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PREPARATORY BOYS' SCHOOLS UNDER LADY

PRINCIPALS.

THE compiling of this paper has been attended with considerable disappointment. From several districts in which inquiries were instituted for the names and addresses of ladies keeping boys' schools came back the answer: "There used to be several such schools here, but they have now ceased to exist, or have been handed over to men.' Nevertheless, 114 names and addresses were obtained, and questions bearing on the details of school management were sent round to all of these.

Two or three of those who replied had schools of a different type. Two or three sent word that their schools had existed but were now given up. And in the end only 24 sets of answers were received to the questions submitted, or to some of them, from schools of the kind specified.

Of these 24 schools the oldest has been established 62 years, the youngest two; their average age is a fraction under 20 years. They contain an aggregate of 597 boys, which gives an average of nearly 25 apiece.

Of the 24, six receive boys at four years of age, eight at five years, seven at six years, and three at seven years or over.

They keep boys-one till 10 years of age, three till 11, six till 12, three till 13, nine till 14, and two till 15.

Of the 24, one invariably, two rarely, three generally, and the rest sometimes send on boys direct to one or other of the Public Schools. In other words, there is only one out of the 24 which never sends a boy first to some other Preparatory School kept by

a master.

Six of these schools take girls as well as boys, with an average of 13 girls apiece in addition to the boys.

For the 597 boys, 67 girls, and 21 children in one school whose sex is not specified, there are 18 regular masters, and, reckoning the 24 heads, 81 regular lady teachers, which gives an average of one master for every 38, one mistress for every 81, or more than one regular teacher for every seven children

Besides the regular staffs there are in all 43 visiting masters and 24 visiting mistresses for music, singing, dancing, drill, and so forth.

The chief authority-educational, moral and disciplinary-is

in 21 cases kept entirely in the hands of the lady principal. One keeps it chiefly in her own hands, one delegates the "educational authority" to her senior master, retaining the rest in her own hands; one makes an exception as to games which she leaves altogether to the "games' master."

All 24, with perhaps one exception, make provision for games. Five record the fact that they have a field (many of the others, no doubt, have a field also), nine speak of a "games' master" or "a master with a special aptitude for games," or at least a master who plays games with the boys. Two mention a cricket professional, one in addition to cricket and football mentions boxing as a regular institution, one swimming, one "hare and hounds," one "field sports," which is somewhat ambiguous. One energetic head mistress herself goes out regularly into the football field as referee.

Of 20 ladies who replied to the queries having special reference to health and physical training, four have each a detached sanatorium, which has existed for 6, 12, 13, and 16 years respectively. Two state that they have so few boarders that a private sanatorium is unnecessary. Most rely apparently on the expedient of taking lodgings in case of any outbreak of infectious illness. One happy school of 20 boys has had "no illness of any kind since the school began nine years ago." At 13 of these 20 schools boys are always under supervision; at 7 they are allowed some leisure time to employ as they please.

There is nothing special to notice in the meal times. They seem to be very much the same at all the schools. Every one breakfasts at from 8.0 to 8.30, and dines at from 1.0 to 1.30. Tea time is more variable, ranging from 5.0 to 6.30.

Biscuits or light luncheon of some kind is generally provided at 11.0; and those who have tea early give the boys something before sending them to bed.

As regards the length of lessons, most of the ladies seem to have adopted three-quarters of an hour as the normal period; some 40 minutes, and some few, in certain cases, only half an hour. But very few still adhere to the old-fashioned length of a full hour.

Questions were also asked as to the curriculum, and lady principals were invited to fill up schemes of all their working hours, showing the length of time allotted in the week to each subject in the various classes. So many of the schemes were incompletely filled up that it is difficult to formulate the results satisfactorily. But the accompanying table of the average weekly period given to each subject in each class will, it is hoped, give some idea of the work being done. In considering this table it must be noted (i.) that class I. is always the lowest; (ii.) that all the schools naturally do not contain the same number of classes, e.g., Class VII. exists in one school only of those who filled up schemes; (iii.) that the number of schools of which the average is taken varies with almost every subject.

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N.B.-(1) These figures are intended to be read as in a railway time table, e.g., 440 denotes 4 hours 40 minutes.

(2) The number in the 8th column shows the number of schools which made a return for that particular subject, the averages of each class were taken separately.

Latin is begun at five of these schools at the age of about eight; at one school at seven years; at two at nine; but in most cases the age given is qualified by some such phrase as: When they can read with fair fluency and write." One lady begins: "Quite young-verbally."

At nine schools French is begun before Latin. Four of the nine principals think that they get better results by beginning with French; two do not think so; only one expresses the opinion that Latin is the better language on which to base the training of the intelligence.

In answer to the question: "Do you teach French in French, as far as possible, from the beginning and throughout?" thirteen answer "Yes," but the answers are all more or less qualified; two more are ambiguous, while one finds "that the Gouin method is not sufficient for Public Schools."

Of these same schools nine only teach Greek, beginning mostly at 11 years of age, or "when he can do Latin translation fairly well."

Seventeen teach drawing as part of the regular school course, six carpentering, eleven singing, ten science of some kind. One lady teaches electricity, zoology, chemistry, and physics; one some elements of human physiology.

Six confess without comment to specialising. Two specialise "if desired" or "if required."

With a view to discovering whether lady principals are in advance of men in what is now, or ought to be, the most important question agitating the educational world-the training of teachers the following questions were asked:-"Have you formed any opinion as to the most valuable kind of training for the work of teaching in a Preparatory School? Would you have it include a theoretical as well as a practical side? If so, in what subjects?"

These questions were left unanswered by 10 out of the 24. The answers of the remaining 14 are somewhat vague. One lady only replies affirmatively and completely to both questions. She would have teachers trained in anatomy, hygiene, psychology; and have them study the lives of Froebel, Pestalozzi, Arnold, and Thring. Four more seem to be in favour of training of some kind, but one of these believes that "theories are not much use"; while two avoid reference to that part of the question, There were two emphatic "No's," and, indeed, the majority, though most of the answers are couched in somewhat ambiguous language, appear to share the opinion still held by many of their brothers in teaching that:-Practical experience is all that is wanted, and that previous training is unnecessary. Two take their stand on the old half-truth that teachers are born, not made, and a few even seem convinced that theory is incompatible with good practical work. One lady has been obliged to give up altogether engaging resident masters, because she has "had three one after another who were all theory."

These statistics are less valuable than they might have been, because they are compiled from so few schools; and there is, moreover, reason to fear that from some of the best and most efficient ladies' schools no returns at all were made.

The remarks which follow are based partly on the perusal of the papers from which the foregoing particulars were derived, partly on conversations on the subject held with other schoolmasters, partly on individual observations extending over a period of more than 20 years.

It is well known that valuable and interesting work is now being done by lady teachers in classes for little boys and girls, but so far as preparatory schools (in the strictest sense of the term and as distinguished from pre-preparatory classes) are concerned, it would appear that boys' preparatory schools kept by ladies are not, in proportion to other preparatory schools of the same type, so numerous as they were a generation ago. It should be added that in the absence of complete statistics no confident opinion can be expressed on the subject. Nor can any one say whether the present tendency is more than a temporary one. To some extent indeed the change may be apparent rather than real. Probably more women than ever are now engaged in preparatory school work, though not so often in the capacity of principals as of assistants on the staff. But in so far as there has been a relative decline in the number of boys'

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