Another use of programme. This document will also check the tendency which some masters exhibit, of teaching their favourite subjects, to the entire or partial exclusion of others—a very serious evil where it exists to any great extent, as it destroys all true classification, and prevents, therefore, satisfactory progress.

2. Promotion from class to class. It is of great importance that some well-defined system of promotion from class to class should be established in each school. It is important (1) in its influence upon the children, (2) from its forming a necessary element in judging their answering, and (3) in estimating the faithfulness and ability of the master. I find that teachers, as a general rule, detain their pupils much too long in every class, but especially in the junior classes. This is caused in some cases wilfully and knowingly, in order to make the pupils pass the inspector's examination; in others, it is the result of carelessness and inattention; while, in some few cases, it arises from mistaken views of the principles which should regulate promotions.

Pupils wilfully kept down in order to pass inspection. There are some cases, but, for the honour of the teaching body, I believe they are very few, in which teachers regularly and systematically sacrifice their children's interests, by wasting their time and forcing them over the same routine for months and years, that they may gloss over successfully their own inattention. They detain the children in what they know, lest by removing them to more difficult subjects they would be found to fail on the day of examination. The children learn little new; and by the continual recurrence of the same dull task, they acquire—which is among the chief evils entailed—a distaste for all learning. I have seen instances in which little children could repeat, without the aid of the book, all the disconnected sentences in their lessons. What a time must these have been detained in ceaseless repetition! And what a distaste for all learning must they have been gradually acquiring! Had these children been removed into the next class, extra labour would, of course, have been required to fit them for inspection; and to save this, their interests were sacrificed.

Pupils kept down through carelessness and want of thought. Many teachers seem as if they never reflected upon the removals from class to class; or, in other words, upon the rate of progress in their schools. They are content to teach the children as they come, and to see little things day by day, for years, in the same book, without ever asking themselves why this is so, or thinking of the means by which such a state of stagnation could be changed. Mr. Moseley says, that 'there is a mass of children whose tendency it is to gravitate, and who are allowed to do so,

1

1 Min. of Council, 1846-7, vol. i. p. 155.

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and to become the dregs of the school.' From month to month they make no progress, they remain perpetually at the bottom, and are subjected to the influence of that monotonous and mechanical system which characterises the teaching of the lower classes.

This is the result of carelessness, and is therefore so far less deserving of blame than if it were wilfully done; but as regards the children concerned, he who permits it is guilty of a fault just as serious as he who keeps them down for a purpose. The results are the same their time is lost, their progress in knowledge is stopped, and a growing dislike for all learning and study is gradually but surely cultivated.

Kept down from not knowing when to remove them. There appear to exist incorrect views as to when a child is in reality fitted for removal, as well as to the principle which should determine the number of promotions. I have known teachers who kept the pupils on the rolls of the lowest class when they were well able to read in the middle of the book used by the class above them, and this from an inability to contend with the difficulty arising from their mixing, if promoted, with the more advanced children.

General rule for removal.

As a general rule, promotion

ought to take place so soon as the child has mastered the subjects of its present class, as marked upon the programme of the school. There are some circumstances, however, which will modify this rule, such as the place in the book where the class is reading into which it is removed-if the children in it are near the end, it would be more judicious to postpone the removal until the book is finished, as then all could commence together. It is very wrong to remove children singly, as this in the end destroys all classification. They should be removed if possible in drafts; and this, by a proper system of teaching, will be found possible in nearly all cases, without producing any serious amount of individual injury to the smartest children.

Plan adopted by me. The plan adopted by me is found to work well. I examine each school once in four months, and I expect that the children presented for inspection should be up to the requirements of the programme, and, therefore, fitted for removal. Thus, for instance, there are generally two drafts in the first, or lowest class, independently of the alphabet draft. Draft one is presented for my inspection as fitted for removal. My examination is directed to test whether the children in it are so or not. If I find that they are, I recommend their removal into second class, of which they will form the junior division. Draft two of first class becomes, by the fact of this promotion, draft one, and the duty of the teacher is to prepare it for removal at

S

next inspection-four months hence. This he can easily do, as before their promotion into draft one the children ought to be well advanced towards the middle of the book.

That which was the senior draft of second class ought to be fitted for removal in the same way, and draft two of it would take its place. Those removed from second into third, third into fourth, and fourth into fifth, do not necessarily begin the book upon their promotion, but go on with the class into which they are changed. This I find they can do, from the facility which they have already acquired in reading, and from the fact that it is almost as easy to read in the middle of any of these books as at the beginning. They do this to avoid the serious evil arising from an increase of classes. Promotions from these classes are regulated, however, as from the others; that is, the best of each-those who have been in the book for two visits of the inspector-must be fitted for removal. This system would work better by two inspections yearly instead of three.

How attendance is taken into account in this plan. The attendance of the children is an important element in this scheme of removal. The way I find that it can be best taken into account is as follows: I direct the teacher, in making out the class lists, to place a dividing line between the drafts, so that I can thus see at a glance all the children who ought to be fitted for removal at any given period. Those children admitted after the rolls have been written are placed on the rolls by themselves, no matter in what draft they are taught. I then examine all who are thus enrolled in the best draft, and any out of the low drafts that the master chooses to present as fitted for removal owing to superior talents and attention. All who have reached the requisite proficiency I recommend for removal, without any reference whatever to their attendance, but all who fail I reserve for separate consideration. I look to the record of their attendance, and if I find that they have attended well, I blame the teacher-unless in the very rare cases of natural dulness; cases, however, so extremely rare, that they are generally unimportant---but where I find that they have attended badly, I blame themselves.

Advantages of this. This course I find to be the fairest for all parties, and I also find that it exercises a powerful influence over the children and the teacher. It defines the duty of both, and marks the causes of failure so clearly, that it always rouses their energies to the utmost. The children feel that they have a task assigned them, which must be executed in a definite time, and that the reward of removal awaits its successful performance. They are thus driven to attend better, to exert themselves more earnestly, and to be more anxious to co-operate with the teachers; and all

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teachers know well the rapidity of progress that necessarily follows the good attendance and hearty co-operation of their children. The teachers themselves know that their own work is to prepare the best draft of each class for promotion; when their children have succeeded, they feel that their merits will be valued; but when they have failed, they must be equally conscious that their neglect has been discovered.

Junior drafts. It might be supposed that the junior drafts would necessarily be neglected upon this plan; but this is not so, for the teachers cannot for their own sakes forget them. They are the material upon which, after the promotion of the others, they will be called upon to work. It is, therefore, their interest to have them so far advanced that in four months they also will be fitted for examination. Besides, all inspectors will consider it their duty, while devoting their chief attention to the first section, to enquire into the progress of the others, and see that it is commensurate with the proficiency of the highest drafts.

The principle of this is applicable to all cases. This system can only be carried out where the inspection is regular, and at proper periods; but the principle upon which it is founded is applicable to all schools, and ought to be carried out by the teachers themselves, in the absence of their inspector. It consists merely in draft promotion instead of individual, and in promotion after examinations held at stated times, upon a regularly defined programme of proficiency for each class.1

No dregs in a good school. When a fixed time is thus defined, the teacher's attention will be directed to that 'gravitating mass' to which Mr. Moseley alludes; and, if a conscientious man, he will take such special steps as will meet their peculiar case, and force them onwards. It will never do to let them lag behind. In a good school there should be no dregs.

Removals

Removals should be numerous and judicious. ought to be numerous, generally equal to the average attendance, and judicious-that is, the number must not be made up from any special classes, but from all, in proper proportions. The promotions should be regulated by the number in each class and their attendance; but, as a general rule, they should be most numerous from the low classes, and gradually diminish upwards.

1 The system recommended in the Manual of the British and Foreign School Society, of dividing the books into such portions as can be taught in a given time, and having the same portions always taught at the same draft, will assist in making the removals more uniform. This divi

sion of the Lesson Books into aliquot portions of time is essential to the right working of the whole, or some drafts would be pushing up to the next station before those occupying it were ready to resign it to them.'Manual of British and Foreign School Society, pp. 11 and 12.

3. Classification. Intimately connected with this subject is the original classification of the children. This should depend, as a general rule, solely upon the school programme; but there will be some exceptional cases, which must be dealt with exceptionally. Mr. Keenan says:1 'Under ordinary circumstances, a teacher experiences little difficulty in assigning to a child the class for which his attainments qualify him; but when his acquirements are unequal that is, when he knows enough of one subject, but too little, or perhaps nothing, of another necessary to qualify him for a certain class there is some difficulty in the matter; a difficulty which is often felt, particularly in dealing with children who come from private or hedge schools. It would be impossible to lay down rules which would regulate every case of the kind that might The teacher must rely upon his own tact and judgment in deciding on what is best for the interests of the child and the school. There ought to be a balance struck between his attainments and his deficiencies, and he must be placed in that class which will be as little above or below his acquirements as will enable him to make the most profitable use of his time.'

occur.

Such cases, at

Exceptional cases should gradually cease. the commencement, should always be treated as exceptional; but the master ought to arrange his teaching in such a way that their exceptional character will gradually disappear. These can never form a large number in any school which has been well and systematically taught; and where they, therefore, do occur, the error will be found to spring from the master himself- from his giving too much time to his favourite subjects, to the exclusion of others.

System of separate classification for each subject. The basis of classification is thus the general attainments of the children; but under some systems of school teaching a separate classification is adopted for each subject, in accordance with which children who read together may not write or count together, or stand up to the same lessons in grammar and geography. This, however, is found to be so objectionable, that it is adopted very rarely. 'It proceeds sometimes from the circumstance that separate charges are made for different subjects, and sometimes from the notion that boys should be classified in each subject according to their knowledge of each subject respectively. The least injurious form of this plan is where the rearrangement of the classes takes place in the arithmetic lesson only; though even this would, in my judgment, be better avoided. I would arrange the classes upon an average of their attainments and capacity, but mainly according to their respective powers of reading, and of understanding what they

1 Report of the Commissioners of National Education, Ireland, 1856-7.