Circular Should the authority desire, the Board will be prepared, in making the final payment of grant for the area, to intimate to them the amount of grant which is included in respect of any such school in the total grant paid under the section. 620, 14th July, 1906. The essential requirements of the Form of Claim on account of the final payment of grant, which will be issued by the Board during the course of the session, have been indicated above. This Form must be accompanied by a report prepared by the authority describing the work of the session, and indicating the extent of the divergence, if any, which has been made from the statement of scheme subinitted at the beginning of the session. With it there should be sent also such other information, including statistical and topographical information (if not previously supplied otherwise), as may be necessary to place the Board in possession of the materials essential to the proper consideration of the educational requirements and facilities of the area. The Board find that a number of local education authorities have already made preliminary surveys of their areas with a view to the compilation of information relating to population, industries, means of communication and so forth; and the Board will be glad to place their experience in such matters at the disposal of authorities who have not already initiated such a survey. The alternative scheme now incorporated in the Regulations (Section 34) should have a definite effect in simplifying administration, and in promoting the closer relation of instruction to the needs of those counties which are essentially rural. And I am to express the hope that, even for the session now shortly to begin, some county authorities will find the organisation of their evening schools and technical classes to be such as to justify them in applying for recognition of their work in accordance with the provisions of that scheme. Form 308a. EDUCATION ACT, 1902. SECTION 8 (1). Proposal for New School by Local Education Authority.' SIR, The public notice should be in the annexed form, which should be followed exactly in order to obviate any question as to the validity of the notice. Publication should be made by an advertisement in at least one newspaper circulating in the district, and by affixing a copy for three months to or near a principal outer door of the Council's office and at all usual and convenient public places throughout the area to be served by the school. Copies should also be forwarded to the Board of Education, to the managers of all public elementary schools within two miles of the school, and to the minor local authority or authorities for the said area. I am to request that at the expiration of three months from the first date of publication you will return the annexed form of notice duly filled up, with the declaration endorsed on the back thereof signed by yourself. A copy of one issue of each newspaper in which the notice has been advertised should also be forwarded. I have the honour to be, Sir, To the Your obedient Servant, ROBERT L. MORANT. to the Local Education Authority. 'Almost identical forms "308 B proposal for enlargement by local education authority" and "308 C transfer of school to local education authority" are also issued by the Board of Education. Separate forms "309A proposal for new voluntary school," " '309B proposal for enlargement of voluntary school," and 309c transfer of school from local education authority," are in use in respect of proceedings relating to voluntary schools. Form FORM 308 A. (Notice). 308a. EDUCATION ACT, 1902, SECTION 8 (1). Local Education Authority. Name the borough, urban district or rural parish in which the school will be actually situated. Council of being the local propose to provide NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 of children at The school will be available for the following area : in the Signed Date -19 -to the Local Education Authority. § Section 8 (1) of the Education Act, 1902, provides as follows :[The text of section 8 (1) follows here in the original form. In the form as to enlargements, sub-sections (1) (2) of section 8 are given; and in the form as to transfers, sub-sections (1) (3) of the section.] FORM 308 A. (Declaration). To be signed and returned to the Board of Education only when three months from the date of first publication of the notice shall have elapsed. I do hereby declare that the notice whereon this declaration is endorsed was published by advertisement on the date[s] named in the undermentioned newspaper[s] circulating in the district in which the proposed school will be situated, and by affixing a copy for three months to or near a principal outer door of the Council's office, and that copies were forwarded to the managers of all public elementary schools within two miles of the proposed site, and to the minor local authority (or authorities) for the area which the school will serve. The Board of Education find that applications are still in some cases being addressed to them by local education authorities for the admission of candidates as pupil teachers from 1st August, 1904, or from earlier dates. They think it therefore desirable to point out that it is required by Article 4 of the Pupil Teacher Regulations that the names of candidates proposed for admission from 1st August or 1st January in any year should be submitted to the Board before 1st July or 1st December, as the case may be. The Board have recognised that it would not be reasonable to enforce this rule during the past year, in view of the great amount of work which necessarily devolved upon authorities in connection with the organisation of the training of pupil teachers in their respective areas. When, therefore, they have been satlsfied that a boy or girl has in fact been employed and instructed as a pupil teacher from a given date, they have been willing to recognise a candidate as a pupil teacher from that date, although formal recognition was not applied for at the proper time. They think, however, that local education authorities should now have in their possession information with regard to all boys and girls employed in teaching in public elementary schools in their area, for whom recognition under the regulations from any date previous to 1st August, 1905, can properly be claimed. They therefore wish to give notice that they will not recognise any candidate as a pupil teacher from 1st August, 1904, or 1st January, 1905, unless application for such recognition is made not later than 1st November, 1905; nor will they recognise any candidate as a pupil teacher from 1st August, 1905, unless application for such recognition is made not later than 1st January, 1906. It is hoped that applications for the admission of candidates from ISI January, 1906, may also be submitted before that date. It will be understood that in any case retrospective recognition of a pupil-teacher from any date can only be allowed if the Board are satisfied that the boy or girl in question has actually been instructed and employed as a pupil teacher from the date from which recognition is desired. I have the honour to be, Sir, To the Local Education Authority. E. K. CHAMBERS. Some uncertainty appears to prevail among managers of voluntary schools, and even among local education authorities, as to the meaning of Article 15 (a) of the Code, which relates to the imposition upon a teacher of duties extraneous to the work of the public elementary school, in which he is, or is desirous of being employed. It is not uncommon to find either in the advertisement of the vacancy, or in subsequent correspondence with applicants for the post, an intimation that the teacher will be required to play the organ in church, or teach in the Sunday school, or to perform some other duty unconnected with the work of the school. The Board think it necessary to remind local education authorities and managers that any such requirement is invalid, and that its enforcement may involve a refusal by the Board to recognise the teacher, and further, may even disentitle the school to further recognition as a public elementary school Such being the case, the Board think it desirable to warn school managers that the continued recognition of the school correspondent by whom the advertisement or intimation has been issued might be rendered impossible Even in cases where the discharge of extraneous duties is not made a condition of appointment, but is merely suggested to applicants as a means of increasing their income, it would be right that a local authority should satisfy themselves that educational qualifications have not been subordinated to a capacity and.willingness on the part of the candidate to play the organ in church, to teach at a Sunday school, or to undertake any other work not connected with the usual duties of a teacher of a public elementary school. From various incidents which have occurred recently the Board think it desirable to impress upon local education authorities and managers the necessity for making the teaching capacity and educational qualifications of the candidate the essential considerations in appointments to teaching posts in public elementary schools. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant, H. M. LINDSELL. |