be given mainly by experiment and illustration, and in the case of Physical Geography by obser. to children by definition and verbal description, instead of by making them exercise their own

rote will be accepted as sufficient for a grant, and that the Examinations by the Inspectors will have formed of what they have seen.

FIFTH SCHEDULE.

SUPPLEMENTARY RULES.

A copy of the following Supplementary Rules is sent to the correspondent of the School by the Inspector with the notice of his visit (Article 11).

RULE 1.-In column II. of the Examination Schedule the names of the qualified scholars must be entered class by class, beginning with the lowest scholar in the lowest class.

RULE 2.-The entries in column VI. must show where one class ends and another begins. The number denoting each class is to be written only once; dots ("") are to be put for each repetition of it, until the next higher class begins. There must be no intermixture of classes.

RULE 3. The entries in column VIIb. will show where one standard ends and another begins. The number denoting each standard is to be written only once; dots (" ") are to be put for each repetition of it, until the next higher standard begins. There must be no intermixture of standards.*

RULE 4.-The end of each standard in column VIIb. need not (although, of course, it may) coincide with the end of each class in column VI.* Compare the entries opposite to No. 6 who ends a class, but not a standard; No. 8 who ends a standard but not a class; No. 16 who ends both a class and a standard (this is preferable).

RULE 5.-The managers need not present all the scholars who in each class are qualified for examination by number of attendances; but those whom they present at all must be presented in the classes to which the school registers prove them to belong, unless they fall as Exceptions" under Rule 6.

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RULE 6.—The children who, for whatever reason, are presented under a lower standard than that which an examination of the school according to the above rules assigns to their class, must be entered last in the Schedule under the title of "Exceptions," othorwise they will violate Rule 2 or 3. No child is to be placed among the "Exceptions" unless there is some special excuse for doing so,

* In the following transcript of part of the Examination Schedule, Columns II., VI., and VIIb., are filled up by way of example, according to rules 2 and 3. Of course, the other Columns must not, in practice, be left blank; and the actual numbers, presented in each class, will generally be much larger.

such as previous illness, &c. Primâ facie, every child who is not fit to be examined in its own class has been wrongly placed there for instruction.

RULE 7.—The Inspector is directed to refuse to examine children in Schools wherein Rule 2 or 3 is violated. He will in such cases proceed to inspect the School, and will report to the Department why he has left column VIII. (his Report on each candidate) in the Examination Schedule blank.

RULE 8.-No grant will be paid to a Day School in which children are retained after the age of 8, unless one class-i.e., all who are to be examined as members of one class, according to Rule 5-be presented at least as high as Standard II.

RULE 9.--A deduction of at least one-tenth will be made from the grant to a Day School in which children are retained after the age of 10, unless one classi.e., all who are to be examined as members of one class, according to Rule 5-be presented above Standard II.

RULE 10.-To find the average number of scholars in attendance at a school for any period, ADD TOGETHER the total number of attendances (see Rule 11) marked in the Class Registers within the period, and DIVIDE the sum BY the number of times which the school has been open within the same period; the QUOTIENT is the average number in attendance.

RULE 11.-Attendance at a morning or afternoon meeting may not be reckoned for any scholar who has been under instruction in secular subjects less than two hours, nor attendance at an evening meeting for any scholar who has been under similar instruction less than one hour and a half (Article 23). The Class Registers at each meeting of a school must be marked and finally closed before the minimum time constituting an attendance begins.

If any child, entered in the Register as attending, is withdrawn from school before the time constituting an attendance is complete, a note must be made at the time by the class teacher (e.g., on a slate, or on the black-board), but the Register must not be opened for correction before the dismissal of the school. The inspector will inquire whether these rules have been observed (Article 17h.).

RULE 12.-No child's name should be kept on the Admission Register after a fortnight's continuous absence without inquiry from the parents whether the child has been withdrawn. The names of children withdrawn (whether they are so, the answer of their parents will decide) should be cancelled at once in the Registers, and not included in the returns of age and stay at school; but the attendances (if any) opposite to such names in the class Registers, must be counted under Rule 10, suprà, and the whole number of such names must be counted for the return "left in past year."

IX.

CIRCULAR TO H.M. INSPECTORS FROM THE SCOTCH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AS TO APPROVAL OF TIME TABLES.

SIR,

SCOTCH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT. 30th June 1873.

1. I am directed to point out to you that before approving a Time Table under the Minute of the 23d of June 1873, you must ascertain that it conforms to Article 6 of the Scotch Code (1873), which embodies Section 68 of the Education Act of 1872. This is all that is essential in order that you should affix your signature.

2. But in advising Managers as to the arrangements shown on a Time Table for the distribution of work during the hours of instruction in secular subjects, you will inform them—

(a) That payment of grants to a School depends upon the fulfilment of Article 23 of the New Code.

(b) That payment of grants for special subjects depends upon the ful

filment of Article 21.

(c) That the use of ill-adjusted Time Tables is one of the faults of instruction, for which the grant to a School may be reduced under Article 32 (b).

(d) That the two hours of secular instruction, required by Article 23 of the Code, must be the same for the whole School or Department; and

(e) That any time allowed for recreation during the meeting of a School, may not exceed half an hour for infants under 7, or a quarter of an hour for the older scholars.

3. The Inspectors ought not to interfere with the responsibility of Managers for the details of School Work. The efficiency of their arrangements will be tested by the results produced at the annual examination of their School; but you can point out any serious objection to a Time Table which is presented to you for signature, leaving the Managers to decide whether they consider an alteration necessary.

4. If the Time Table does not show the classes and subjects entrusted to the Pupil Teachers, and the time given by the Principal Teacher, during School hours, to their technical instruction in the Art of Teaching, these particulars ought to be entered in the log book; and inquiry should be made, at the time of your visit, as to how far the arrangements so recorded are carried out in the daily work of the School.

5. You may be asked whether, and, if so, under what circumstances the Managers of a School may allow a Time Table which has been approved by an Inspector to be departed from in the daily work of the School.

6. So far as a Time Table sets forth, as required by section 68 of the Education Act, the time or times to be devoted to instruction in religious subjects, no change may be made without the express sanction of the Inspector. This sanction ought not to be given, in the course of a school year, except upon formal application from the Managers, nor unless strong grounds for the change are shown. The parents of scholars attending a school ought to know for certain at what time, or times, they may withdraw their children, if they wish to do so. Any neglect of this division of the Time Table will entail a forfeiture of grants, the loss will fall upon the Managers, and they must, therefore, see carefully and constantly to this point.

7. So far as the distribution of the time devoted to secular instruction is concerned, the case is different; as the approval by the Department required under the Act does not apply to such distribution of time. A Time Table, however, for all subjects taught, is necessary to secure order and regularity in the daily work of a school, and when once settled ought to be adhered to. It otherwise ceases to be of any use for the information of the parents, or to be a guide to the Inspector in forming his judgment of a Teacher, or in examining a School.

8. The Managers should therefore arrange with the Inspector at his yearly visit what the Time Table for the ensuing year is to be; if they allow it to be altered permanently during the school year a special note of the change allowed should be made by the correspondent in the Log Book ; and a copy of the Table, as corrected, ought to be at once put up in the School.

9. Occasional deviations from the Table may be allowed without so formal a record, but they also should be noted by the Teacher in the Log Book; and if frequently resorted to without special reason they must be regarded as a proof of the Teacher's inefficiency, and may cause the grant to the School to be reduced.

10. You will therefore read the 6th paragraph of the minute as referring to the Time Table, so far as it has been approved under section 68 of the

Education Act; but so far as the hours of secular instruction are concerned, you will note in the Log Book, for the information of the Managers, every case in which you find a school not being taught according to the ordinary Time Table, unless there is a record in the Log Book of the reason why the order of instruction set forth in such Table has not been observed.

11. The Time Table, when it has been signed by an Inspector, must be regarded as part of the property of a School. It has to be submitted to the Inspector by the Managers, and may not be taken away by a Teacher on leaving their service.-I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, F. R. SANDford.

MINUTE OF THE SCOTCH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AS TO APPROVAL OF TIME TABLES.

At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 23d day of June 1873. By the Lords of the Committee of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council on Education in Scotland.

Read:

Section 68 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, and Articles 6, 12, 21, and 23* of the Scotch Code, 1873.

* Article 6. In every school, or department of a school, in respect of which grants are made, the following regulations must be strictly observed :

a.

"The school shall be open to children of all denominations, and any child may be withdrawn by his parents from any instruction in religious subjects, and from any religious observance in any such school; and no child shall in any such school be placed at any disadvantage with respect to the secular instruction given therein by reason of the denomination to which such child or his parents belong, or by reason of his being withdrawn from any instruction in religious subjects.'

b. "The time or times during which any religious observance is practised or instruction in religious subjects is given at any meeting of the school for elementary instruction shall be either at the beginning or at the end, or at the beginning and at the end of such meeting, and shall be specified in a table approved of by the Scotch Education Department." (Education Act, sec. 68.) This time table is to be submitted to the Inspector for approval, on behalf of the Department, at the time of his annual visit (Article 11).

c. The education given must consist chiefly of elementary instruction (Article 28). d. The ordinary payments in respect of the instruction, from each child, must not exceed ninepence a week.

Article 12. An inspector may visit any public school, or other school subject to inspection, at any other time without notice.

Article 21. If the time table of the school, in use throughout the year, has provided for one or more specific subjects of secular instruction according to the table in Schedule IV.–

a. A grant of 4s. per subject may be made for every day scholar presented in Standards IV.-VI. (Article 28) who passes a satisfactory examination in not more than two of such subjects.

b. Any scholar who has previously passed in Standard VI. may be presented for examination in any three of such specific subjects.

c. The amount claimed under this Article

reduction under Article 32 (a.), 2.

not taken into account in making any

d. No grant may be claimed under this Article on account of any scholar who has been examined, in the same subject, within the preceding year, by the Department of Science and Art.

Article 23. Attendance at a morning or afternoon meeting may not be reckoned for any scholar who has been under instruction in secular subjects less than two hours, nor attendance at an evening meeting for any scholar who has been under similar instruction less than one hour and a half.