Appendix D.

District 4, Ballymena; Mr. Wilson.-There is a gradual improveAttendance ment in the houses used for school purposes, several having recently and School- been rebuilt. Still many are wholly unsuitable and badly furnished, fees. affording no facilities for drafts on the floor or for drill. Of 132 schools with separate roll numbers, only 9 have class-rooms attached, and strange to say, one of the departments of the District Model School is without this necessary accommodation; and there are 40 which have no premises for playgrounds or other purposes outside the walls of the school-room.

Mr. Wilson.

The attendance during the past year has been very slightly better, but it is still most irregular. In spring and autumn the schools are nearly empty, and for several months of the year examinations for results cannot with any degree of fairness be held. After two months' continuous absence at manual labour (and this occurs twice a year) it is not reasonable to expect pupils summoned on a given day for examination to acquit themselves with credit.

No useful or reliable comparison can be instituted between the answering of this and the previous year, as the standards for the classes were very different. Speaking, however, in general terms I think it will be found that the mechanical part of education has improved, but the intellectual has retrograded. And this is the natural outcome of a system of results.

The teaching staff has lost 16 of its number during the year, all of whom were classed and 10 were trained. To supply their places is a very great and an increasing difficulty. Scarcely a clever boy will now consent to become a pupil teacher or a monitor, and if they do it is only to fit themselves for some other employment. There is at present a vacancy for a pupil teacher in the Model School, and the six neighbouring districts have failed to furnish a qualified candidate. There were during the year 12 new principal teachers appointed, and of these only 3 were such as should have been placed in charge of schools. To secure a supply of trained and qualified principal teachers is essential to the progress of education, as every year's experience confirms me in the opinion long since formed that no principal teacher should be taken away from his school to be trained. To do so, is in every case to injure the school. Their training should be completed before their appointment. A system of training merely provisional and adapted to the exigencies of the moment has become fixed and permanent.

In several localities owing to various causes, two competing schools exist where there should only be one. The consequence is in every way disastrous to education. The moral tone and discipline are lowered by the unhealthy rivalry, and often bad feelings engendered. Thus the attendance at the schools is just at that point where the absence of a few pupils will reduce the average too low to qualify for the salary of a good teacher; hence the lowest class of teacher only can be retained, and the local funds which should go to maintain an efficient school, are misspent in building an opposition school and the two drag on a lingering and feeble existence, both inefficient, if not worthless. There are in this district 19 schools with averages less than 30, three of these in Ballymena the largest town in the district. Many of these are educationally useless. And in a small village of about 200 inhabitants there are four schools all endowed, two of them having been built by the Board.

There is a point to which I would venture with some diffidence to refer, and that is the alleged grievance in the mode of promotion of teachers to first division of first class. It may certainly be described as sentimental, yet it is none the less felt as a grievance; and has

assuredly been fruitful of much irritation and discontent. This rank is AppendixD. in reality a distinct class, and it would have been better to have Attendance recognised it as such. However, I think four classes unnecessary, and I and Schoolwould suggest that there should be only three classes and three rates of fees. salary. Nor should there be any subdivisions of classes, as three Mr. Wilson. favourable reports in as many successive years, should entitle a teacher in a lower to compete for promotion to a higher class. This simple arrangement would get rid of a complication troublesome both to Inspectors and to the Office, and would remove one grievance even though that grievance be only a sentimental one.

District 5, Donegal; Mr. Sullivan.-I have had charge of this Mr.Sullivan district for nine months only, and therefore I cannot pretend to a very intimate acquaintance with it: my remarks will therefore be brief.

There are 142 schools in the district, but of these 6 are not in operation. There is no model school. Most of the schools are rural, in fact there is only one town in the district, with a population of 3,000, and the remaining villages and towns vary from 200 to 1,500. Hence the district may be considered as altogether a rural one. Great part of it is mountainous.

One of the most striking facts in connexion with the district is that many of the best schools are in extremely remote localities. In some of the valleys lying between the mountains of south-western Donegal, there are schools which would be a credit to any of our cities. Of course there are also bad schools, but taking the district as a whole, and making due allowance for the circumstances of the people, 1 consider the schools in it very fair.

Three Workhouse schools, and 4 schools in operation for a small portion, only, of the year received no results fees. The number of schools which actually received results fees was 129. The average attendance in these was 5,210; and the number actually examined for results 6,072. Hence the per-centage of number examined to the average daily attendance was 116. During the year ended 31st March, 1873, the corresponding per-centage for all Ireland was only 92. The average attendance per school for the district was 40·4, and the average number examined for results in each school 47.1. Each of the 129 schools earned as results fees, on an average £13 1s. 54d., and each pupil examined made, on an average 5s. 63d. The lowest amount earned on results by a school was £1 178., and the highest £40 3s. 6d.

During the last two months small-pox has seriously interfered with many of the schools in this district. Unfortunately it still continues, and I fear it will considerably lessen the attendance for some time. For the year ended 31st March, 1873, the average attendance per school was 37.9, and, as already stated, the average attendance per school for the year ended 31st March, 1874, was 40-4. This shows fair progress, and were it not for the prevalence of small-pox I would expect a continuance of this progress during the current year.

District 6, Strabane; Mr. Kennedy.-The method of supplementing the teachers' salaries by a payment awarded on the results of the examination of their schools has now been in operation for two years, so that a sufficient time has elapsed to enable us to judge of its effects. So far as my experience and observation go, they have led me to the conclusion that the interests of education will be decidedly benefited by the system. Teachers see that their interests are identified with the

Mr.

Kennedy.

fees.

Mr.

Appendix D. success of their schools, and that diligence and faithfulness in the Attendance discharge of their duties will directly and immediately add to their own and School- income, and I consider that more work has been done in this district during the past twelve months than at any previous period for the same time. The effect has also been to improve the attendance, efforts being Kennedy. made to bring out the children which were not formerly. While during the year ended 31st March, 1873, the number of pupils who had made ninety attendances and upwards, and who were presented for examination was 4,780, the number examined for the year ended 31st March, 1874 was 5,782, thus giving an increase of 21 per cent: the number of schools both years was the same, viz., 128. What is somewhat singular is that the increase in the number presented for examination was greatest in a few schools where the attendance is most fluctuating. These are situated in a mountain district, where for about four months in winter the attendance is very large; teachers kept their schools open at that season on Saturday as on other days, and thus nearly all attended for ninety days or a little over that time. Hence while as a general rule the numbers for examination did not differ materially from the average daily attendance for the year, in six schools thus situated, the total number presented for examination was 65 per cent. in excess of the average attendance.

Mr. Irvine.

I regret to add, however, that where the number of days fell short of ninety, the temptation to gain the results fee has sometimes proved too strong, and I found several instances where the examination roll was fraudulently made up. There are others where I suspect that the accounts are not kept faithfully, but I have not yet been able to detect the fraud if it exists. I also find in a few schools a tendency to understate the children's ages, especially in infant and first class, children of six being entered as five, and those whose appearances indicate unmistakably that they are at least seven, being entered as six. In a case of this kind the teacher frequently says, which is probably correct, that he entered the age given in by the parents.

I have only to observe farther, that as the introduction of the system of payment by results calls for increased vigilance on the part of Inspectors in connexion with the school accounts, it will be difficult to exercise the necessary supervision over the large number of schools now under the charge of each. I consider that the interest of the public would be served by having such arrangements made, that the number of schools in each district would not much, if at all, exceed a hundred.

District 7, Maghera; Mr. Irvine.-The great majority of the schools in this district are in a satisfactory condition, some of them very much so. The number of bad houses has diminished, and is likely The three worst houses in the district are, this summer, to be supplanted by new ones.

soon to be fewer.

Several of the schools are comparatively well endowed. On the Mercers' estate under the energetic agency of R. H. Dolling, esq., the schools are in a very prosperous condition and well looked after. Each of the male teachers has £20 a year, a free house and fuel sufficient to hand, and each of the female teachers gets £15 with similar perquisites.

The Worshipful Company of Skinners having come into their estates which had been out of their immediate possession for a number of years, have offered very liberally to rebuild such schools as are reported to be unsuitable; and, there are three National schools which come under this heading.

The school-houses on the estate of the Ironmongers, have recently AppendixD. undergone a series of improvements, and are at present in a pretty good Attendance state of repair. Each of these is endowed according to the classification and Schoolof the teacher. First class teachers get £12 a year; second class fees. £9, and third class £7. The divisions of classes are not considered.

The Worshipful Company of Drapers have at length seen the advantages of being connected with the National Board, and of having their schools worked on that system. I have just been directed to report on four of these applicant schools. So far as I have had an opportunity of observing, I think the houses are of a superior order.

The prospect is generally cheerful, and the district will soon be able to show as few bad schools, or bad houses, as any district in the North of Ireland, and I might venture to say as many good ones.

The teachers as a body are respectable, decent, and well conducted. The results fees received by them for the past year have given general satisfaction. Very few of them would be willing to change their situation or employment for any other likely to be offered them, or that they could fill or undertake. No doubt some of them are poor, but "Hope keeps the heart whole," and they live on cheerfully, in anticipation of better times under higher pay.

I think the amount of school-fees ought to be much more than that returned by the teachers, but, as it has been allowed to dwindle down to so low an ebb, it would, no doubt, be difficult to raise it all at once.

The attendance of pupils has increased considerably during the past year. Several causes have been assigned for the irregularity of attendance in rural schools, but many of them on investigation turn out to be mere excuses. Herding cows is one of the chief causes advanced, especially in summer. True enough the fences are bad, but in most cases they might be made good, as there is a superabundance of proper material to make them, and plenty of time to do so hanging on the hands of the possessors of the land, but somehow it is wasted or lost in dawdling about as their fathers did. Herding has gone on from generation to generation, and it is one of the most pernicious employments that boys or girls could be put to. In it they acquire habits of lounging laziness which it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get rid of in afterlife. I cannot but think that if parents could clearly see the evil they inflict on their innocent offspring in keeping them herding when they ought to be at school, they would use means, if they should work night and day, to ward off such calamitous consequences as must inevitably accrue from the continuation of this

custom.

Mr. Irvine.

District 8, Belfast, North; Mr. J. W. Rodgers.-Many of the school- Mr. J. W. houses are in every way excellent, affording the necessary amount of Rodgers. draft space and breathing space, suitably fitted up with desks, wall-maps, black-boards, and other appliances, and not inelegant as regards form and appearance. There are some, however, which require extensive alterations and additions, and in the town of Belfast a few should be superseded altogether, and their places supplied by others more in accordance with the spirit of the age and the wants of a great community.

The state of education throughout the district may be regarded as fairly satisfactory. Under the operation of the results system of inspection the knowledge acquired is becoming more exact, and many of the teachers are labouring with cofumendable diligence to advance their

Appendix D. pupils to the standard of the new programme. The increase in the Attendance number of promotions has been considerable, and the senior classes, and School- though still small, are gradually filling up.

fees.

Mr. J. W.
Rodgers.

Mr. Morell.

Much difficulty is still experienced here in obtaining the services of qualified male teachers when vacancies occur. The expected income from all sources is so small that young men with an inclination for schoolkeeping and fitted by acquirements for the profession, turn their attention to commercial pursuits or to the Civil Service, as offering a much higher remuneration than they can reasonably hope for under the National Board. In numerous instances, managers have been obliged to appoint female assistants in male as well as in mixed schools. Male candidates for the office of monitor are also very difficult to be procured, and the few who do obtain a place on the staff, almost invariably resign in the course of a year or two, just when they are beginning to be of use. A local rate would probably afford the most fitting remedy for this state of things, as its amount could be determined in each particular locality by the circumstances of the case.

I take this opportunity to offer a suggestion in reference to pupils in night schools, and half-time pupils in day schools. Those of the former class attend usually three evenings in the week for two hours each evening, while those of the latter attend from two hours to three daily. The time being so short, it is desirable that their attention should not be distracted by too great a variety of subjects. It would be well therefore, in my opinion, not to pay in the case of such pupils for proficiency in any except the elementary branches-reading, spelling, writing, and arithmetic. It is not probable that the teachers would be losers to any great extent by this arrangement, but some compensation could be easily made to them by an addition to the results fees.

District 9, Belfast South; Mr. Morell.-The National system continues to be popular in this district, receiving little or no opposition from any quarter.

The schools, as a whole, are in a satisfactory condition. They are working very well under the result system, which is now, and only now, beginning to be intelligently understood and properly valued by the teachers. The experience of the past two years has brought to light some defects in the system which it is certain will now be remedied. The school programme and scale of results fees are, I understand, undergoing revision.

The attendance of pupils is increasing very rapidly. For the year 1872 the aggregate average attendance in the ordinary day schools of the district was 8,400, or an average per school of 75 children. During the past year the aggregate average attendance rose to 9,975, giving 88 as the average per school, being an increase in the per-centage of 175. This great increase in the numbers is owing partly to the increase in the population of Belfast, in which the greater number of the schools are situated, and partly, I might say chiefly, to the working of the results system, for the teachers are now making great exertions to secure a continuous attendance of the children, as the amount of the result money will, in a great measure, be determined by the regularity of the attendance.

There is no lack of children in a town like Belfast, in which the working population is increasing so fast. Let a school-house be opened in any part of the town, and before one month is over it is sure to be filled with pupils; but suitable school-houses are much required. In the poorer and more thickly-populated parts of the town-round about the factories, where thousands of the mill-workers reside-eight or ten