accommodation.'

Mr. Cox: :--

"It will be noticed that I have made very slight reference indeed to the change of programme, and I have purposely refrained from doing so. I will only say here that, generally, it has been received in a sympathetic spirit, and I believe that teachers will honestly endeavour to make it a success. I find not only a general desire to attend the local classes under an official organiser, but in this neigh bourhood meetings are held for instruction in subjects where the Board could hardly be expected to provide an organiser, e.g., Drill.”

Mr. Ross:

"The present period, when we are only in the initial stages of transition from the old to the new system, is obviously inopportune for offering opinions on the working of the new order of things.

"We should endeavour to encourage thoroughness at the outset. A little well done in the several courses will be the surest foundation upon which to build for future success. This success rests largely with the teachers, and I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of acknowledging the earnestness of purpose shown by almost all in this district in endeavouring to adapt themselves to the changed conditions of their work, as well as to qualify themselves for its efficient discharge. Speaking from my experience here, I feel warranted in stating that the outlook for the new departure is distinctly encouraging."

Mr. MURPHY:

Reports on the State of

"As far as I have been able to observe, the work of reorganisation National is proceeding in an orderly and sufficiently expeditious manner, with Education. due regard—and this is an important matter-to the progress of the pupils even in this year of change.

Branch or Requirement.

Number of Schools in which taught or in roducedDecember, 1900.

Number of Schools in which taught two years ago.

Mr. A. Purser.
New System.

"It will be seen that very creditable headway has been made with the introduction of Singing and Drawing. In many schools, of course, very little has been done as yet, but it is satisfactory to know that a start has been made.

'Drill instruction is now given in practically all the schools in the district, and I am surprised no less at the aptitude shown by the teachers for this novel work, than at the promptness with which it has been taken up.

"As an introduction to Elementary Science, Object Lessons are now given in 131 schools. A well-conceived course of Object Lessons, with a few simple experiments necessitating little or no outlay on apparatus, will be the most suitable work for the first year in the great majority of schools.

Apart from its higher development in Elementary Science, the Object Lesson is such a valuable all-round exercise, and affords so reliable a test of effective teaching power, that the real worth of a teacher's work in a National school could almost be gauged by his ability to give a lesson of this kind.

"It would be extremely injudicious to make a hurried selection of Geographical and Historical Readers, and I am satisfied, from the number of specimens I see in the hands of teachers, that the matter is being cautiously and carefully considered. A number appear to be waiting for what they call a combined Literary, Historical, and Geographical Reader, which, I understand, is promised by some publishing firm. I sincerely hope that the Commissioners will refuse to sanction the use of such a production.

"The contemplated Combined Reader loses sight altogether of the evident advantages of an extended course of Reading, while at the same time it must necessarily condense the historical and geographical matter it contains into the form of briefest epitome.

"Manual Instruction is practically unknown as yet in the schools of this district, and I am glad of it. Crude attempts to introduce Hand-and-Eye work, without knowledge either of its real meaning or of the principles underlying it, and without proper training, would be mere loss of time. I understand that Mr. Bevis purposes organising classes shortly in Armagh.