FINANCES. The total income of elementary schools (evening included) for 1890911 was, in England, £7,813,706 Ss. 11d. ($37,974,613.30 2); in Scotland, £1,201,033 ($5,837,019), derived as follows: The year ended August 31. The act remitting fees went into operation Septem ber 1. The scope of the act is shown by the following sections: 1. (1) After the commencement of this act there shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament, and at such times and in such manner as may be determined by regulations of the education department, a grant (in this act called a fee grant) in aid of the cost of elmentary education in England and Wales at the rate of ten shillings a year for each child of the number of children over 3 and under 15 years of age in average attendance at any public elementary school in England and Wales (not being an evening school) the managers of which are willing to receive the same and in which the education department are satisfied that the regulations as to fees are in accordance with the conditions in this act. * 2. (1) In any school receiving the fee grant (a) Where the average rate of fees received during the school year ended last before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, was not in excess of ten shillings a year for each child of the number of children in average attendance at the school, or (b) For which an annual parliamentary grant has not fallen due before the said first day of Jannary: No fee shall, except as by this act provided, be charged for children over 3 and under 15 years of age. (2) In any school receiving the fee grant where the said average rate was so in excess, the fees to be charged for children over 3 and under 15 years of age shall not, except as by this act provided, be such as to make the average rate of fees for all such children exceed for any school year the amount of the said excess. # 5. If at any time after the expiration of one year from the commencement of this act it is represented to the education department that there is in any school district, or in any part of a school district, an insufficient amount of public school accommodation without payment of fees for children over 3 and under 15 years of age, for whom such accommodation is desired, and the education department are satisfied after inquiry that such is the case, the department shall direct the deficiency to be supplied in the manner provided by sections nine and ten of the elementary education act, 1870, and every other section enabling them in that behalf, with respect to the supply of public school accommodation; and the expression "public school accommodation" in that act shall include public school accommodation without payment of fees. (El. ed. act, 1891, secs. 1, 2, 5. 2 Rate of exchange used, $4.86 to a pound. In previous reports $5 has been employed. The total expenditure in England was $38,052,123, slightly exceeding the income for the year. In Scotland it was $5,943,425. This represents for England an expenditure of $10.14 and in Scotland $10.73 per capita of average attendance in the inspected day schools. Fees remitted in Scotland by laws of 1889 and 1890 and in England by law of 1891 may still be charged if managers forego the fee grant and parents make no objection. That a free school system is generally desired is indicated by the fact that in England 74 per cent of elementary schools and in Scotland the entire number are now free for children of legal school age-i. c., 3 to 14 inclusive in the former, 5 to 14 inclusive in the latter. Besides the proportional part of the current income furnished from local sources, as shown above, local managers must provide buildings and equipments. The general government has aided in this work by loans amounting in England to £23,846,174 1s. 4d. ($115,892,409) and in Scotland to £4,859,357 16s. 71⁄2d. ($23,616,471). MEASURES AFFECTING ATTENDANCE. Since 1890 the policy of alloting the greater part of the grant1 upon the results of the examination of individual pupils in the three obligatory subjects (reading, writing, and arithmetic) has been discontinued and the average attendance has been made the basis. The mode of determining this average is uniform for all schools, i. e., by dividing the actual number of half-day attendances by the minimum number of half days (400) on which the school must have been in session. Managers, and indirectly teachers, have thus a stimulus to securing as large an attendance as possible. In Scotland their efforts are aided by The grant is comprised in the following divisions: (1) A fixed grant of 1218. to 148. (108. to 148. Scotland) per pupil in average attend ance. (2) A grant of 18. to 18. for discipline and organization, reckoned on average attendance. (3) Various grants in class and specified subjects. In Scotland a grant of 18. to 348. is also allowed, according to the report on the general character of the instruction in the three elementary subjects. Special grants (£10 to £15) are also allowed under specified conditions for schools in thinly populated districts. Grants of £1 to £5 are also allowed in respect to each pupil teacher required to make up the minimum staff who passes a specified examination and of £10 to £15 for each assistant teacher passing the examination for a government certificate. The total annual grant to a school, exclusive of the special grants to schools in sparsely settled regions, must not exceed 178. 6d. for each unit of average attendance or the total income from all other sources. In other words, the government seeks to stimulate, but not to replace, local effort. In England infant schools are treated separately, grants for them reckoned on the basis of average attendance being: (1) Fixed grant, 78. to 98. per capita of average attendance. (2) Variable grant, 28., 48., or 68. (3) Grant for singing, 6d. or 18. (4) Grant for needlework, 18. per capita of average attendance of girls. the compulsory law which applies to all children 5 to 14 years of age, unless they have secured a certificate of exemption. This may be obtained by passing the examination required at the end of the fifth school year, which is generally reached at 11 years of age. In England the ages of compulsory attendance, as well as the standard of exemp tion, are left to local managers, but every school board must make bylaws upon the subject. The education laws also make provision for the school attendance of children of legal school age who may be employed part of the time under the laws regulating such matters, the departments determining the limits of attendance for such children. The English enrollment includes 173,040 half timers, as they are called, of whom more than half are in Lancashire and one-fourth in Yorkshire. The Scotch schools enroll 30,602 half-timers. TEACHERS. As to teachers, the central departments require that the principal teacher of every school should have a Government certificate (awarded upon examination after a probationary term of teaching) and the employment of an assistant teacher for every 501 additional pupils in attendance after the first 60, or a pupil teacher for every additional 30. The persons qualified to be recognized as assistant teachers are pupil teachers who have completed their engagement with credit and passed the examination for admission to training colleges, women above 18 years of age who have passed certain specified examinations and university graduates. Pupil teachers are young persons between 14 and 18 years of age, whose time is divided between studying and teaching. Their service must not exceed twenty-five hours a week. Managers must make provision for the instruction of their pupil teachers, for which, as already noted, they may claim additional grants. The composition of the teaching staff for the year under review was as follows: An assistant teacher who holds a certificate is considered sufficient for 70 addi tional pupils. These are the various university examinations open to women and the examination of the college of preceptors for the teachers' diploma. a All professional sources of income for teachers, including free house rent in some cases. The proportion of women teachers in English schools is continually increasing, having risen from 55 per cent in 1870 to 713 per cent in 1891. In both countries the proportion of pupil teachers is declining; it is noticeable, however, that the most successful candidates for admission to the training colleges come from their ranks. TRAINING OF TEACHERS. The training colleges have been founded and are controlled by private authorities (chiefly denominational), but they receive annual grants not exceeding 75 per cent of their total incomes from the Government upon specified conditions. With respect to these conditions, the colleges are under Government supervision. The inspectors appointed for this service hold the examinations for teachers' certificates at the several institutions. These examinations are obligatory for students of the colleges having free (i. e., Queen's) scholarships, other candidates being also admitted. The training colleges in England, i. e., 44 residential colleges of long standing and 6 day colleges (established under regulations first issued in 1890), were attended in 1890-91 by 3,806 students. As the regular course of training is two years, these colleges are prepared to furnish annually 1,900 teachers, which would be sufficient to supply the annual loss (calculated at 6 per cent) in a staff equal to two-thirds of the present number of certificated teachers. The training colleges of Scotland, 7 in number, had an attendance of 860 students, which is nearly sufficient to supply the loss in the whole body of certificated teachers. About 18 per cent of the students in the Scotch colleges combine with their training attendance upon university classes, a tendency which is fostered by the liberality of the Government in including the fees for such attendance in the legitimate expenses of the colleges. In ranking candidates who pass the certificate examinations, special weight is given, both in England and in Scotland, to success in the examinations in science held by the Science and Art Department. Although the course of the training colleges includes service in the practice schools, graduates of these colleges, like other candidates, must pass a probationary term of teaching before receiving their certifi cates. The expenditure for the training colleges for the year under review was as follows: England, residential colleges, £180,561 9s. 5d.; day, £8,446 128. 11d., or a total of £189,011 28. 4d. (8945,055.50), of which the Government provided 66 per cent; Scotland, £40,916 11s. 2d. ($204,582), from Government 73 per cent. PENSIONS. The bill for pensions to teachers has made little progress during the year, although its ultimate passage seems certain. The National Union of Elementary Teachers maintains a committee to push the measure and to create a public sentiment in its favor. ORGANIZATION AND CONDUCT OF SCHOOLS. The elementary schools recognized by the Government are infant schools, schools for older papils, and night schools. In board schools sectarian instruction is strictly prohibited; in private schools it must be given, if at all, before or after the hours of secular instruction and must not be forced upon any child. Grants are made solely for secular branches. These are arranged in a progressive series of seven grades (standards), each intended to occupy a year. Since 1890 teachers have been free to classify pupils according to their attainments, so that a pupil may be in different grades in different subjects, provided, always, that he passes the lower-grade examination in a subject before being advanced to the higher. Outside of the conditions imposed by the government as before indicated, which are intended merely to secure an economical administration of the public money and to protect the religious scruples of parents, local managers have the utmost freedom. The boards have very extensive powers, as they may levy rates for school buildings and current expenditures and develop their schools on as liberal a scale as local sentiment approves. Teachers are wholly under the control of local managers with respect to salary, tenure, etc. The grading of schools is necessarily determined in the main by the mode of examination, the subjects additional to the obligatory branches forming an important factor in this respect. There are either class subjects or specific subjects which may be taken by pupils above the fourth grade and for which special grants are allowed. The nature and degree of classification on the basis of these various provisions depend upon the size of the school, the arrangement of the school building, and the number and grade of the teachers. The English department places stress upon the separation of infants from older pupils, allowing a grant of 9s. per capita if the "infants" are taught as a separate department under a competent teacher, and in a room specially furnished for the work, as against 78. where these conditions are not fulfilled. As a result of this policy, out of an average attendance of 1,121,990 in the infant grade (1890–91), 917,0GS were taught in 6,924 schools, each under a certificated teacher. |