Appendix D.\

E.—2.

Only a limited number of students attended Canterbury College with the view of keeping terms —that is, of passing the annual College examination in three subjects. Students who aspire to do this, and at the same time to do the work prescribed for the training-college classes and give due attention to the study and practice of teaching, require more than a bare pass in the Matriculation Examination to justify them in attempting so heavy a programme. A watchful eye has to bo kept on some of the more ambitious women students who, in their desire to attain academic distinction, are apt to overlook the primary importance of physical fitness. Provision for the practical application of the principles and methods of teaching, as expounded in the lectures delivered by the Principal and the headmaster, has been supplied in various ways. Among them may bo enumerated (1) practice in teaching, under careful supervision, small drafts of pupils; (2) set lessons, carefully prepared by students with the aid of expert advice, and given to a full class; (3) observation of criticism lessons given by senior students; (4) demonstration lessons given by different members of the staff in the presence of tho students assembled in the gallery of the criticism-room. Owing to the strengthening of the staff it has been found possible to make more general and profitable use of demonstration lessons than in previous years. The appointment of an additional member of the training staff, and the consequent increased amount of assistance available for individual students in need of guidance, have bad direct and beneficial bearing on their training for the practical work of teaching. In the programme of instruction provided at the Training College the more important new features have been — (a) The expansion of the course in physiography, in the teaching of which subject the. headmaster and the assistant lecturer co-operate ; (6) the further development of the work of the drawing classes, with the special object of training the students to illustrate their lessons by blackboard sketches (irr this direction the visiting teachers from the School of Art have received valuable assistance from the headmaster, as the classes are too cumbrous to be efficiently taught by two instructors); (c) a nature-study class foi- junior students, taken by Mr. Martin, the Board's chief instructor in agriculture; (d) a weekly lecture on general history, delivered by. Mr. Purchase to the junior students. Owing to tho services of the Department's instructors in physical training being required at times in other parts of tiro Dominion, the instruction given, though highly efficient in quality, has suffered from unavoidable interruptions. Orr those occasions when the Department's officers were unable to bo present the classes were taken under proper supervision by some of the senior students. In co-ordination with the work of these classes there have been provided, as in former years, a course of lectures on school hygiene, delivered by Dr. Eleanor Baker, the classes in first-aid and ambulance work, and the swimming and life-saving classes conducted irr the Muiricipal Bath, during the latter portion of the year. A considerable number of students acquired the art of swimming, and several qualified for the certificates and medallions awarded by the Royal Life-saving Society. The above-mentioned factors have all contributed in exerting a beneficial influence orr the general health of the studerrts, which on the whole has been good. During the year twelve uncertificated teachers of rural schools took advantage of the provision of instruction by correspondence with members of the Training College staff. Tho instructors report favourably on the, diligence and application of most of the members of these classes. The amended regulation allowing the D certificate examination to be taken in three sections facilitates the gaining of a certificate by correspondence, and is an encouragement to teachers to make the attempt. At the end of the year a short summer school was held with the object of supplementing the instruction conveyed by correspondence. The list of students for the coming year is nearly completed. Notwithstanding the fact that five men who were admitted last year for a two-years course, and several others who proposed to enter the College this year, have been accepted for active service, the number of students actually in attendance is in excess of our accommodation. For some of the applicants who seek admission as students in Division B I have been unable to find room. The need for a new training college, for which a site was purchased over two years ago, is becoming yearly more and more urgent. It is to be hoped that at an early date matters may be so ordained that the demand for adequate accommodation may secure the attention it deserves. The general eorrduct of the students and the interest they have shown in qualifying for the profession they have adopted has been highly satisfactory. The fact that several who were admitted for a term of one year applied to bo accepted as students for an additional year indicated that they appreciated the value of the training they wore receiving. The increased allowance now payable to students has been gladly welcomed, more especially at a time when there is a marked advance in the cost of living.

DUNEDIN. At the end of last year the numbers in attendance were : Junior students, eleven males and thirty-seven females; senior students, twenty-one males and forty-seven females. Of the latter (second-year- students) all left, having .finished their two years' term of training, and of the juniors or first-year students one left, being a graduate student for a term of one year only. Of these, senior students who finished at end of 1914, forty obtained their 0 certificate, twenty-six D, two B, and twenty-one partial success towards C. Eleven ol: them obtained the first section of the B.A. degree, as did two of the juniors for that year, and two seniors and one junior the full B.A. degree. It is noteworthy that out of the twenty-one men of these senior students for 1914 eleven have gone to the front. At the beginning of this year there were twelve men and fifty women admitted, making the numbers as follows : First-year students, twelve men and fifty women; second-year students, eleven men and thirty-six women. The numbers decreased during the year, as five second-year students and one first-year student left for the front; three second-year men and one woman left as war

ii—E. 2 (App. D).

IX