✨ Education Policy Proposal
323
Two items of expenditure arise from the employment of pupil-teachers; their stipend, and the remuneration of the teacher for instructing them out of school hours.
A stated portion of the stipend should, as in Victoria (see Victorian Regulations, Rule 94), be provided by local cash contributions.
The Victorian scale of payment might well be followed.
First year ... Males, £20 ... Females, £16.
Second year ... Males, £30 ... Females, £24.
Third year ... Males, £40 ... Females, £32.
Fourth year ... Males, £50 ... Females, £40.
The augmentation in the above scale is conditional upon the satisfactory progress of the pupil-teacher.
The remuneration of the teacher for the instruction given to the pupil-teacher out of school hours should depend upon its efficiency, as tested by half-yearly examinations, and be payable according also to the Victorian scale :-
For one pupil-teacher, £10 per annum.
For two pupil-teachers, £18 per annum.
For three pupil-teachers, £24 per annum.
For four pupil-teachers, £28 per annum.
For five pupil-teachers, £30 per annum.
The cost of a pupil-teachership system to the Province, at the above rate, would not for the first year exceed £300, provided that this assistance be limited to vested schools; but, if the special grant schools be included, it would amount to about £1500.
III. The efficient training of pupil-teachers.
The training of pupil-teachers should be conducted during the school terms by teachers holding “Certificates of Proficiency,” and should comprise, in addition to the ordinary school routine, greater expertness in slate and mental arithmetic; the study of book-keeping, mensuration, linear and free-hand drawing, diagrams, and mapping.
The acquirement of expertness in one or more of the foregoing branches will be highly beneficial to the future schoolmasters and their schools; or, it would also help them to find other employment in the event of their services not being required in that capacity.
For the more efficient training of pupil-teachers, a series of classes might be formed, and lectures given in connexion with a Normal School, Museum, or School of Science. These classes could be held and lectures given during the harvest season—the long interval of otherwise idle time could thus be turned to profitable account.
From a progressive course of this description, the pupil-teacher would gradually acquire a knowledge of what to teach; and it would be the duty of a well-qualified master to instruct him how to teach it.
The Victorian Report (Appendix A) contains a programme of the course of instruction of pupil-teachers. It entirely omits history, whether sacred or profane; and it supplies a much lower standard of attainment than the course adopted by the Committee of Privy Council on Education.
Note.—A suggested programme is annexed.
IV. How to finally dispose of pupil-teachers.
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Canterbury Provincial Gazette 1871, No 55
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Proposal on Training and Employment of Pupil-Teachers
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🎓 Education, Culture & Science14 September 1871
Pupil-teachers, Employment, Training, Educational Policy, Canterbury