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,---ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN…

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ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN CARNARVONSHIRE. (Continued from page 2.) pfrr the vcar ended' Ma-rdb. 1907, works out at 2s 6d p(1r uhild, after making every allowance or ,-sbe Biib.aiiiitial discounts which the cc mm it too iobteun from their sciiool oonwaotore- Tlnia was decided upon after careful consideration, and I am not aware that any schools has suffered by the arraugeaneat- I STAFFING QUESTION. On the subject of school staffs, the teachers maintain "that the staffing is not equal in effi- ciency to what it was previous to the appointed day, noLwithstamding any tiling that may ihave beau. eaIJ to the coiit-raxy. in this connection i may be permitted to re-lor to The short dbsous- sion upon an aspect oi this question which was initiated at the last meeting of the Education Committee by Mr A Hanson Pioton, with moro particular reference to the oafie of a school at Bangor- I then made a statement that since the appointed day the general position in the ooun- ty had been improved by the appointment of an additional number of 60 "qualified toaoh- ers. I did not say (as has been represented) that the Gonrniittee nad appointed 60 adaitional "certificated" teachers, and on going more min- utely into the matter I find that too statement made was ander-e&tiinated- mr.v COMPARATIVE SITUATION. Any statement with regard to sdhcol stalls will not bo complete witinout reference to the comparative situation on the appointed day, aaid at the present moment, with regard to other teachers, viz.. pupil teadhers and monitors. On the appointed day this coasts numbered' <soy. At the present moment there aie in the earvioo of the committee only 21 pupil leaclws and 22 monitors, with 36 Central Welsh Board certificate Iboltt-er^. making a total of 79. It repeat the Btatemciit viiat the Central Welsh Board certi- ficate holders qualified as Art. 50 teaohons "qn every ground excepting that of age." and if the leaoiiers desired v* submit a periectly fair abatement to the public thoy would have point- ed out that the Board of Eduo«.tlon in the last Oodo have now formally recosmiscvd these teachers. and allow them to bo oountea ontho pohool etaif as equivalent to 45 children age ath.nda.nce- Thus, what has now been olh- cially sanctioned by the Board of Education WMS anticipated by the Education Committee over two years ago, and, though some head teacuers in Cartiairvoushire have taken exception to the ongagoman't of this class of tcacher, experience fcas proved' that alter a few months practical j^aohing thev are fully equal to the best- toacn- at of we uncertificated class- 11100 foregoing figures show that there ha6 been a. radical change in the character of our school etaits einoo the appointed day by the practical ex- ci-notion of the child-teaaher. the number having been reduced from 259 otn the appointee day to í79 now, a deor-ease oi 180. 36 Central Welsh Hoa.rd certificate holders are excluded (as I certainly think is right,) the number of chtld- teaohci-ri now engaged is only 43- Head teach- ers complained bitterly of the old pupil teactier system, repeatedly .declaring taat pupil teachers and in the meaning of the oode before the ap- pointed day, has now been changed, and are mow simply termed supplemental" teachera or Art. 68, until they pass tho King's iSoholaisnip examination, ^lu proof of this ■ acl, I hay only to mention, that of 208. Art. 68 teacheis now in the employ of the Committee 1Ub are ex- ;s Tho majority OIl these pupil teachers were engaged eiciier by the de-funct sonool i "boards or managers of vol unitary scihoons under the old regime, and their falluso to pass the I Iola rsiil r) examination, or otnerwiso to qualify as uncerLilicated teacheis, can hardly g it- be laL to the charge of the Education Commit- tee- Out of the remaining 102 supplementary teachers who are not ex-P.T.'s, 78 now in the sorvice of the Committee were in tcuo Gervioe of the old auUboritie^ on the appointed day. Out of the remaining 2U, 8 have been educated at one or other of the county sohools, but have noi, passed a quail ifyu'ig examination. This lea\es 16 only unaccounted for. every one of whom had been eondit-Hxialiy recogni-iod by the Board of Education. Now what are the iautse On the apooiii'ted 'day t;)& certificated teachers in the oounty num- foared 'dbl. They now number 2d6. or an in- crease of 25. Ific Art. 50 teachers on the ap- pointed (ilay numbored lfbb. 'U;.é,y now number 234, or an increase of 69. There is, therefore, a total increase of qualified teacheis numbering 94. The number of supplementary teachers in tno service of the Uommititee on the appointed day wad 165. Tney now number 208. or art in- crease of 52, but it should be remembered that this increase is due not because the Education Committee have takon into their service an added number from outside, cut to the fajt that the denomination or .assignation of ex-P.T-'s who >vere provisional assistant teaciiers with moni- tors were more in the waY than otherwise, and yet the replacement of that class by the appoint- ment of adult, te. chers 04 experience is regard- ed1 as evidence o, a set-back. The teacl-^rs make capital of the fact t,Itt there has been an increase in vorage attendamoo ot 3G00, and that 6 this factor must be taken into consideration in making any conipariison between the relative position on the appointed day and the present time. Strange as it may smin. the number aLl gdhooi books has only increased from 2,b13 on the appointed day to :G,4b at the present time. rue increase jit average* attendance has been from 17,781 V) of a total oc 2547. Tlkio percentage cA efifcandiiiitce nas been raised fenom 78.9 to ö8,3, C? oil iriioixja-x> of 10,4. Teach- ers are welftiware, (21d in airiies6 to the Com- mittee must admit, that if iipi, additional toactu- ere had been provi-d-ed since the appointed day it would hiave been iar easier for the staff as it then was to discharge tinea- duty efficiently with regular attendance of sanolars than witli a constantly changing class, as must have been the case wnen 21 per oent- of tne children were habitually absent. This important factor tn school work is entirely overlooked by the teach- ers when discussing too relative efficiency of the eohooits before and after the appointed day- li the Education Committoe had done nothing 1,e- yotnd obtairting this marked improvement in .#ohool attendance they iiave made it a com- paratively easy matter far the school stalls to Snake the schools more efficient in even v way. 'i'i> bunumarise the position, lot it be said that the total number of teachers in county on the appointed day was 841. ol whom 426 only were qualified. Out of 807 now in the service of the committee, 520 are qualified. The number of Children for which the staff was equivalent ac- cording to the code on t.he appointed day was 30,020 (computing 15 scholars to eaoh 1-.T.). The present staff is equivalent to 36,485 (computing 15" only C.W.B. certificate holders and pupil teachers). This shows an increase of 3465. If the C.W.B. certificate holders, pupil teachars. and monitors are omillted from this computation, then there is a staff aoooroing to oode for 32.320, as against 26,135 on the appointed day, or an Ulcrraso of 6185, STANDARD OF EFFICIENCY. It may bo euiJ uuat this oompa,rison between the relative position before tne appointed day and at the present time doots not necessarily • prove that the stalls of our schools are as effi- cient as they should be. The oollly way in which this can be tested is by rotor once to the general etandu.rd of efficiency throughout the country. On page 41 of tHe annual iepo.it of the Hoard of Education for the year 1906-7, which was published in December last, the proportion of the number of scholars in average attendance to each adult teaciier is given as 65.80. an adult teacher being there stated to represent "all re- cognised teachers other than pupil teachers and probationers." The Carnarvonshire figure is 27.9, and even if we omit from rhe designation "adult teaohe.r" all supplementary teaone.rs who are not ex-P-T.'s, the figure will even then stand at 32.4, which is substantially better than the a verage for England and Wales. The num- ber of scholars in average attendance to eaoh certificated teacher in the administrative coun- ties of England is 73-76, and in the Welsh coun- ties 90.95. The Carnarvonsh,i.,e figure is 71, which is better than the average for the whole of Wales (including oounty boroughs and nomous areas), which stands at 1'3,83. Then, as evidence of the opinion fornied by H.M. In- spector ae to the ofliciency of the schools, it need only lie said that in every caej but five the full grant has been earned and received in respect of Carnarvonshire schools during the last three years. The deductions were in :-espeot of three voluntary eohoals, and amounted to L14 19s. and in res pec* of two Council schools, a,n(: amount- ed to £ 2 10s 4d- This represents a total deduc- tion of L17 4e, during three years, as against £112,614 grants received. This is was primarily due to the difficulty in filling vacancies in school staffs, and in three of these eaocs the staff would have been sufficient according to code had the committee not claimed and received the small population grant, amounting to £30. These vacancies related not to the appointment of cer- tificated teachers, but to uncertificated and sup- plemcin try teachers, for whom a scale of sal- aries has been in existence for some time- The Statement that "vacanoies on the staffs of schools remain unfilled for months because the salaries are inadequate and much below ihose offered by other authorities for similar positions" is con- CSquently not true. SALARIES. With regard toO salaries, the amount paid to teachers at the appointed day was £37,200 an- nually- Sinoe then the salaries have amounted everv vear as follows -U p to March, 1905, £ 43,397. 1906 £ 44.607, 1907 £ 47.329- The salar- Ïe6 are now £ 48.8^1, which shows an-inerease of Ell,631 on the figure as it was on the ap- pointed day. Even if the increased grants represented by improved average attendance are put dbwn ait 2547 multiplied Dy 42»—or £ 5348. it still leaves a.n additional sum of £ 6283, which has been pro- vided out of rates. This does not include the sum of about E1200, which will be paid for evening school work for the current session- The foregoing- figures include nothing in resnect erf the houees occupied by 45 teachers of Coun- oil SohooJe. who not only occupy thci rent fcree, but also have their rates and taxes paid by the committee. The estimated value of I *h*ch ia £ 500. and should bo ad!ded to the I £ 48,831 paid in MU*riG0| time making a total J of £ 49.331. The question of increasing the salaries of head teachers is altogether beside the point, in considering the efficiency of the schools- That is a matter that must be settled QD, its merits- In view of the foregoing facts, if the teachers of Carnarvonshire still say that education in the county is less efficient tSan it was four years ago, there is only one conclusion that must be drawn, viz., that the teaching power of our school staffs is declining. There are as many as 18 head teachers in the county who do not undertake .responsibility for a class, or in other words, do not regularly teach, and thieee are heads of schools staffed by a large proportion of certificated teachera where supervision work is necessarily less ex- acting than in rural sehoola, where a head teach- er takes charge of a class or olasees, and has also to supervise the work of lower grade teaohers- THE PRESENT OUTCRY. I do not believe for one moment that the teachers can have realised what the present outcry moans- As some indication of their es- timate of the degree of efficiency obtaining in the schools- it suffices to say that whereas 461 clialdren were submitted by them for the en- trance scholarship examination to county edhools in 1903, the number laist year was 723. The Education Cammititee have consistently endeavoured, to assist the teachers in every pos- sible way. Saturday classes have been organ- ised for the benefit of uncertificated1 and un- qualified teaohers preparing for the certificate and King's Scholarship examination respective- ly. The cost of these classes for the year end- ed March, 1907. was L600, and the committee have already disbursed this year over £560. Tihe total coot for this year will not fall far slaart of LIOOO. In addition a summer school in hygiene, educational handwork and Welsh was organised for teacher in the summers of 1906 and 1907 at a cost to the committee exceed- ing C400, Carnarvonshire being the only educa- tion authority who providted free tuition to aa many of its teaohers as cared to avail them- selves of the opportunity of .receiving expert instruction in liheso subjects- Under all these circumstances, it will be in- teresting to know how the teachers can justify the statement that the children are suffering- disadvantages wlhidh could be avoided. It is unifair to tlhe committee and to the public to tack on an agitation for an increase of salaries to » general charge of educational inefficiency which j10 foundation in fact. Moreover, the teachers wtuj probab]y find that the public will not be a!togei0h»r blind to the fact that if the amolIDt spent on in the county at the present time does not produce efficient re- sults, a larger expenditure of m-a,u,ey upon the existing staffs is not likely to improve mat-ters-

THE AFFAIRS OF A RHYL ' DENTIST.

XMAS SUNDAY IN VANCOUVER.

| ' ONLY TH nEE WEEKS TO LIVE."

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FATTING CATTLE.

BRONCHIAL CATARRH.

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