✨ Education Notices
Flaxton ... January 19 ... Present 44 ... Below the average, owing to the harvest having commenced. The scholars less accurate than at the former examination.
A meeting was held at the North Road Schoolroom, on the 17th of January; the residents affirmed their willingness to have the district formed into an Educational district, under the Education Ordinance of 1871.
EXAMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR “CERTIFICATES OF FITNESS” FOR APPOINTMENTS AS SCHOOLMASTERS.
The first general Quarterly Examination was held at Christ’s College, on the 23rd and 24th of January; the candidates were examined as to their skill in class-teaching, at the High School, on the following day.
I feel it my duty to express a grateful acknowledgment of the kindness and courtesy of the authorities and masters of both those schools.
Eight candidates were examined, and considerable proficiency was shown by their answers; but, as only one of those gentlemen had had any considerable experience as a teacher, it is not surprising that they have generally failed as to their knowledge of school work and their skill in teaching.
In the written examination, each paper contained a large number of questions, valued on the whole at 300 marks for each subject; but, a limit of time being appointed, a selection from the questions set was permitted to the candidates; and, it being expected that about two-thirds of the paper could be done in the time, a maximum of not more than 200 marks was required for each paper.
Two gentlemen, by the rapidity of their work, exceeded the required maximum in the Sacred History, and one, in the Arithmetic.
The subjects were limited by the class of certificate to those practised and taught in district schools:—Teaching, Sacred History, Reading, Spelling, Writing, Arithmetic, Grammar, English Composition, English History, Geograph.
The lowest average of marks taken by the candidates was 63 in school-work and teaching, the range being from 109 to 34. The failures in this subject relate both to the written papers and the class-teaching; they comprise general inexperience in school-keeping, want of methodical arrangement of an oral lesson, inaptitude in the correction of the children’s mistakes, and inability to control and interest a whole class.
SUGGESTION.—It may be desirable, in future, to decline to examine candidates who have not had at least three months’ practice under the supervision of a skilful teacher.
The highest averages were taken in Reading, Writing, and Spelling, although two candidates lost all their marks on the last-named subject; fifteen marks having been struck off for each mistake made, they each lost more than 300, having respectively made 21 and 23 mistakes, out of thirty-five words.
In Sacred History the average was 110, ranging from 227 to 27.
In Arithmetic, the average was only 80, ranging from 216 to 25; this low average was rather due to slowness and want of method than inaccuracy, several candidates having worked correctly the few questions which they attempted; but first-class boys would do the same work by better methods in half the time.
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Canterbury Provincial Gazette 1872, No 39
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🎓 Flaxton School Inspection Report
🎓 Education, Culture & ScienceEducation, School Inspection, Progress Reports, Flaxton
🎓 Meeting for Educational District Formation
🎓 Education, Culture & ScienceEducation, District Formation, North Road Schoolroom
🎓 Examination of Candidates for Schoolmaster Certificates
🎓 Education, Culture & ScienceEducation, Teacher Certification, Examination Results, Christ’s College