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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 23

[1-6]

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[The notes printed in small typo do not form part of the Order in Council.]

1. As far as practicable, the work of the Public School Inspectors shall be so arranged as to provide for two visits to every public school in every year, one visit for purposes of general inspection, and the other visit for the purpose of examination according to the standards hereinafter prescribed.

2. At every standard examination of a public school, all scholars in fair attendance shall be expected to pass one standard. No scholar shall be examined in a standard which he has already passed. A scholar who has failed to pass a standard at any annual examination may, at the discretion of the teacher, be presented at the next annual examination, either for the standard which he failed to pass, or for a higher standard; and at any annual examination a scholar may, at the teacher's discretion, be presented for a standard higher than the next to that which he last passed.(1)

3. In all cases the scholars presented for any standard must be prepared to show proficiency in the work also of the lower standards.

4. As soon as possible after the examination of a school the head-teacher shall be furnished, in such manner as shall

1 It is assumed that all the children that are to be presented in the same standard at next examination are being taught in the same class. As soon as it becomes apparent that a child is for any reason unable to keep pace with the class that is to be presented in the standard next above that which he has passed, he should be placed in the next lower class. At the examination the reason for his being so placed should be stated; as, that he has been ill, or irregular in his attendance, or that it has been found that he was not as well grounded in the work of the standard last passed as he appeared to be, or that his mental power is below the average. Such a child should be examined with the lower class to which it has been found necessary to remove him; his name, however, being carefully distinguished in the examination schedule from the names of those that are formally presented, and his success not being counted as a formal pass.

page 2 be ordered by the Education Board of the district,' with lists of the names of the scholars who have passed the several standards; and thereupon the head-teacher shall issue to every scholar who has passed a standard at the examination a certificate, in such form as the Board shall prescribe, showing that he has passed such standard; and every scholar transferred from one public school to another shall be required to exhibit his last certificate to the head-teacher of the school, who shall not present such scholar for re-examination in the standard to which such certificate relates.(1)

5. An annual return shall be made by each Public School Inspector, showing, with respect to each public school subject to his inspection, the number of children who have passed from a lower to a higher standard in the year.(1)

6. The standards shall not be understood to prescribe to the teacher the precise order in which the different parts of any subject shall be taught, but as representing the minimum of attainments of which the Inspector will expect evidence at each stage of a scholar's progress.(1) (For example, a teacher who finds that in arithmetic he can produce the required results in the Fourth and Fifth Standards as well or better by teaching fractions before practice and proportion, is at liberty to follow his own course, but not to substitute fractions for practice and proportion.)

1 In the note on Regulation 2 it is explained that the re-examination here forbidden is re-examination with a view to a formal pass.

A form of "Standard Certificate" has been prepared, and the several Boards have been supplied with copies for issue to head-teachers.

The "Public School Register of Admission, Progress, and Withdrawal," provides for the registering of every scholar's passes during his stay in any school, and of his status (as determined by standards) at the time of his admission to any other school to which he may be removed.

1 Additional value may be given to this return by making it include a statement of the average ages at which the different standards respectively are passed in the schools of the district to which it relates, and of the number of failures, as well as the number of passes, for each standard. Such information will supply the data for a comparison of the educational state of different districts (except so far as the comparison is affected by the different methods of examination followed by different Inspectors), and afford the best means of exposing defects in the gradation of the standards.

1 Teachers should always remember that the standards represent "the minimum of attainments of which the Inspector will require evidence at each stage." Children ought not to be presented even for the First Standard until the teacher is satisfied that they can pass it with case. The process known as "cram" applied to one standard will render further "cram" necessary for the next and the next; and in this way the pupil will be continually harassed throughout his whole school-course, without acquiring any substantial knowledge, and will probably suffer both in health and in character, and lose all interest in learning of every kind. The candidate who is fit to pass ought to be able to regard the examination without dread, and to look forward to it as a pleasant opportunity of showing what he can really do. Every educated man knows, in a comparatively vague way, a great deal more than he could exhibit precise knowledge of at an examination; and the standards are not meant to be used as a rack, to extort from children a broken utterance of the last facts and ideas that have begun to take hold of their memory and intelligence. They are not sent to school to pass in the standards, but to be educated. If they are being educated, a certain portion of their knowledge at each stage of their progress will settle down and become definite and solid—just as their bones harden—and the standard examinations are designed to ascertain the degree in which this process is taking place.