Remarks.

Gained a State School Scholarship, December, 1884.
Gained a State School Scholarship, December, 1884.

REPORT OF THE GENERAL INSPECTOR.

General Inspector's Office,

Department of Public Instruction,

Brisbane, 28th April, 1890.

SIR,-I have the honour to submit to you my Annual Report for 1889.

The usual course of office duty took up most of my time, but did not engage me wholly as in previous years. In April and May I was able to accept leave of absence for five weeks, my last leave for any length of time more than a day or two before that date having been taken in 1886; about a fortnight in June was occupied in a rather hurried round of visits, on special duty, to the Maryborough, Gympie, and Toowoomba schools; and from the end of June till the beginning of September, for ten weeks, I was engaged, under special instructions, in visiting New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia.

In addition to the usual duties of the office, towards the close of the year, my time was taken up, for a short time on afternoons, but mainly in the evening, as one of five officers-the others being the Under Secretary, the Senior District Inspector, and Messrs. Macgroarty and Kennedy, District Inspectorsconvened in conference, under instructions from the Minister, for the purpose of revising the Regulations of the Department. This conference did not cease to sit regularly till the middle of the current month, and it has not yet finally closed.

The duties of the conference above referred to interfered to some extent with the inspection of schools in Mr. Macgroarty's district, and very considerably in Mr. Kennedy's; but, in my opinion, their work in conference is more valuable than their work in the field would have been for that time, and may be profitably set off, in the int erests of the Department and of education generally, against the omitted inspection of schools.

In the end of October Mr. Kennedy met with a very serious accident, which prevented his going out to inspect during the remainder of the year. This accounts for the greater part of the omitted inspection in his district; but he was engaged on conference work even before he was properly fit for duty.

For the non-inspection of other schools, reported as not having been overtaken by inspectors, and for the smallness of the number of schools which were inspected a second time, I do not know any other reason except that the inspectors concerned did not get through their work fast enough to complete it, and in some cases took longer time to write reports than is judicious.

It is greatly to be desired that inspectors should push forward their work briskly in the early part of the year, so as to avoid a hurried rush as the year closes, and the carrying forward of a parcel of unreported inspections into the beginning of the following year.

In the revising conference before mentioned we had before us every department of school work, including, of course, inspection; and the results, in the shape of a draft of a proposed new issue of the Regulations of the Department, general instructions to teachers and others, and appendices is now with the printer. The existing Regulations, the suggestions of the teachers' conferences of 1888 and 1889, the suggestions of the District Inspectors' Conference of 1889, and the suggestions put forward by myself in a report which, by permission, I have appended to this report (Appendix A), were traversed with care, and fully discussed, before being finally submitted to the Minister for his adoption or rejection.

Appendix B to this report contains the instructions which resulted in the report above alluded to, Appendix A to this report.

The report of my Southern tour contains the main body of any new ideas on educational matters gathered by me in the neighbouring colonies; and the practical suggestions in regard to minor detail for working out the ideas will be found, in so far as these were approved, in the new issue of the Regulations.

The discipline of the service has been well maintained, on the whole, though a few cases have occurred in which it has been needful to punish more or less severely for neglected duty or improper conduct; but the reports of inspectors show that the desire is general on the part of teachers to do their work as well as they can.

Nothing would be gained, I think, by adding to or commenting on the statistical information fully supplied in tables and reports which accompany this, as appendices to the Annual Report of the Department. The reports of the District Inspectors furnish the usual full details of their work. Some of their deductions from the limited statistics at their command are not generally applicable, such as those having regard to strength of staffs and cost of instruction. The opinions they severally express, on occasions, about debatable professional matters must be accepted for what they are worth, and should not be held as committing the Department, or as being strictly correct in theory, or even as generally accepted in practice by the beat authorities.

It may be well here to note some of the provisions of the new draft Regulations, which have been in the main temporarily approved by the Minister.

Assistance is to be given towards the establishment and repair of Provisional schools, a desideratum referred to by me two years ago, and one which will be a great boon to struggling settlers.

The rule for the promotion of teachers from one division to another of the same class is stated as definitely as it was considered desirable to do, and in the classification and promotion of teachers more stress has been laid than formerly on practical skill in teaching.

Pupil teachers henceforward will not be admitted into any class higher than the second, so as to ensure at least three years of training while in pupilage, and their services will not necessarily be retained, as heretofore, after their pupilage has ended.

Schools will be classified according to attendance, and, as far as possible, the larger schools will be placed in charge of the more highly classified teachers. Due care has been used in so arranging to conserve existing interests. The strength of school staffs has also been regulated, on the basis of allotting 0, 20, 30, or 40 pupils to the head teacher, according to the size of the school, 40 to an assistant, and 30 to a pupil teacher, with adjustment half-yearly, or oftener if found to be required. The expectation from those arrangements and from corresponding adjustments, whereby teachers' salaries will be the same in the same class of school, provided their classification admits of it, is that greater freedom will be given to the Minister in transferring teachers, and the inequalities and inconvenience of the present system of capitation allowances will be done away with.

Regulations have been arranged, co-ordinated, or framed to deal with resignations, transfers, travelling expenses, leave of absence, and teachers' allowances, in regard to which the practice of the Department has been undefined or obscure.

The programme of instruction in Provisional schools, bearing in mind the capabilities of the teachers usually to be found for them, has been limited, by the exclusion of history, mechanics, drawing, drill, and music, so as to concentrate attention on the subjects of most importance and most likely to be fairly well taught.

The general course of instruction has been altered considerably with the view of minimising the attention to be given to certain subjects of least importance, either as knowledge to be acquired or as aids to mental culture and educational discipline, and of giving more scope to intelligent teaching in such subjects as reading, arithmetic, and grammar, from which accrue the highest practical advantage to the future every-day life of the pupil, as well as the intellectual gymnastics necessary for bracing the mind to logical and continuous thought.

The quantity of reading matter has been increased and the reading books changed, in the hope that, taking a new departure, teachers may adopt a less cramped style of treating the subject of the lesson, dealing less with individual words than with the general scope of the theme, so that the pupils may form a clear idea of the matter in hand and of the style in which the author has handled it, and may be taught and encouraged to read for themselves profitably and with interest.

I have long thought that far too little use is made in education of the dramatic faculty which seems to be almost innate in the young, and leads the boy to make believe he is Captain Cook, Ned Kelly, or Robinson Crusoe, according to the last tale he read and the circumstances he is in, and similarly the girl to play at being mamma, or the Queen of Sheba receiving visitors, or Florence Nightingale, according to her passing thoughts and feelings.

I should like the inspectors to encourage the teachers and them their pupils to realise as intensely as possible the work they are engaged in at school, particularly their reading lessons; and anything of the nature now hinted at should be noticed at examination times. One thing is certain, that where any harshness, want of sympathy, soreness, or strained relations exist between the head teacher and his subordinates, or between the teachers and the pupils, such work cannot be done; and while the converse may not be always true, I should be inclined to question the humanity of the discipline in a school where natural and expressive reading and recitation are not found. Teachers who cannot or do not care to operate through their pupils' imaginations are neglecting to occupy a very advantageous position for their work.

The arithmetic programme has been drawn to differentiate between the boys and the girls, as the latter lose in arithmetic by the time given to needlework, and has been extended, in regard to the boys of the upper classes, into elementary geometry and algebra. The object of this change is to get sufficient knowledge of the subject for the practical purposes of common life, at as early a stage as practicable, to utilize the subject more as an educational implement than heretofore, to prevent waste of time in dealing with hard problems in numbers of very little practical use, and to afford to boys who remain at the Primary school till they are fourteen or fifteen, and who are not to be sent to a more advanced school, some knowledge of mathematics which will enable them to deal easily with many problems not soluble except with great difficulty by arithmetical rules.

It has been recognised for some time that the instruction given under the head of object lessons has been, in a large measure, dry and dead and useless, either for the purpose of acquiring knowledge or affording relaxation or pleasure to the pupils, or aiding efficiently as an educational agent. It is proposed, under the new programme, to give in the lower classes, under the head of object and general lessons, casy conversational lessons on interesting subjects, and on conduct and manners, to be followed up by lessons

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on various matters of useful knowledge, along with temperance lessons-i.e., lessons whose aim is to warn against the abuse of alcoholic drinks-lessons on first aid in accidents, and, in the upper classes, natura science and mechanics for the boys, and domestic economy and household science for the girls.

In music it has been decided to require singing from the lowest classes upwards; and sight singing of graduated difficulty from the upper classes, to be taught from either the common or the sol-fa musical notation. It is a pity that music is not more generally understood by our teachers; perhaps by-and-bye under the operation of a training college, better taught teachers may teach the subject better. In the meantime, so far as I can see, the subject does not generally brighten school life as it should do, and take hold of the pupils so as to benefit them by its influence in after years.

Drill is not to occupy the time of the teachers and pupils further than to secure orderly class movements, and to provide a set of suitable physical movements at each change of lessons, to relieve the body and thereby refresh the mind by muscular exercise. Military drill is provided for in the upper classes where the number of pupils of suitable age is sufficient to render it probable that the work can be done profitably.

In geography, the course has been considerably lightened, so as to provide for a reasonably complete notion of general geography being supplied to the pupils without necessitating the cramming of lists of names, hard to learn and easy to forget. Inspectors and teachers should work this subject in such a way as to make it living and real. At present it is not so. He is likely to be thought the best teacher who gets the greatest quantity of the text of the biggest geography book into the minds of his pupils, using such books as Hughes and Bevan. To my mind the number of places named in the small Cornwell's geography is quite sufficient for Primary school work; and if so many are properly taught, with the facts and associations in connection with them to be collated from other sources properly woven in, I should consider geography to be well taught; while columnar lists and reticulated masses of names learned to-day and forgotten next week, or month, or year, and not connected, every one of them, in some way in the pupil's mind with the living interest of the place, I should consider as useless, if not hurtful; and the time taken to temporarily acquire them time wasted.

The proposed new programme in grammar does not differ essentially from the one heretofore in use, except that it introduces the study of composition in the upper classes in a systematic way. The idea has been gaining ground, of late years, that the teaching of grammar in our schools has, so to speak run to seed, and has become less of an intellectual culture than it should be, more of a filling up of forms, and comparatively valueless in its influence on the style of the spoken or written language of the pupils. Bad English should be carefully guarded against by the teachers, and should be corrected habitually, on suitable occasions, when found in the utterances of the pupils, in their speech or writing, or when seen elsewhere in print which comes casually under observation. Exactness of form has been sought after in parsing of words and analysis of sentences, with the proper motive of getting uniformity of practice, of compelling the facing of difficulties, and of preventing the omission of information required to show knowledge of the underlying rules and principles; but in many cases this work has been carried so far that the filling of the forms has come to be considered the main thing, instead of the explication of the relations in thought which are sought to be conveyed by the language under review, and so pupils come to think of the gems of prose and poetry presented to them for criticism less in their bearing on life, as science history, art, or morals, than as intellectual puzzles to be taken to pieces, as far as possible, without damaging them.

Drawing is introduced into the programme, to be taught from Prang's system, thus filling a blank, to which attention has frequently been called, in comparing our educational work with that of other countries.

The history taught from the old programme, according to the reports of the inspectors, is greatly lacking in intelligence and precision. It is proposed in the new scheme to limit the work in this subject, and to confine it to the matter contained in the reading books, Nelson's Royal Readers.

In addition to prescribing a general course of instruction for each class, the proposed new Regulations set forth the ages at which pupils are expected to enter each class, and thus of course they at the same time indicate the length of time considered needful to traverse the work laid down, from the age of four years at entrance to the infant school, or five years at entrance to an ordinary mixed school, up to the age of fifteen. It is also provided that pupils shall leave the infant school, or the first class of a school other than an infant school, at the age of seven, instead of eight years as heretofore.

Moreover, it has been considered judicious to set out the programme in half-yearly portions, so as to give definiteness and uniformity to the teaching and examination of the work, and consequently to assist in forming clearer comparative values of teachers' success.

The new standards of examination for pupil teachers contemplate a two years' course at a training college as their proper termination. At present pupil teachers are classified immediately on passing the examination at the end of their pupilage; and, to save existing rights, pupil teachers who were admitted previous to the current year will still be examined in the same way for admission to Class III.; but to those appointed since the beginning of 1890, the examination for admission to Class III. will be that for training college students at the end of their first year of training.

Similarly, teachers will be examined on the new programmes of study laid down for admission into Class III. and Class II., until the end of 1894, after which the examination for admission into Class III. will be that for training college students at the end of their first year of training, and for admission into Class II, the examination for training college students at the end of their second year of training.

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A new programme has also been drawn for teachers seeking admission into Class I.; and for admission into both Class II. and Class I. provision has been made for taking the examination in sections in successive years.

In making so complete a revision of the Regulations as has been done on this occasion, it was deemed advisable to provide general regulations for the establishment of a training college for teachers in the hope, which has so far been realised, that the Minister would see his way to approve of such an institution and will receive from Parliament the necessary funds for its support; but even if this does not commend itself immediately to the country, the work will not be wasted; the new programmes can be worked on the old lines, and by-and-by, when public opinion permits, we shall have not only a training college for our teachers, but that completion of our educational system, the Queensland University.

SIR,-I have the honour to forward to you the following report of my visit to the southern colonies in search of suggestions by which possibly our Department may be improved, both in respect of its administrative and its more strictly professional or educational aspects.

The letter of instructions given to me, accompanied by letters accrediting me to the Ministers for Education in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, set forth a wide range of inquiry regarding inspection, schools, teachers, pupil teachers, instruction, reading books, training of teachers, examinations, and regulations, besides leaving me free to inquire otherwise than under the heads laid down, and statedly informing me that my "whole report is to be permeated by a spirit of inquiry, with one definite object in view-namely, to find out what is best to do and to avoid in the present circumstances of the Department."

I left on my mission, as above instructed, on the 21st June last. Arrived in Melbourne on the 28th idem; left for Adelaide 23rd July, arriving on 25th; reached Melbourne again on the 3rd August; left Melbourne for Sydney on the 7th, and arrived on the 9th; and finally arrived in Brisbane from Sydney on the 3rd September last.

The actual time spent by me in each of the three colonies was :-In Victoria, thirty days; in South Australia, nine days; and in New South Wales, twenty-three days.

In each of the three colonies named above I pursued my inquiries in the following order :-First, the office and departmental routine; second, visits to large town schools; third, visits to ordinary or small country schools; and, as opportunity offered, conversing and exchanging information with the political and permanent heads of the departments, departmental officers of various grades and functions, inspectors, teachers, and the general public.

During my inquiries I amassed a quantity of official forms, books, and documents, which I have arranged, with my notes on the colonies severally, and forward herewith for your perusal.

In the following remarks I follow the order of the subjects of inquiry as laid down in my letter of instructions.

ADMINISTRATION.

Under this head I note that in the other colonies not every incoming or outgoing letter is registered. A great deal of the correspondence between the department on the one hand and its inspectors, teachers, and the public on the other is treated as formal, and disposed of by the professional or the clerical staff, according to its nature, without reference to the Minister.

I think that the Minister would be relieved, the working of the Department eased, and the public better served by the adoption of a similar practice in our Department.

The Under Secretary should have general control, but should not have to deal in detail with any papers except those which it is needful to submit to the Minister, such as those which affect the standing and position of teachers and officers.

The heads of branches, such as the Superintendent of Buildings, the Accountant, the Chief Clerk, and the General Inspector should deal with all formal papers regarding the work in their charge without reference to the Under Secretary, and should be held responsible by the Minister for the action they take. Of course, in any doubtful matter, these officers would submit the papers to the Under Secretary for the Minister's ruling.

INSPECTION.

In South Australia the Inspector-General is our Under Secretary and General Inspector in one. In Victoria there is an Inspector-General and an Assistant Inspector-General. In New South Wales there is a Chief Inspector and a Deputy Chief Inspector. Our General Inspector is the officer corresponding to the Inspector-General or Chief Inspector of the other colonies.

The Inspector-General in South Australia frequently visits schools, and his personal influence, by his presence, his writings, his arrangements, and superintendence is at present the chief factor, in my opinion, in South Australian education.

In Victoria the Inspector-General and Assistant Inspector-General do not seem to ever leave the office, but are constantly dealing with papers regarding inspection, school staffs, and school workings; and, between them, they are responsible for the examination of trainees.

In