pared with those of the same class in the previous year, show APPENDIX C. a marked improvement in all branches except Geography; but I. Head for the Third Class Teachers, there is a great falling off in all Inspectors' except Arithmetic, both in the number and character of the Reports on answers given.

Examination

of Teachers.

In the case of the Schoolmistresses, the answering in Arithmetic is upon the whole better than in the previous year, and Mr. Butler. while in other respects the exercises of the Second and Third Classes are inferior in merit to those written in 1850, the First Class Teachers answered proportionally a larger number of questions, and with greater accuracy and intelligence.

Oral Examination.-As regards Reading, there were only nine Masters out of 119, whose style was characterized by fluency and expression, whereas that of 63 Mistresses out of 137 is entered as satisfactory in these respects. Of the remainder, 84 Masters and 65 Mistresses are returned as reading with tolerable fluency and intelligence, but without the proper inflections or emphases. Too much attention cannot be paid by the Teachers to this most important branch; they should remember, what seems to be by them most frequently overlooked, that "with most persons, reading is an art," and that "the best readers are those who have most diligently studied their art; studied it so well, that you do not perceive they have ever studied it at all. You so thoroughly understand, and so sensibly feel the force of what they say, that you never think for a moment how they are saying it, and you never know the extent of your obligation to the care and labour of the elocutionist.'

Of the answering on the other subjects of the oral examination, the following table exhibits a summary view, as compared with the general answering in 1850; taking 100 questions as the number proposed to every Teacher :

APPENDIX C.

I. Head
Inspectors'
Reports on
Examination

of Teachers.

There was but one First Class Master re-summoned to the oral examination, and he answered satisfactorily, viva voce, 321 questions out of 351 put to him.

Abstract of Classification-Returns and Summaries.- I annex in Table A, an abstract of the classification returns and a statement of the sums paid to the Teachers as allowances Mr. Butler. towards the expenses incurred by them in attending the examinations and in Tables B and C, summaries of the results concerning the written exercises as set forth in the "Tabulated Particulars" which accompany this Report.

Inspectors' Returns.-The various details furnished in the District Inspectors' returns, regarding the state of the schools of the Teachers under examination, are given at length in the "Tabulated Particulars." From the summaries contained in Tables D and E, it will be seen on comparing them with those for 1850 appended to my last Report, that whereas the number of cases in which cleanliness has been neglected is returned as somewhat larger, a slight improvement appears to have taken place in the method of teaching, and the proficiency of the classes in both Male and Female schools. In point of discipline, the schools under Masters appear to have advanced, those under Mistresses to have declined; and while in regard to the character and extent of the instruction imparted, the number of Male schools, in which it is below the average, is greater, in both Male and Female schools, the number of cases in which it rises above the average has very considerably increased.

Want of District Libraries.—It is to be hoped that the progress of the schools in efficiency and good management, will become more and more marked each succeeding year, as the exertions the Teachers are now making to pass creditably the examinations they may be required from time to time to attend, cannot but have a beneficial effect upon the nature and amount of the instruction given to the pupils. That they are all fully sensible of the advantages, as well as the necessity, of carefully preparing for those examinations, I have every reason to believe; that many with hopeful unremitting earnestness are prosecuting their studies for this purpose, it is most gratifying to know; and there can be no doubt far better results would be shown, were the difficulties and drawbacks less, which circumstances beyond their control place in their way, were assistance afforded them by means of District Libraries, or of periodical meetings, such as those held for the last three years in Mullingar, by the District Inspector, Mr. Bradford.

Teachers' Meetings in Mullingar.-Of the way in which these were attended and conducted, an interesting account,

kindly furnished me by Mr. Bradford, will be found in Ap- APPENDIX C. pendix 1, annexed to this Report. This self-imposed task, it I. Head is but right to mention, was in the most praiseworthy manner Inspectors' undertaken by him in addition to the usual duties of his Reports on office, which in his very large district involved no ordinary of Teachers. Examination amount of trouble and labour.

The course he pursued seems to have been most judicious Mr. Butler. in every respect; and certainly the Teachers who were fortunate enough to attend the meetings with regularity, answered with greater readiness and accuracy than I have met with in persons who have not had the same advantages. I may in corroboration point out that in the written exercises of five Second Class Masters belonging to this district, who had been able to avail themselves of this opportunity for instruction, only 12 per cent. of the answers were found unsatisfactory, while for the 19 examined in all the districts, the number of unsatisfactory answers amounts to 30 per cent.

To the careful consideration of such of the Inspectors as may be induced to follow Mr. Bradford's example, I would earnestly recommend these few points :-That, unless they can make time to superintend and take part in these meetings themselves, little good will be effected in them;-that examinations are for many reasons to be preferred to lectures; -that the subjects to be taken up at each meeting should be previously appointed and prepared;-that these subjects should be those specified in the programme, giving the first place in point of importance to the branches essential to every Teacher, and a familiarity with which is absolutely necessary for the efficient management of an elementary school;-that special care be paid to allot to the various branches according to their relative importance, a due share of attention, and not to devote too much time to those in which from previous habits of thought and study one would feel the deepest interest, but which to ninety-nine out of a hundred of our elementary Teachers would prove quite profitless.

School-management.-Before concluding, I think it necessary to refer to the subject of School-keeping or Schoolmanagement, which has, unavoidably perhaps, been hitherto almost wholly overlooked in our examinations. The fact is, there is no text-book on the art and science of education which can be placed in the hands of our Teachers, and the peculiar features of the National Schools render it very difficult to provide a work on this subject sufficiently full to embrace all its essential principles and details, and at the same time free from well-grounded objections. The only books at present within the reach of the Teachers are Dr. Sullivan's Outline of the Methods of Teaching in the Male Model

I. Head
Inspectors'
Reports on
Examination
of Teachers.

APPENDIX C. Schools," and the Rev. Mr. Dawes' " Suggestive Hints.” Both of these works treat rather of the manner in which instruction on a subject should be conveyed to a Class, than of the general principles of School-management, the arrangement of the School-rooms and furniture, the classification of the children, the cultivation of their faculties and feelings, Mr. Butler. the extent and character of the instruction to be imparted to them, &c. It has thus happened, that on this all-important branch of the Schoolmaster's duties-a well-grounded knowledge of the end he is to propose to himself and of the means he must employ to attain it-the examination has of necessity been very meagre, and limited to a few questions on the rules and regulations of the Commissioners, the manner of keeping the School-Accounts, and the more prominent and obvious points connected with the mode of teaching some of the branches. And even in this narrow compass the results have not been in any degree satisfactory.

It would be most desirable to have this want supplied, and all the Teachers provided with a proper Hand-book on the principles and practice of education. To the absence of a work of this kind many of the most glaring defects observed in the Schools are no doubt to be traced.

In order to present to the Teachers some idea of the matters usually treated in works and lectures on the science of education, I insert in Appendix 2, extracts from the Syllabus of Lessons on Education given to the students in training at the Home and Colonial School Society, a list of "Conversational Readings" on the art of teaching and governing in a School, delivered to the students in the Normal School of the British and Foreign School Society, together with a set of "Questions to Test a School," as contained in the manual of this Society; I have added some selections from the examination papers on this head, which have been used in England during the last few years.

I have the honour to be, your obdient Servant,
EDWARD BUTLER.

The Secretaries, Education Office.

APPENDIX 1.

ACCOUNT OF THE TEACHERS' MEETINGS HELD IN MULLINGAR. In May, 1848, after the examination of the Male Teachers, I collected those who live in the neighbourhood of the town, and proposed that they should form themselves into three classes, each of which would attend every third Saturday at the Mullingar Male school, and prepare for the examinations of future years. Most of them agreed, and we

commenced reading the course laid down in the programme APPENDdix C. for First, Second, and Third Class.

I. Head

Examination

of Teachers.

After a time it was found expedient to alter the days of at- Inspectors' tendance for each class. During the last two years the order Reports on has been thus:-The First Class come on the first Saturday of the month, the Second Class on the second Saturday, the Third Class (the Probationers and the two paid Monitors who live Mr. Butler. in the town) on the third Saturday; on the fourth Saturday the Second Class attend, and the First Class on the fifth Saturday.

The Third Class prepare a certain number of pages in every book appointed for their class in the programme. I question them on those pages, requiring the meaning of the passages, and in their own words, not those of the book, that it may not be a mere exercise of memory.

The same course is pursued with Second and First Class, except that the fourth and fifth Saturdays are given exclusively to Geometry, Algebra, the Lessons on Reasoning, and Chemistry.

Occasionally I find an opportunity of suggesting improvements in the method of teaching or conducting their schools, and of cautioning them against such neglects or errors as I have seen during my late visits of inspection.

At times advanced books of my own are introduced, for the purpose of illustration or explanation, but the questions asked are invariably drawn from the works mentioned in the programme.

As the parts of the Epitome of Geographical Knowledge selected for Second and First Class have so many unconnected particulars, and as the history in the Fifth Lesson Book is arranged in a manner most inconvenient for study, I have drawn up a set of questions on the principal points in both these subjects, on which alone I question, that the Teachers may obtain just general views.

But in all the other subjects, every page of the course prescribed is gone through. Jackson's Book-Keeping is used in addition to that published by the Board, as being so very useful in giving a general knowledge of the subject in a short time. I have been much struck with the superior answering, at the yearly examinations of the older Teachers, who have learned from Jackson. As far as I have seen, the younger men are greatly inferior to them.

I think it would be well that Dawes' " Hints" and the first and second books of the "Epitome" were added to the course, for First and Second Class. The former of these works is full of information most useful to our Teachers; the latter would give them a greater interest in studying the Fifth Book and the Geography Generalized.

In general we assemble at half-past one o'clock, and leave off