At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 1st day of

reason

March 1855;

availE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, OF HER

DIR,

MAJESTY'S MOST HONORABLE PRIVY COUNCIL

Night

7-The following draft circular to Her Majesty's Teachers in Actors of Schools, with enclosures, explanatory of the Schools, utes affecting night schools:

THE enclosed printed paper* contains the rules and principles upon which my Lords have, for a considerable period, been acting in regard to ev ning schools.

From this paper you will at once see that the practice of the Committee interposes no difficulty in the way of those schools where a second teacher is maintained, such teacher either holding a certificate of merit, or being an assistant under the Minute of 23 July 1852.†

A second certificated teacher (in addition to the master or mistress of the same department) can rarely be maintained in any but very large and prosperous schools. At the same time, as a night school ought never to be gratuitous, the whole expense of the second certificated teacher need not fall upon the ordinary funds of the day school. This is perhaps the best arrangement wherever it can be effected, the day school and the night school helping to improve each other.

An assistant teacher, under the Minute of 23 July 1852, may be mainItained at little or no expense to the managers in any school under a certificated master where the average attendance exceeds 100 (see Minute of 20 August 1853, s. 8). Such an assistant should not be employed in the night school, but in the less important afternoon school, relieving the princinal teacher at that time, who thus is ready for the night school in person. This being the state of the official regulations, a certain number of applications are from time to time brought before my Lords by the promoters of schools, chiefly in rural parishes, praying that the master may be entrusted with pupil-teachers, notwithstanding that he is employed in an evening school without any relief from one of the other school-times on the same day. With regard to the general question, my Lords continue to think that six hours of active teaching in an elementary school for the children of the poor, together with another hour and a half devoted to the instruction of pupilteachers, and the time needed for private study, is as much as ought to be required of one teacher; and that, if evening schools are to be developed (as is most desirable and even indispensable), there must be a corresponding extension or adaptation of the teaching power.

Several of the most pressing applications might have been prevented by recruiting the school staff pursuant to section 8 in the Minute‡ of 20 August 1853, and the same object may still be occasionally accomplished by means of transfers and exchanges, to be effected with the approval of my Lords.

The only general concessions which my Lords can consent to make are to the following effect, viz. :-(1.) That, in consideration of a night school to be attended on an average by twenty scholars for at least sixty nights in the same year, an assistant be allowed in lieu of an apprentice under a certificated teacher, although the number of day scholars falls below 100. (2.) That, if the master of apprentices has to keep a day school during all the ordinary Fours, he shall be recognized in the further charge of an evening school, on lition that he be engaged in giving suitable industrial instruction (not common lessons) to the older boys during the afternoons of those days on hich he is to conduct an evening school; the younger boys being at the same

* Minutes of 1851-2, vol. i., page 74.

+ Minutes of 1852-3, vol. i. p. 10.

+ Supra, p. 12.

time handed over to a mistress, who must not only be able to teach the gins to sew, but also to superintend the younger boys when set to work on the elements of reading and writing. The concession is confined to shools in which the number of children does not exceed 100.

The person who teaches needlework to the girls ought to be good manners and able to read, use, and pronounce English correctly. In the case last proposed (of her taking the younger boys on certain afternoons) it would be indispensable that she should be a person not only thus qualified, but also able to write fairly. In mixed schools, with an industrial mistress for the girls, Her Majesty's Inspector should always ascertain and report what kind of person is retained in the latter office.

The Inspector should also, in any such case, recommend with more than ordinary earnestness the preparation of lessons at home. The comparative abeyance, in modern elementary schools, of the old-fashioned plan of “setting” the next day's lesson to a class, and of looking for this lesson in school, not to be learnt but, to be "said" (the master's part being to "hear" and to explain it when needful, not to teach it ab initio to uninformed and comparatively passive recipients), is nearly enough to account for the evanescent character which is complained of in the instruction of the poor when tested at later periods of life; and, if the immediate object be to relieve the master, this relief may be attained the most readily by a partial recurrence to the same independent method.

The appendage of an industrial class to a school in the rural districts is not inconsistent with the half-time system indicated in the Minute of 29 April 1854.* On the contrary, it may be made to serve as a step towards it; more especially if the master be acquainted, not only with the practice, but also with the scientific ground and theory of the work which he teaches. The scien tific part of the industrial instruction may be followed in-doors during the winter months, and so also may carpentry.

The enclosed circulart will remind you of the public aid which is offered towards the industrial branches of education, viz.,-one third of the annua cost of tools, one half of the rent of land, and a gratuity of 2s. 6d. pœ industrial scholar to the schoolmaster in addition to his other payments.

Supposing a separate industrial instructor to be retained, and the master to be entirely released from duty during the industrial occupation, such an arrangement answers all the purposes of an assistant under the Minute of 23 July 1852, in rendering the master available for an evening school; and my Lords grant 5s. per industrial scholar towards the salary of the additional instructor.

In one or other of the foregoing ways, therefore, the managers of a rural school, with pupil-teachers therein, may organize an evening class, under the master's own superintendence, without difficulty, e. g.,

(1.) If the number of children in attendance at the day school ranges between 50 and 100, and if the number of night scholars exceeds 20, the managers may retain an assistant in the school pursuant to the Minute of 23 July 1852.

(2.) Instead of such an assistant, the managers of any school under inspection may organize an industrial class, to meet in the afternoon under a gardener, superior labourer, or other person competent to instruct the class in the manual work selected; while the girls and younger boys are at the same time employed in school under a mistress competent to teach sewing and the elements of reading and writing.

(3.) If there be not more than two pupil-teachers in the school, and if the number of scholars in average attendance admit of no greater number, the master may himself both act as the industrial instructor during the afternoon, and may also teach in the evening school on the same days. I have the honor to be, &c. (Signed)

To Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools.

* Minutes of 1853-4, vol. i., page 30.

R. R. W. LINGEN.

† Ibid, page 57.

Read-Representations to the effect that, where, for various reasons, none of the foregoing modes of assistance are readily available in establishing a night school, there is, nevertheless, a class of persons often to be found, who, while engaged in other occupations during the day, are well qualified by inclination and ability to act as teachers in night schools.

Resolved-1. To approve of the foregoing draft, and to order that it be entered upon the Minutes of this Committee.

2. As an alternative to the modes of maintaining night schools pointed out in the circular, to award annual payments not exceeding 10l., nor less than 5l., to teachers in night schools not otherwise remunerated out of the grant for education, on the following conditions:

a. The sum received in fees at the night school, during the year ending at the date for the Inspector's visit, must equal or exceed the Government grant.

b. The night school must be in connexion with a day school in receipt of annual grants from the Parliamentary Fund for education.

c. The teacher of the night school must be able to produce certificates of good character, and of practical aptitude for teaching, as the condition of his being recognized in the first instance by the Committee of Council. d. Her Majesty's Inspectors will be instructed to report upon the qualifications of teachers in night schools with special reference to the requirements of the locality, c. g., navigation in sea-ports, geology in mining districts, &c.; and such teachers will be required to write one or more suitable exercises in the presence of the Inspector. e. Teachers of night schools must be at least twenty years

of age, and under forty, at the time of appointment. f. Her Majesty's Inspector will report annually on the attainments of the teacher, and on the efficiency of the night schools; and certificates will be required from the managers to the effect that the teacher has held the night school on sixty occasions at the least, and has given satisfaction by his character, conduct, and attention to duty, during the preceding year.

g. Where the night school is mixed, such teacher must be a married man; where it is attended by females only, a female; and where by males only, a male.

h. Any teacher in a night school, having served therein to the satisfaction of this Committee, upon the report of Her Majesty's Inspector for one year, may attend the examination (Minute of 20 August 1853, s. 13)* for

* Supra, p. 13.

registration, and, on passing it, will be allowed a Queen's scholarship of 201. or 251. to any training school under inspection which (with the consent of the managers) he may select; the amount of the scholarship to depend upon his passing to the extent required under the Minute of 2 April 1853 (Capitation), or to the extent required for the instruction of pupil-teachers.*

i. The teacher in a night school, after three years service under inspection to the satisfaction of this Committee, and being upwards of thirty years of age, may be examined for a certificate of merit; such certificate not bearing any pecuniary value until the holder be in charge of an elementary day school, fulfilling the usual conditions of augmentation.

APPOINTMENTS OF INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS. (Copied from London Gazette of Friday, November 17, 1854.) At the Court at Windsor, the 14th day of November 1854 ;

PRESENT

The QUEEN'S Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Her Majesty in Council was this day pleased, on a representation of the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, to appoint John Gordon, Esq., to be one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools in Scotland.

(Copied from London Gazette of Friday, May 4, 1855.)

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 1st day of May 1855; PRESENT

The QUEEN'S Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Her Majesty in Council was this day pleased, on a representation of the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, to appoint the Reverend Henry Boothby Barry, M.A., Michel Fellow and Chaplain of Queen's College, Oxford, to be one of Her Majesty's Assistant Inspectors of Schools.

* Supra, p. 13 and p. 84.

APPOINTMENT OF NEW COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON

EDUCATION.

(Copied from Second Supplement to London Gazette of Tuesday, February 27, 1855,-published Wednesday, February 28, 1855.)

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 28th day of
February 1855;

PRESENT

The QUEEN'S Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Her Majesty in Council was this day pleased to appoint— The Right Honorable the Lord President of the Council for the time being;

The Most Noble the Duke of Argyll, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal ;

The Most Honorable the Marquis of Lansdowne ;

The Right Honorable John Russell (commonly called Lord John Russell), one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State;

The Right Honorable Viscount Palmerston, First Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury;

The Right Honorable Viscount Canning, Her Majesty's Postmaster-General;

The Right Honorable Sir George Grey, Baronet, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; and

The Right Honorable Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Baronet, Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of Her Majesty's Exchequer ;To be a Committee to superintend the application of any sums voted by Parliament for the purpose of promoting public education.

(Copied from London Gazette of Tuesday, March 13, 1855.) At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 10th day of March

1855; PRESENT

The QUEEN'S Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Her Majesty in Council was this day pleased to appoint the Right Honorable Matthew Talbot Baines, President of the Poor Law Board, to be a Member of the Committee of Council on Education.