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The rate-payers elect the boards to serve for three years. They are empowered to make by-laws relating to religious teaching, compulsory attendance, etc., and to borrow money for the providing and enlarging of schoolhouses, subject in each case, however, to the approval of the department. Without reference to the department they may levy rates and call for funds from the rates to cover deficiencies in income.

By-laws relating to religious teaching and attendance must not violate the clauses in the act which protect religious liberty and prohibit sectarian teachings in board schools.1

At the latest date of report the total number of boards (England and Wales) was 2,274. Of these, 162 were in boroughs, whose populations ranged from 750 upwards, by far the larger proportion, i. e. 85 per cent., comprising each above 5,000 inhabitants. The remaining boards were in parishes. Above 75 per cent. of these parishes had less than 2,000 inhabitants. The election of boards had been compulsory in 36 of the boroughs and in 1,045 of the parishes.

The powers, save only that relating to the raising of money, may be delegated to a board of managers of not less than three persons. This privilege is exercised to some extent by the school boards of London and Liverpool with apparently good results, The Birmingham board, which has always been one of the most progressive in England, has no managers, but employs a corps of paid inspectors, and in addition seeks in various ways to promote the interest of parents in the schools and to establish bonds of union between parents and teachers.

If a school district be not within the jurisdiction of a board, a school attendance committee may be appointed in a borough by the town council; in a parish by the guardians. They must report infractions of the law with respect to school attendance or the employment of children. Such committees have been appointed in 125 municipal boroughs and in 619 other districts. The population of England and Wales under school boards in 1889 was 16,481,753, and under school attendance committees 9,492,686, or a total equivalent to 893 per cent of the entire population.

Voluntary schools are not under the school boards, but are controlled by their own committees. Local authorities of all classes are termed in general "managers." They are responsible for the conduct of their schools, for their maintenance in efficiency, and for the provision of all needful furniture, books, and apparatus, and in particular of(a) Suitable registers.

(b) A portfolio to contain official letters.

(c) A diary or log book.

(d) A cash book.

(e) The code and revised instructions for its application for each year.

1See p. 97.

THE TEACHING FORCE.

Classification and qualifications.-The teaching force for elementary instruction comprises pupil-teachers, assistant teachers, provisionally certificated teachers, certificated teachers, and evening-school teachers. A pupil-teacher is a boy or girl engaged by the managers of a public elementary day school on condition of teaching during school hours under the superintendence of the principal teacher and receiving suitable instruction.

The managers are bound to see that the pupil-teacher is properly instructed during the engagement, and the department, if satisfied that this duty is neglected, may decline to recognize any pupil-teachers as members of the staff of a school under the same managers.

Candidates, in order to be engaged as pupil-teachers, whether at the end of a year of probation or without probation, must be presented to the inspector for approval at his annual visit, must produce certificates as to health, character, and attainments, and must pass an examination in the work of the two highest years of the elementary school. They must be not less than fourteen years of age at the beginning of their engagement. The engagement may be for four, for three, or for two years.

Pupil teachers who have passed certain specified examinations may be recognized as assistant teachers, or if specially recommended by the inspector on the ground of their practical skill, may be recognized as provisionally certificated teachers in charge of small schools. No certificate (i. e., diploma) is issued to provisionally certificated teachers, nor can they serve in this capacity after the completion of the twenty-fifth year of their age.

To be recognized as an assistant teacher one must have passed the Queen's scholarship examination, which admits to a training college, or some one of the examinations recognized by the department. These include, among others, the university higher local examinations, and the College of Preceptor's examination for the teacher's diploma.1

Teachers, in order to obtain certificates, must be at least twenty years of age; must pass two examinations at an interval of one year or more, and must have given satisfactory proofs of their professional abil ity in actual service for two years as provisionally certificated, or for one year as assistants, before they can be admitted to the first examination. There is but one class of certificates, but a distinction is made as regards the rights to superintend pupil-teachers.

A certificate may at any time be recalled or suspended, but not until the department have informed the teacher of the charges against him and given him an opportunity of explanation.

In estimating what is the minimum school staff required, the department consider the principal certificated teacher to be sufficient for an

That is the diploma awarded by the College of Preceptors, a private body.

average attendance of seventy if trained, and of sixty if untrained, each assistant teacher for an average attendance of fifty, each pupil-teacher for an average attendance of thirty, each candidate for a pupil-teachership on probation for an average attendance of twenty.

The teachers of day schools must belong to the laity, a restriction which does not hold in respect to evening classes.

Appointments, salaries, pensions.-Teachers are appointed and their salaries adjusted by school boards, or in the case of voluntary schools, by the managers thereof. There is no uniform scale of salaries. The average salary of certificated masters is now £119 12s. ($590), as against £94 is. ($470) in 1870. The average salary of a certificated school-mistress is £75 98. ($378), which is about the same as in 1870.

The following table shows the several grades of salaries, and the number of certificated teachers in receipt of each.

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In addition to their other emoluments, 5,906 out of 17,449 masters and 4,673 out of 26,139 mistresses are provided with residences free of rent.

The sum of $31,629 is voted annually for pensions, donations, or special gratuities to teachers in Great Britain engaged prior to May 9, 1862. The rules governing the distribution are embodied in the code.

Present force. The active teaching staff for the latest year of report (1889) was composed as follows:

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The great and increasing proportion of female teachers is a matter noted in each successive report. In 1869, out of every 100 teachers of each class, 48 certificated teachers, 60 assistant teachers, and 57 pupilteachers were women; in 1889 these proportions were 60, 75, and 74 respectively.

Training of teachers.-The expression "trained teachers" is applied to those who have passed through a training college under Government inspection.

Demand vs. supply of trained teachers.-In 1889 these colleges1 were attended by 3,294 students, which is very nearly the entire number for which they afford accommodation.

This attendance would furnish a yearly supply of 1,500 teachers having two years' training, a supply which would be amply sufficient to fill up the waste in a staff of 25,000 teachers or a little more than half the number of certificated teachers actually engaged in the schools. One of the most important problems at present under consideration is the means of increasing the provision for training teachers.

In discussing this subject in their report for 1889-90 the committee of council say:

The extent to which the training colleges have contributed to the present supply of efficient teachers in England and Wales is shown by the fact that of 18,250 masters employed in schools reported on in 1888-89, 11,559, or 63.34 per cent. had been trained for two years, and 909, or 4.98 per cent., for less than two years; while 5,782, or 31.68 per cent., were untrained. In like manner, of 27,184 schoolmistresses, 11,502, or 41.31 per cent., had been trained for two years; 893, or 3.28 per cent., for less than two years; and 14,789, or 54.41 per cent., were untrained.

Of the teachers, however, who, from whatever cause, have not attended a training college, a considerable proportion can not, except in a technical sense of the word, be classed as untrained, having, under the superintendence of some of the best teachers, passed through the pupil-teacher's course and served as assistants in large schools before passing the examination for a certificate and undertaking independent charges.

Under present conditions, a considerable number of teachers who have not passed through the training college will always be required for service in the small schools of the country, since the trained masters can not be secured for schools that offer less than $500 a year for head

A detailed view of training colleges is given on a subsequent page.

or assistant masters, and even the salaries commanded by women after two years of training are beyond the means of the majority of small schools.

SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION.

The obligatory subjects of elementary instruction in day schools are reading, writing, and arithmetic, with needlework for girls and drawing for boys in schools for older scholars. These subjects are arranged in seven grades, called standards. Pupils must pass an examination in each standard before passing to the next, and as the examinations are annual it follows that a standard is equivalent to a year.

Additional subjects may be included in the programme, to be taken either by classes or by individuals. Pupils may be drawn from one or more standards, i. e., grades, for instruction in the class subjects, examinations in the same being conducted by classes and not by individuals. The subjects comprised in this category are singing, recitation (i. e., of literary selections), English, geography, elementary science, drawing for boys in infant schools and classes, needlework for girls (optional as a class subject).

The following subjects may be taken by individuals who have passed the fourth standard, intended to be reached by pupils at 10 years of age:

Algebra, Euclid and mensuration, mechanics, chemistry, physics, animal physiology, botany, principles of agriculture, Latin, French, domestic economy (for girls), Welsh (for scholars in schools in Wales), German, bookkeeping; shorthand, according to some system recognized by the department; cookery and laundry work may be taken by girls.

Any subject, other than those mentioned above, may, if sanctioned by the department, be taken as a specific subject, provided that a graduated scheme for teaching it be submitted to and approved by the inspector.

Instruction may be given in other secular subjects, and in religious subjects, but no grant is made in respect to any such instruction; as a rule little is attempted beyond the official programme.

Actual state of the schools as regards subjects of instruction.-An interesting view of the actual scholastic work of the schools is presented in the report of the annual examinations for 1888-89. The number of schools comprised in the report is 19,310, i. e., 99 per cent. of the entire number, and enrolling 99 per cent. of the pupils, or practically the whole school attendance. About 30 per cent. of these pupils were in infant schools. Of the 70 per cent. in the schools for older pupils, 2,580,720 were presented for examination. From the report it appears that whereas as many as 1,410,626 being over 10 years of age, ought to have been presented in Standards IV-VII, only 962,565 were so presented, while 448,081 (or 31.76 per cent.) were presented in standards

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