E.—2

52

Model Schools. —The College is still handicapped by the absence of a sufficient number of classrooms arranged as country schools, with the result that far too many students leave the College without a first-hand knowledge of this type of school. This is all the more deplorable as most of them will start their teaching careers in such schools. It is quite a common criticism that the Training College does not emphasize sufficiently the preparation for work in a sole-charge school. This neglect is due not to lack of appreciation of its importance, but to lack of adequate facilities. Social Service. —The Social Service Club continues actively to provide opportunities for helpful vrork outside of College time. Many students gave up a number of Saturday afternoons to take charge of children from the orphanages, to entertain them with games out of doors, or to take them for short excursions. In addition, visits were paid to the Ohiro Home, Ewart Hospital, and to the Incurable Ward at the General Hospital. This voluntary service is to be highly commended, and shows evidence of a sense of social responsibility among the students. Additional Activities of the College.—We do not consider that our work as an institution is complete when our students have merely fulfilled the academic reqiurements and secured with a good measure of success the ability to control a class. We have in mind more than this. We are trying to develop in each student such likes and aptitudes as he may have, for the purpose of insuring self-realization, and in order that he might the better stimulate that entity of social welfare without which mankind can neither endure nor evolve. Fields for such activities are provided in such clubs as glee, orchestra, appreciation, dramatic, debating, and social service. Sport activities in the direction of cricket, tennis, football, basketball, hockey, swimming, boxing, and athletics are afforded. There are very few students who do not display average ability in one or more of these forms of recreation. I desire to express my thanks to the Board for the support accorded me during the year. OHRISTCHURCH. I have the honour to submit my report on the work of the Trailing College for the year ending 31st December, 1928. In accordance with the requirements of the regulations, students on admission this year were asked to state for which branch of teaching—secondary, general primary, or infant —they wished to be definitely prepared. The information gathered showed that seventeen men and seventy-four women desired general primary work, nineteen men and twenty-one women secondary, and thirty-one women wished to become infant-teachers. It is evident that this could not be accepted as the determining factor in arranging the course of training. In group 2 only eighteen students would be far enough advanced in their academic studies to hope for a position in a secondary school on leaving College, so that the others in that group would have to accept positions in primary schools for some years. Then, of the thirty-one who desired special preparation for infant-work, not one could be absolutely sure of being employed in the department of work for which she had been specially prepared. Quite a number of students who have received special instruction in infant-room practice and who have devoted their spare time to making apparatus and gathering material are now employed in teaching standard classes, for which work they were not so thoroughly prepared. In order to ensure success for the specialized course some reorganization of first appointments is necessary, so that students may be placed in the position for which they are prepared. Only by so doing can waste be avoided. This is specially the case with the third-year specialists. The whole object of their final year's work will be lost if they are not so placed that they will be able to make use of their special knowledge and special preparation. The new plan of training teachers—namely, one year pre-college probationership, two years college training, and one year post-college teaching—is now almost general, and in view of certain statements made during the year it seems advisable to point out one important effect which has not been appreciated. Under the old order entrants to the profession served for two years as probationers. During the second year they very often occupied positions of responsibility, and were almost junior assistants on the staff. By the time they had completed their College training they liad completed four years' teaching experience. Under the present arrangement they complete their College preparation at the end of their third year. They then enter the schools not as junior assistants, but as trainees who require supervision and guidance for another year. The effectiveness of the training can, therefore, be better gauged by instituting comparisons between the product of the old system and the new only when students have had an equal number of years' experience. From such inquiries as have been made it is clear that present students at the end of the probationary assistant year are, in general, doing thoroughly satisfactory work. In any case, this should be so, because the professional training given in the College is each year becoming more efficient and is being more emphasized. The academic status of entrants to the profession is improving each year, and it has therefore been possible to readjust the study side of the College in such a way as to give more time to definite professional training. It may be of interest if I briefly reproduce a portion of the report prepared earlier in the year on the arrangement for teaching practice. First-year students : First-year students on their entrance to College receive instruction in methods of teaching, and attend demonstration lessons arranged each week. Toward the end of the second term, or the beginning of the third term, they spend three weeks in the schools, where work is especially arranged for their benefit, and an opportunity is afforded them of showing their ability after demonstrations and observation. Opportunity to study schemes of work—work-books, registers, record-