General Report, for the Year 1848-9, by Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, the Rev. F. C. COOK, M.A., on the Schools inspected by him in the Metropolitan District of England, comprising the Counties of Middlesex, Bedford, Buckingham, and Hertford.

MY LORDS,

December 1849.

A LONGER time than usual has elapsed since I had the honor of laying before your Lordships a Report on the state of education in the district under my inspection. Since the spring of last year changes of great importance have been made in the organization of those national schools to which I have been compelled to direct almost exclusive attention; and the improvements, which were matter of hope or rational expectation in 1847, are now visibly in progress, and to a great extent have assumed the character of ascertained and demonstrated facts.

Some peculiar difficulties, however, have prevented me from preparing so complete a statement of these facts as might have been expected in this year's Report. No small portion of my time has been employed in preparing examination questions, conducting the examinations and reporting on the papers and general proficiency of candidates for Certificates of Merit, and in inspecting the Training Establishment at Whitelands. My work was also suspended by a severe illness in the spring of this year; and though a considerable part of the time passed in confinement was occupied by the revision of examination papers, and, therefore, not lost to the public service, yet that interruption made a great difference of course in the number of schools which I have been able to inspect. It should be stated also that, until, by the appointment of another Inspector, I was relieved from the charge of several counties, the extent of my former district, and the multiplicity of claims upon my time, made it impossible for me to discharge my duties in a satisfactory manner.

In addition to these difficulties, it must be observed that the manner in which the examination of schools receiving annual grants from your Lordships has been necessarily conducted hitherto, has caused great embarrassment and loss of time. The previous conference with the school-managers, the written and oral examination of the candidates, and the interviews with parents and other persons interested in their success, have generally detained the Inspector so long that, under the most favorable circumstances, it has been a matter of great difficulty

to ascertain the state of instruction, and scarcely possible to collect full and accurate statistical returns. In future most of these difficulties will be removed by the arrangements lately made for the centralization of our several districts; but unless they are borne in mind, no fair allowance can be made for deficiencies which will be observed in this Report.

During the last two years my attention has been steadily directed to a few leading points upon which must ultimately depend the success or failure of what is to be regarded as a great and novel experiment. In every school the questions before my mind have been these:-1. Whether the influences to which the apprentices bound to the schoolmasters, under the Minutes of August 1846, are now subjected, are such as are likely, humanly speaking, to form a race of religious, moral, well-informed, skilful, and energetic teachers? For the difficulty which lies at the threshold of every endeavour to raise the moral and intellectual condition of the poor is to find efficient agents by whom the intentions of Christian philanthropists may be carried into effect. 2. Whether there are fair grounds for believing that the effects already produced upon the discipline, instruction, and general efficiency of schools, in which pupil-teachers are apprenticed, are commensurate with the expense incurred by the State, the increased labours of the schoolmasters, and the additional responsibility which devolves upon the school-managers? And (3) in connexion with this question, whether it may be reasonably anticipated that such instances of partial failure, as may occur, will become less frequent when the system is better understood and, therefore, worked with greater ease; and that the advantages which all persons admit, or which can be clearly proved to have been already attained, are guarantees of future improvements? The answers to these three questions, which may however be taken together, will form the first part of my present Report. I will then endeavour to give some account of the apparent effects of that great stimulus and encouragement which have been given to teachers by the system of examinations for Certificates of Merit, and of the difficulties which yet appear to stand in the way of a general improvement in national education, as well as of some experiments which have been made in the hope of surmounting them. These points are the most important, since they must cast light on the difficult question of how far those improvements which, as all admit, are desirable, may also be regarded as practicable, and in what manner they may be attempted with a reasonable prospect of success?

1. With reference to the pupil-teachers, the first point to be considered is, whether due precautions are taken, and with success, to secure their religious training? I have always

entertained, and have frequently expressed, a conviction that the Christian religion, in its purity and integrity, is the only safe basis of mental development; and I have always regarded as subordinate to this every question touching the intellectual proficiency of the children, and especially of the apprentices in our schools. No clergyman in the land is more fully sensible than Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools are, and ought to be, that in dealing with the pupil-teachers we are touching the very root of the national life, inasmuch as the sources from which the opinions of the industrial classes will be derived for many years must be affected by the principles infused into the minds and hearts of these youths at the present time. If they are not thoroughly christianized, the religious life of the schools will decline, in spite of the most strenuous efforts of the clergy; but if they be intelligent and consistent believers, we may anticipate, even on merely rational grounds, a progressive improvement in the mass of the population. Of this we are fully aware; and we are also assured that, in proportion as this view is kept prominently in the foreground, the system of apprenticeship is likely to conciliate the good-will of earnest and thoughtful lovers of the Church. It ought not to be necessary for an ordained minister of the Church to make such a statement; but so much has been said of the disposition of the Inspectors to promote secular, to the detriment of religious instruction, that I cannot refrain from asserting that we hold the religious training to be, not merely a leading consideration, but paramount to all others; that by which the system should be tried, and with which it must stand or fall.

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It has been said, however, that, admitting individual Inspectors to entertain such a view of their duty, the tendency of the system lies in an opposite direction, and that it will gradually secularize all instruction, or leave but a subordinate position for religious influences. This is a point of far more importance than any personal and merely subjective considerations. will therefore be satisfactory to show not only that the system, while it throws the burden of responsibility for the religious training of the apprentices upon the spiritual superintendents of the schools, provides the means of meeting that responsibility, and, far from diminishing, confirms and extends their legitimate authority; but also, that the practical working of the system goes to the formation of a class of teachers who will have received a course of religious training and instruction which combines more advantages than had been hitherto contemplated, or hoped for, by the promoters of national education.

The responsibility, in the first place, must rest upon those who, having full opportunities of knowing the religious priciples of the candidates, select them for examination. Now that selection rests with the school-managers, and virtually,

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indeed in most cases exclusively, with the parochial clergy. This fact appears on the face of the Minutes of 1846, but is often misunderstood. The Inspector does not examine a school in order to select from the first class those boys who appear to him to be the most intelligent, or to possess the greatest aptitude for teaching; but he subjects those candidates who have been previously selected, and are presented to him by the local managers, to an examination in which every subject is definitely stated and previously known to the teachers, in order to ascertain whether such candidates have reached a certain standard of attainment. The religious principles and character of the candidates are of course the main considerations which guide the managers in making the selection; and if the certificates on these points are not satisfactory, no examination takes place. Inspector afterwards records his impression as to the manners, apparent disposition, and character of the candidate; but that statement, if favorable, serves only to confirm their judg ment; and when, as very rarely happens, it is unfavorable, it may lead to discussion, and to a reconsideration of the grounds on which the recommendation has been made, but it does not affect the candidate's success if the examination is satisfactory and the school-managers press the appointment. They are thus responsible for the religious principles of candidates, having full power to choose and to reject according to their own judgment. I have taken great pains to inquire into the practical working of this principle, and, having now been Inspector in the metropolis nearly nine years, have had every opportunity of ascertaining the facts. I can assert with perfect confidence, that the great majority of boys and girls now apprenticed in my district are selected in the first instance by the clergy, and are afterwards approved by the local committee, when the laity take any real interest in the schools. They then remain under the influence of those to whom they are indebted for their appointment, and upon whose continued approbation, as they are fully aware, their future prospects depend.

The signature of the clergyman is also required, and is always attached to the certificate of the candidates' religious knowledge. He is therefore responsible, if not for the extent of their acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, yet for their thorough knowledge of the Church Catechism and of all fundamental points of Christian doctrine. It is not to be supposed that any clergyman would sign the certificate if he had not very clear and safe grounds for his opinion; nor can it be asserted that any boys or girls are apprenticed, in the first instance, whose religious knowledge is deficient in any essential points, without bringing, by implication, a grave charge against the clergy. I can state as a fact, which I have had ample means of ascertaining, that they take the greatest pains

to prepare the candidates in this subject; many have given them regular instruction, and have made them pass written examinations previously to their trial before the Inspector. They have not been satisfied with such an amount of knowledge as might enable the candidates to pass that trial with perfect security, but have, in most cases, extended the instruction to all the most important books of Holy Scripture and the best elementary works on the formularies of our Church.

The results of this examination have been uniformly satisfactory. This is no more than was to be expected. The pupil teachers are of course selected from the best children in the best schools; and I have frequently had occasion to state that, whatever may have been the deficiencies in our national schools in other respects, and however imperfect even the religious instruction may have been in the lower classes, which were of necessity left chiefly under the charge of monitors, still those children who have made any progress at all are, with exceedingly few exceptions, both well acquainted with the Word of God, and, so far as I can judge, carefully instructed in its practical application to their own hearts and conduct. I stated last year, and now repeat with perfect confidence, that the religious knowledge of the pupil-teachers, at the time of their apprenticeship, in no instance has fallen short of the standard proposed in the Minutes, and that it usually embraces a comprehensive acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, and with the formularies and Liturgy of the Church of England.

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It will be allowed that this is a fair foundation, both for religious training and instruction. There is no less satisfactory security for the continuance and completion of the work. fore the pupil-teachers are examined at the close of each year, a formal certificate is given by the clergyman that he is satisfied with their attention to their religious duties, and with their progress in religious knowledge, the latter certificate being given in conjunction with the Inspector, the former resting entirely with himself. The great power which this condition insures to the clergy may be easily understood. It makes the continuance of the apprenticeship of every pupil teacher dependent upon their continued approbation. It is not a greater power than ought to be assigned to them; not greater than is necessary for the safe working of such a scheme; but it is undoubtedly so great as to make them responsible for the religious character of the apprentices. Each clergyman is thus most properly appealed to in his own parish as the sole and ultimate judge of what constitutes due attention to religious duties in those whose influence tells at present so directly upon the character of the school children, and who will be, in all probability, the educators of the next generation. All clergymen, we may be convinced, regard such a certificate as a very