on the whole educational system in the United States, giving as it does no opportunity for the clever pupil to exercise his talents, but reducing all members of the class to a uniform standard and that standard is necessarily the rate of progress of the slowest pupil. The experiments which we have made in this Province will, I am sure, have your careful attention and consideration.

WINNIPEG, CANADA.

Under the system in vogue in the matter of promotion of teachers in our Winnipeg city schools it may happen that a teacher will remain with the same class for three or four years. One of my own boys spent three years with the same teacher, who was promoted each year with her class; and in this particular case I considered it a disadvantage in many ways for the boy, as she was not a strong teacher, but under the by-laws of the board she was entitled to be moved up a grade each year. The superintendent thought it better to leave her in the same school rather than to transfer her. Many arguments may be urged in favor of the teacher remaining with her class from year to year.

I have on several occasions tried the experiment of having a teacher remain for two or three years with the same set of children, advancing the teacher as the children were promoted. The circumstances for such an experiment were perhaps not very favorable, as Winnipeg has been for years a rapidly growing city, the population of which changes quite frequently, and I have found that at the end of three years the class remaining with a teacher consists of a comparatively small proportion of those who had begun with her in the first grade. I am unable to say that the class that was for the three years with the one teacher was in any better position than children of the same age who had been for three years in the hands of three equally competent teachers for one year each. It seems to me that in the case of a good teacher the loss incurred through taking a teacher from the grade for which she has special aptitude counterbalances the gain that would come through having children continuously with the one teacher for a longer period than the year. In the case of the teacher whose work is not quite up to the standard, it would be manifestly a disadvantage to have children remain longer than the usual term.

FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK.

While the matter has been frequently discussed here, we can furnish no complete example of the same.

It has generally been thought that the qualifications of a primary teacher are so vastly different from those required of a teacher of grade 8 that it would scarcely be consistent to follow this plan.

I do not refer to scholastic qualifications, but to the peculiar professional qualifications required in primary work.

TORONTO, CANADA.

So far as this department is aware, the practice in urban municipalities in Ontario is for a board to appoint, for each grade or form, teachers who continue as instructors on such forms, the pupils only being promoted. The boards, of course, occasionally change the teachers from one form to another.

MOOSEJAW, SASKATCHEWAN.

In several isolated cases for different reasons teachers have been changed from one trade to the other, and I find that it takes some months for the teacher to become familiar with the work of the new grade. This, I think, would far outweigh the reason that teachers might be promoted, namely, in order that pupils would be familiar with their teacher.

PRINCE ALBERT, SASKATCHEWAN.

This plan has not been followed here to a sufficient extent to indicate whether the plan would be a wise one or not.

I think of trying out the plan in the case of one or more classes during the coming year and will be glad to let you know the result of the experiment.

REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN.

Grade 1 teachers take their classes through to the end of grade 2, which takes from one to one and a half years. This is a comparatively new policy here, but so far it has proved highly satisfactory.

SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN.

I can not say that we have had very much experience, but we do make it a rule, wherever possible, to keep a teacher with a class for a full year. A number of years ago it was the custom here to change the classes after every term, making two changes each year. I decided that there was too great a loss of energy and time, and made the alteration two or three years ago.

Sometimes it occurs, of course, that it is impossible to keep a class with the teacher for the full year, and I have had one or two cases where the teacher has remained with her class for a year and a half.

There is, possibly, one objection to having the teachers advance with the pupils from year to year. Very frequently in class rooms you will find antagonism arising between one or more pupils and the teacher, through incompatibility of temperament. In such cases it would clearly be a mistake to have the pupils remain with the same teacher for a number of years.

Of course, some method might easily be devised to overcome this difficulty where you have a large school with a good many teachers.

There are a number of things to be said, however, in favor of moving the teacher along with the class, because there will not be the loss of time that is ordinarily taken for a teacher to get acquainted with her pupils and the time that is required for the pupils to get adjusted to a new teacher.

On the whole, it would appear to me to be rather a difficult matter to maintain this arrangement in our schools in Saskatoon as they are organized at the present time.

BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND.

With us there is no hard and fast rule in this matter and our head teachers have a free hand in assigning duties to their assistants. Our schools are divided into six classes, and, as a general rule, the teachers of the fifth and sixth and of the infants (class 1) remain in their positions more or less permanently, because they are supposed to possess special qualifications for the higher or lower work, respectively. For classes 2, 3, and 4 teachers are often interchanged, and sometimes the principle is adopted of letting the same teacher carry forward the same children through all these classes. In the secondary schools, where specialists are often employed for languages, English, mathematics, or history, it often happens that the child has the same teacher for a single subject throughout his school life.

The advantages and disadvantages of the two principles may be summed up as follows:

(a) For the teacher: Change of work tends to reduce the amount of mechanical teaching, and has a quickening and refreshing effect. On the other hand, it undoubtedly adds to the teacher's labors in the matter of preparation of new material for varying courses. Many teachers are quite unfitted by nature for infant work, others are without the knowledge necessary for the higher classes, others are incapable of maintaining discipline among the older children. In secondary school work specialization

greatly reduces the burden of teachers in the preparation of their lessons, and it leads to greater thoroughness, while the retention of the pupil in the hands of the same teacher for the one subject in different years prevents overlapping of the teaching in that subject and makes the whole course more systematic and progressive. At the same time specialization tends to narrow the range of a teacher's knowledge and to render the teacher each year less fitted to take general charge as head teacher in a large school.

(b) For the pupil: The pupil, if working year after year with the same teacher, is more likely to become attached to him and to work willingly for him, and the teacher, knowing the nature of each pupil more intimately, is able to direct his growth of knowledge and character more effectually, On the other hand, antagonisms frequently arise between pupil and teacher, for whom a change is of great mutual benefit. Different teachers also have individual characteristics and individual methods of teaching, and a child who has been through the hands of several teachers has often gained a wider and better moral training and a more general knowledge than a child who has been kept in the hands of one teacher through the greater part of his school life. Teachers are not all of one and the same value; there are some in every school who stand out above the rest in moral influence and power of exposition. The child who was fortunate enough to spend the whole of his school life under one of these would have a very unfair advantage over the one who by the same principle was condemned to serve all his school days under the same inferior master. Under the system of changing teachers the influence of a good man is more widely distributed and the deficiencies of an inferior man are minimized.

It seems to be established that it is undesirable to have any hard and fast rule in the matter. If, however, a rule had to be adopted, we should regard it as the lesser evil to keep the teachers in the same grade and to promote the children through the hands of the successive teachers.

HOBART, TASMANIA.

In a few schools the practice of continuing a teacher through three or even four of these grades has been successfully carried out, but success has only been met with in the case of competent and popular teachers. As a general rule teachers are confined to one or two grades.

The large majority of our schools, however, consist of 80 pupils or less and are taught by two or, more often, by one teacher. In such cases the children continue their work under the same teacher for from three to seven years.

PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

We have no general rule on the subject. It has, however, received attention with us, as with you, though mainly from a rather different standpoint. There has not been any general expression of opinion to the effect that the annual change of teachers does any harm to the child. But it has been felt that injustice is done to a teacher who is kept for many years in charge of the same class. If a teacher succeeds in class 3, is retained there, gets the reputation of being a good teacher of class 3, and is never given the opportunity of taking the work of a higher class, his experience is very limited. This must tell against him if he receives promotion to a headmastership. We are therefore urging our headmasters to see that the assistants with higher qualifications are given the opportunity of working with different classes, and especially to see that they have, in turn, the opportunity of showing their fitness for dealing with the higher classes. The inspectors are also asked to insure that this arrangement is carried out. In a few cases the experiment has been made of promoting a teacher with a class for several years in succession. With a very good teacher I think that the results are likely to be satisfactory; but I believe that there are very grave objections to a general adoption of the scheme. The members of a staff are never all of equal excellence. Under the usual arrangement a child in passing through the school comes under the stronger as well as weaker assistants. To keep one group of children for three or four years under the weakest of the staff, while another group is for three or four years under the strongest, may do a serious injustice to the former. Even if all the assistants are

on a high level of competence, each is likely to possess some individual characteristic which may exert a great influence upon the pupils, and which may make an appeal or provide an inspiration that differs from those made or provided by the other assistants. It seems to me that the balance of advantage for the child lies in the system which brings him into close contact with several distinct personalities.

I recognize, of course, that much can be said on the other side in connection with the superior insight into the individual characters that can be obtained by a teacher who is in charge of children for several years in succession. I am, however, inclined to the opinion that the general adoption of a system of promoting teachers with their classes for several years in succession will have more disadvantages than advantages. At the same time I think that, as far as possible, teachers should have the opportunity, within a reasonable period, of acquiring experience with lower, middle, and upper classes.

ATHENS, GREECE.

There is no law providing for the advancement of teachers from grade to grade with the scholars, although it not infrequently happens that school inspectors recommend in special cases that such promotion be made. This, however, is a matter entirely within the pleasure of the inspecting officer.

The consensus of opinion of teachers interviewed was that efficiency would be increased by the promotion of the teacher with the scholars.

CHRISTIANIA, NORWAY.

It is the custom in Norway for the principal teacher of a grade to keep with her or his grade, although with certain modifications.

The Norwegian public school has seven grades of promotion, each of one year; boys and girls are taught separately; in the three lower grades only lady teachers are employed, and the lady teacher in every instance keeps with her grade for these three years. From the fourth year on the instruction is generally transferred to a man teacher; and the principal teacher, who instructs his grade in the main branches of knowledge, such as the native language, religion, and arithmetic, continues with his grade to the end of the school.

A lady teacher who is the principal teacher in a girls' school will as a rule always keep with her grade for the seven years.

In certain branches of knowledge the teacher will change from year to year.

LISBON, PORTUGAL.

The system of promoting scholar and teacher is not uniform throughout the country, but wherever possible it is provided that the same teacher should accompany the pupil at least through a grade, or for three years. Some elementary schools exist where the child has the same teacher for four, five, and six years, and others where a change is made each year. The general impression among the Lisbon educators seems to be that better results are obtained in the schools where the teacher accompanies the pupil for at least three years than in those where the pupils have a new instructor each year.

MADRID, SPAIN.

Teachers are not advanced from grade to grade as the pupils are, but after a stated term of service they may be advanced without examination to a higher grade upon the occurrence of a vacancy. Some educators in Madrid have expressed themselves as of the belief that, as far as Spain is concerned, there might be danger of favoritism if teachers continued to instruct the same class throughout the four-year course; others advocate that one teacher instruct two grades simultaneously to the end that pupils of the lower grade, when advanced to the upper, will have become accustomed to the personality and methods of the teacher, so that better results will be attained on the part of pupils as well as on the part of teachers.

BERNE, SWITZERLAND.

There are in Switzerland many sorts and classes of schools, such as the small country schools, where one or two teachers have charge of the entire number of pupils and give the instruction prescribed in all the eight or nine grades.

The city schools are divided into primary and secondary schools. These have four grades of primary classes and five secondary, one years' instruction being given in each grade. In the primary grades the instruction is given by two or three teachers, and in the secondary grades by six or seven. The aim is to have the pupils continue with the same teachers for two, three, or four years when possible. This rule is strictly adhered to in the first and second school years, when the teachers are promoted with their pupils from the first to the second grade. In the main branches, and especially in mathematics, the plan is to have the pupils continue with the same teachers for two or three years in both the primary and secondary schools.

With the exception of gymnastics, singing, etc., where the pupils go to special classrooms equipped for instruction in these branches, they remain in one room, which is visited by the different teachers. The average number of pupils to a class is from 30 to 35.

It may be stated that in modern-language instruction it is considered well for the pupils to have several teachers during the four or five years' course. In this way their ear becomes accustomed to the different voices and pronunciations of their instructors.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND.

The plan of advancing the teachers from grade to grade with their pupils has been in vogue from time immemorial in the cantonal schools here and they consider that the plan brings the most excellent results in every way. This plan is, of course, applied only in the elementary schools, so-called Primarschulen, which cover a period of six years, and during the first four years of this period the plan is obligatory, and it is also practically always applied during the remaining two years' work.

With regard to the other questions of your questionnaire, the directors of education are inclined to answer them all in the affirmative, with the reservation that they have always used this plan and therefore can not make comparisons. They, however, consider the plan especially valuable because it enables the teachers who are practically all men-to gain a deeper knowledge and insight into the character of the pupils and thus better win their respect and affections.

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THE PLAN.

It now seems appropriate, with this testimony, domestic and foreign, from teachers as well as from superintendents, to summarize the objections, in all their various shades and phases, to the advancement of teachers with classes, as gleaned from the answers of superintendents, and to try to evaluate these objections in the light of this evidence:

REASONS FOR NOT ADVANCING TEACHERS WITH CLASS.

(Summarized answers of superintendents.)

A. With special reference to the teacher:

1. Preparation of teacher

Many teachers either new or poorly trained; these need to be a long time in one grade to learn the routine; if they remain in it, they acquire some efficiency, they have more time to study the subjects of the grade and methods of presenting them. Normal course too short to prepare for plan of advancement.