Inspectors, on the following principles. A series of subjects will be selected for each class of certificates, the limits of examination in which will be hereafter defined in their Lordships' regulations. These subjects will be divided into sections, and every candidate will be expected to profess a certain number of the subjects in each section, and his examination will be conducted in the subjects thus selected by him. Each candidate will also be required to conduct the instruction of a class in the presence of the Inspector. On the results of this examination a report will be presented by the Inspectors, together with the examination papers, to their Lordships, who will determine in which cases certificates may be granted. In all cases testimonials of character will be required from the managers of the schools; and the award of any augmentation of salary to the candidate will be contingent on the fulfilment of the remaining conditions of such grants, and, in particular, of that which requires that the "Inspector report that his school is efficient in its organization, discipline, and instruction."

A sufficient general indication of the subjects to which the examination is to extend may be derived from those in which the pupil-teachers to be educated by such masters will be examined, in the last year of their apprenticeship.

Besides the examination in religious instruction, which is in England confined to Church-of-England schools, the pupilteachers will, at the close of the fifth year of their apprenticeship, have been examined

In English Grammar and Composition.

In General Geography, the use of the Globes, and in the Geography of the British Empire and Europe, as connected with the outlines of English History.

In English History.

In Decimal Arithmetic and the higher rules of Mental
Arithmetic.

In Book-keeping.

In the Elements of Mechanics.

In Mensuration.

In the Elements of Land Surveying and Levelling.
In the Rudiments of Algebra.

In the Composition of the Notes of a Lesson; of an Account
of the Organization of the School and the Methods of
Instruction used; and of an Essay on some Subject con-
nected with the Art of Teaching.

In their skill in the Management of any Class under Instruction, and in their ability to give a Gallery Lesson.

Probably also in Vocal Music and in Drawing from Models. Such being the subjects in which the pupil-teachers will have been examined before the close of their apprenticeship, no master ought to obtain their Lordships' third or lowest certificate who is not prepared to show an accurate knowledge or skill in all these

departments, and in such others as may appear, in England or in Scotland, required by the present state of the parochial and other schools.

The examination papers on each of these subjects must, of course, exhibit a higher range of acquirement and greater accuracy and facility than those to be required from Queen's scholars.

The regulations as to character and religious knowledge will be strictly consistent with those by which the certificate of pupilteachers is to be determined in the different classes of schools, and the terms of the Supplementary Minute of the 10th of July, 1847, are to be borne in mind with respect to the class of schools referred to in that Minute.

To

I have the honour to be,
Sir,

Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools,
in the District of

Your obedient Servant,
J. P. KAY SHUTTLEWORTH.

Letter from the Right Honourable Sir George Grey, Bart., to the Lord President of the Council.

MY LORD,

Whitehall, 18th November, 1846. I AM desirous of bringing under your Lordship's notice the subject of the appropriation of sums granted by Parliament towards defraying the expenses of salaries of schoolmasters and schoolmistresses for the children of the destitute in the Poor-Law Unions in England and Wales. A sum was granted by Parliament for this purpose for the half-year ending 31st March, 1847, and it may be anticipated that grants will be made with the same object in future years. I am aware, from the communications which have taken place between your Lordship and myself on this subject, that you entirely concur in the importance of rendering the application of such grants conducive to the increased efficiency of workhouse schools; and I think that this object may be very materially promoted by the assistance of the Committee of Council on Education. I enclose to your Lordship a paper addressed to me by Mr. Kay Shuttleworth, containing some valuable suggestions on this subject; and I would request that this paper may be submitted for the consideration of the Committee of Council, with a view to the adoption of such measures as, upon consideration, shall appear best calculated to improve the character of the instruction given in the workhouse schools. I entirely agree in the opinion expressed by Mr. Kay Shuttleworth, that the inspection of these schools cannot properly be discharged amidst the other urgent claims on the time and attention of Assistant Poor-Law Commissioners; and I think it is very desirable that this duty should

be confided to persons of knowledge and experience, whose time could be devoted to it, and who should be selected for the office by the Committee of Council. The establishment of a normal school, for the training of masters for workhouse schools, is another point of the utmost importance. The establishment of a school of this character, for training masters for prison schools, is also under my consideration; and although it is essential that the two classes of children should be kept totally separate, the qualifications of the instructors would be the same; and it would probably tend to the efficiency, as well as the economy of the arrangement, if the two objects were to be combined, and one good normal school established for training masters for both purposes. If your Lordship should concur in this opinion, I would propose that the requisite steps should be taken, under the direction of the Committee of Council, and with the sanction of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, for the forma> tion of such schools. The choice of a site, and the details of the arrangements, may best be considered when the subject comes before the Committee.

The Lord President of the Council, &c.

&c.

&c.

I have, &c. (Signed) G. GREY.

Paper on the Administration of the Grant of 30,000l. for the Salaries of the Schoolmasters and Schoolmistresses of Workhouses, prepared at the request of the Right Honourable Sir George Grey, Bart., Principal Secretary of State for the Home Depart

ment.

SIR,

Privy Council Office, August 5, 1846. THE ignorant and demoralized children who, before the passing of the Poor-Law Amendment Act, were reared in workhouses, were disposed of by a system of compulsory apprenticeship, burdensome to the ratepayer and fatal to the child.

That system has been abolished, and the system of pauper apprenticeship has been rendered subject to regulations which give the Commissioners power to prevent abuses, and which practically restrain it within narrow limits.

But the training of pauper children in workhouses has hitherto, with rare exceptions, been left to the regulation of the Boards of Guardians, and is consequently generally low in its aims and meagre in its outline. The schools are wretchedly supplied with books and apparatus. The schoolmasters have often been dependent on parochial relief, and are generally ignorant and unskilled.

The pauper child, however, now depends on the physical, the moral, and mental vigour he may acquire in the school for the means of pushing his way in life so as to acquire independence.

Since the aid of apprenticeship has been practically denied him, because of its abuses, a sound practical education is indispensable.

To overlook this consequence of the preceding steps of legislation would be to betray a want of confidence in those moral agencies which the authors of the Poor-Law Amendment Act have been accustomed to plead as the true means of elevating the poor.

The reformation of the school of the pauper child is a consequence of the restraints on apprenticeship, and to overlook this improvement will encumber the workhouses with vicious youths, reared in ignorance and idleness, to be a burthen to the country either in its workhouses or its gaols.

In the estimates of the Poor Law Commissioners for the year 1846-7, 30,000l. were voted for the salaries of the schoolmasters of workhouses.

When Sir Robert Peel laid this arrangement before the House of Commons, he proposed that the appointment of schoolmasters of workhouses should remain in the Boards of Guardians, subject, I apprehend, to the approval of the Poor Law Commissioners.

As, however, the responsibility for the due application of the parliamentary grant of 30,000l. will rest upon the Secretary of State for the Home Department, it would appear expedient that he should require the inspection of these schools; certain qualifications in candidates for the office; and should retain the power of dismissal.

This was, I conceive, the general outline of Sir Robert Peel's plan for the application of this parliamentary grant.

I propose to examine this plan in detail, and to offer some suggestions with the view of rendering this application of the public money as useful as possible.

Before proceeding to do so, I beg to remind you that the legislature has sanctioned the plan of establishing District Schools for the training of pauper children.

This plan has hitherto been rendered inoperative by two restrictive clauses.

The first of these clauses was intended to confine the formation of districts of unions for pauper schools to towns, or very populous localities.

The second of these clauses, by limiting the outlay on the building to a certain proportion of the assessment, has prevented the erection of a single district school.

The grant of 30,0007. will not necessarily interfere with the fulfilment of this design when these restrictions are removed, and it may, in the mean time, introduce progressive improvements into the existing schools, and raise the tone of feeling in the Boards of Guardians.

I am still of opinion that the workhouse is an improper place for the training of children, and that, when the Boards of Guardians have acquired a more enlightened sense of their responsibilities and interests, in employing education as a means of counteracting the evils of pauperism, they will desire to be enabled to establish district schools.

With these impressions I proceed to submit some suggestions on the following topics:

I. The adequacy of the salary of the schoolmasters and mistresses available from this grant.

II. Whether any and what conditions may properly be required from the Boards of Guardians in consideration of the grant of the salary.

III. The mode of appointment and qualifications to be required.

IV. The officers by whom the school is to be examined, and the nature of the inspection.

V. The mode of dismissal.

I. The adequacy of the salary of the schoolmaster and mistress available from this grant.

There are 600 unions in England and Wales, and at least 700 workhouse-schools.

The proposed annual grant of 30,000l. would therefore provide a sum of less than 457. per annum to be divided between the master and mistress of each workhouse-school, probably in the proportions of 307. to the master, and 157. to the mistress.

The question of the adequacy of this salary necessarily involves an inquiry into the condition of the schoolmaster in a workhouse.

His position is peculiar.

An efficient schoolmaster is generally a much better informed man than the master of a workhouse, and of superior manners and habits, yet he is subordinate in position, has inferior rooms, enjoys fewer privileges, and is subject to much more interference.

Hitherto he has been so frequently liable to the caprices of a vulgar master, that few properly trained schoolmasters have remained in the workhouses. I append a note from Mr. Stow of Glasgow, enclosing a letter from one of the young men trained in the Glasgow normal school, showing the impression produced by such circumstances on the mind of a trained schoolmaster.

Before, therefore, attempting to determine the adequacy of the salary, it is necessary to ascertain whether it is to be accompanied by any regulations, defining more accurately than heretofore the position of a schoolmaster in a workhouse, and providing more effectually for his comfort and efficiency.

D