Tabular view of the Classification of Male Teachers, 1849.

24 Kilkenny, 128 35 11 28 14 88

Present. 27 10 22 13 72

6121119

*16 6 3 14 22 27 34 54 +46 53 39 60 32 4.94

1334427 162 191 183 285 375 170 306 213 217 32.3 5.

No. 4.-General Report by JAMES PATTEN, M.D., Head Inspector, on the Examination of Schoolmasters of the Northwest District, comprising the counties of Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, and Galway-Fermanagh and Cavan (part of).

GENTLEMEN,-According to your instructions I send in my report on the examinations of the schoolmasters of the local districts allotted to me, comprehending the counties as stated above, and in conducting which I was assisted in each case by the respective Local Inspectors. On account of the time taken up in tabularizing the results obtained, and the intervention of the examinations of the schoolmistresses, with which I am at present engaged, considerable delay has unavoidably occurred in completing th report.

*

The north-west district consists of the province of Connaught with part of Ulster, and comprehends seven local districts, containing 522 male teachers summoned to attend these examinations;* of these 37 were in the first or highest class, 139 in the second, 185 in the third, and 161 probationers (not yet classed), being 744 male teachers for each district on the average; of these 178, nearly one-third of the whole number, have been trained at the Model School in Dublin.

I made a beginning on the 14th of July last at Letterkenny, in the county Donegal; and to obviate to the teachers as much as possible the labour and expense of travelling long distances, which they were ill prepared to sustain, two, and sometimes three, places of meeting were found necessary.

At each of the "stations" two days were required, from 10 a.m. to 5 P.M. each day, to complete the examination of each class; the greater portion of the first day was devoted to the written exercises from the printed papers, and the second day to the oral examination. Including the probationers, this necessarily occupied eight days for examining at each station, and with two stations on the average to each district, 16 days were required for examinations alone, which, with three for travelling and two for making up the classification returns, made in all three weeks for each district, and for the seven 21 weeks. From the 14th July to the 16th December, when I finished the examinations, is 21 weeks and six days; deducting from this 10 days' absence in Dublin on special business of the Board, it will appear that this duty has been performed a little within the time required.

I do not think it desirable to go into the details of these examinations district by district, as the particulars and comparative proficiency on the several subjects on which they were examined, orally, and by written exercises, have been set forth minutely on the tabulated forms in the Appendix. I shall confine myself in this outline to remarks and suggestions of a general nature, which appear to me to be applicable to all. With respect to the marking in the tabular forms I may here observe, that under the several heads of the oral examination, the "letters" "A', A, B, C, D, X,

*This statement refers to their position previous to the examination; their position after the examination will be seen in another part of the report.

66

signify "very good," "good," "pretty good," "middling," "very middling," and "X" means "bad." Copies of the examination papers are inserted in the appendix; those marked "A" are for the first class, "B" for the second, and "C" for the third class; the answers to these papers have been preserved; and in the tables under each head have been marked as fair," "middling," or imperfect," so that a tolerably minute and detailed abstract of each man's attainments may be seen at a glance along the line opposite to his name. This important information was in each case noted at the time of the examination, and by individualizing and graduating the proficiency of each according to a comparative standard, their future condition, whether progressive, stationary, or retrograde, may be readily ascertained.

I take this opportunity of recording my opinion, that the year 1848, notwithstanding the large amount of destitution and distress existing in the country, particularly in the west, may be considered an important epoch in the history of Irish national education. And although the reports of individual attainments may not be altogether satisfactory, still a beginning has been made in the right direction, calculated ere long to effect a great change in the position of the schoolmaster; and through him, it is to be hoped, on the working classes at large, as superior mental cultivation and orderly habits, will most likely have the effect of curing those social diseases which have been so long prevalent amongst them—namely, ignorance, procrastination, and improvidence. We may hail, therefore, the present as the commencement of a new era, in which not merely is the quantity of the teacher's attainments to be ascertained in a general way, but the quality and accuracy of his knowledge and power of communicating it to his pupils, are likewise to be determined before fixing his reward; and although it may be impossible to make of these teachers thoroughly learned men, let us at least conduct them so far in each branch of knowledge as to enable them to get a glimpse of the vast extent of science, and to comprehend the immensity of the subjects of which they are ignorant. The vanity of the schoolmaster is proverbial, and arises not from his knowledge being anything like perfect, but rather from its ridiculous deficiency and from his belief of its completeness.

This arrangement of the Commissioners for holding general examinations at stated periods, and special ones annually, to meet the requirements of particular cases, is beginning already to be felt; and the result must soon be perceptible in the gradual disappearance of the old, the infirm, and the incompetent, unfortunately as yet without any compensation, and the substitution in their places of the young, the hopeful, and the aspiring, for whom a tolerable provision has now been made by the liberality of Parliament in the recent augmentation of salaries. We now perceive the motion of a sound and healthy system of education, managed by simple and effective machinery, gradually and steadily approaching to perfection.

The recent appointment of officers to co-operate with the District Inspectors in these examinations, has impressed the managers of schools and the public in general, with a lively sense of the anxiety of the Commissioners to raise and improve the condition of the schoolmaster, to elevate the standard of education and morality

through every part of the kingdom, and to realize those expectations and objects which have heretofore been considered so desirable. Absentees.

In the majority of cases I received information from those who failed to attend, that they were prevented by illness either in themselves or their families, attested by their respective managers or by medical certificates. Old age and poverty were in a few cases assigned as reasons.

The appearance, deportment, manners, and general bearing of the teachers throughout the whole of these examinations were most satisfactory, and very creditable to them all. The work of each day proceeded with the greatest regularity and order; the teachers were strictly punctual in their attendance at the appointed time, and most attentive to the directions given them. I observed few attempts at copying a neighbour's paper, or of attaining information in any unfair or irregular way.

Many failures it will be observed were made, and the number of those who obtained promotion was not very numerous, or bearing a large proportion to the numbers examined; yet I felt much pleasure in hearing those whose answering had been unsuccessful, and whose promotion therefore was out of the question, observing, on their departure, that the examination would be of the greatest advantage to them, in guiding their studies and giving an impulse to their future efforts, and in establishing in their minds the assurance and firm belief, that by persevering exertion, they may obtain in a short space of time, an adequate recompense, both in social position and emolument.

I need scarcely observe that it is almost impossible for a teacher, however earnest and intelligent, either to improve himself or raise the standard of instruction in his school without an adequate supply of books and apparatus; and this want is at present so general in the Connaught schools, that its absence may be regarded as an extraordinary occurrence. Managers and Trustees of schools should be very frequently reminded of these matters, and every effort made to induce them, or, better perhaps, by some special grant enable them, to remedy and provide against the recurrence of these evils, which are attended with such discouraging and paralyzing results.

I shall now make a few general observations applicable to the majority of the teachers, as to their proficiency in the several branches usually taught in the schools.

Reading.

Under this head I must observe, that the result has not been satisfactory. Defective reading is more difficult to be improved than almost any other thing in our teachers, owing to their neglected early education and provincial dialects. Few read with proper modulation of voice or correct emphasis; and the natural and acquired defects are more numerous, and of more frequent occurrence, than one would at first anticipate. The reading of the children, in consequence, is not improved by correct models frequently repeated to them by the teacher; and the progress in the schools is often retarded by stopping the child at the end of each sentence, in order to put questions. This does not allow sufficient scope for the

proper exercise of the voice, which is requisite and necessary in order to read well.

Principles of Spelling and Writing from Dictation.

Spelling. In this most important and necessary branch the trained teachers exhibited a fair amount of proficiency, particularly in writing from dictation, which they have now in many places introduced into their schools; while, on the other hand, it is to be regretted that others discovered, both by their spelling and grammatical construction, such inferiority and defectiveness in their previous education, as to render it questionable whether they should be any longer retained. Some of the worst of them have been recommended to be dismissed, and others to be held on for some time on trial, in hopes of their improvement.

Penmanship.-Good writing is not so general as I had hoped to find it. A teacher who writes well will always have a large number of fair writers in his school, while under an opposite state of things even tolerable writing is rarely found. Respectable proficiency and neatness in this most useful branch are always essential, and calculated to make an impression on the parents and visitors most favourable to the teacher and the school. I did not neglect the opportunities I enjoyed of conversing with, and offering suggestions to the teachers to allude to this subject, and to recommend its cultivation in the strongest terms-apprising them that in summing up for promotion, penmanship would be always considered an important element.

Arithmetic.

With regard to arithmetic, I am able to make a more favourable report respecting the practical working of the examples under the different rules with expedition and correctness, although I must confess that, regarding the theory, great ignorance still prevails. Many of the old masters still think that if they can succeed in solving a difficult question or problem, they have sufficient materials to carry them through any emergency that may occur; and as many of the other subjects required for their class are as yet new and strange to them, and in their minds of very questionable utility, they are not likely to turn their attention earnestly or zealously to them, or to introduce them into their schools. As to mensuration, some of them can work accurately the questions relating to the several trades, and to land surveying.

Geography.

This branch, so interesting and useful in opening the mind to the extent of the universe, may be taught by means of our excellent maps at a comparatively early age, and may be made most interesting to children; and by its intimate associations with history, chronology, &c., it has the effect of encouraging the reading of the ordinary publications, which will become more interesting and more eagerly sought after in proportion to their being better understood. In our lesson books the teachers have frequent opportunities of imparting much geographical instruction, in the way of incidental teaching, many of the lessons having been arranged for this object. I have not failed to make the teachers aware of these matters, and have