E.—l

18

It will be noticed that the number of certificated teachers has increased during the year by 120, and that the number holding partial qualifications has likewise increased by 41, whereas the number having no recognized examination status whatever has decreased by 25. This hearty and genuine attempt of teachers to improve their status is most encouraging. It may be set down to three causes :— (1.) Parliament last year voted £1,000 for the establishment at suitable centres of training classes, held in subjects essential to the award of a teachers' certificate and for the maintenance of a system of tuition by correspondence applicable to the cases of teachers who were too remote from any convenient centre or whose requirements in individual subjects were not such as could be dealt with collectively. The grant was notified last year at rather too late a date to enable due advantage to be taken by teachers of the increased facilities offered, but it is hoped that full advantages of it will be taken during the current year (1912). (2.) Education Boards have of late shown an increasing desire to dispose of the services of teachers who have made no attempt to improve their status. (3.) Thanks to the improvements made of recent years in staffs and salaries, the growing tendency among teachers, evidenced in other countries, to leave the ranks of the teaching profession for some more remunerative sphere of employment is not nearly so marked in this Dominion. It was pointed out in several of the reports of Education Boards (reprinted in Appendix A of E.-2) that it is impossible to expect teachers of schools of Grades 0 and I to qualify for teachers' certificates. Whatever soundness there may be in this statement, it is certainly true that only about a quarter of such teachers are certificated. Omitting teachers of schools with average attendance of 15 or less, we get the following comparison : —

Primary Teachers in Public Schools with an Average Attendance of 16 and upwards, 1911.

The above figures do not include teachers in the secondary departments of district high schools, the great majority of whom are fully certificated teachers. Below is printed a summary of Table E3, including all certificated teachers employed by Education Boards, whether engaged in primary work or in the secondary departments of district high schools, arranged according to sex and class of certificate held. It is to be noted that there is now no examination for E certificate.

1905. 1909. 1910. 1911. I. Certificated 2,460 2,524 2,608 2,723 I. Uncertificated — (a.) Partially qualified .. (6.) Without status .. I 329 163 272 353 262 383 277 374 — 492 625 645 - 651 Totals 2,952 2,952 3,149 3,253 3,374 Percentages — I. Certificated 83'3 80-2 80-2 80-7 II. (a.) Partially qualified .. (6.) Without status .. 11-1 5-6 — 16-7 8-6 11-2 8-0 11-8 8-2 11-] 19-8 19-8 19-3 Totals .. 100 100 100 100 I