Notices of Appointment, Dismissal, etc.

Teacher's Appeal against

dismissal.

From the Report for 1893-4.

(xiv.) The Trustees of any School District must forthwith report to the Superintendent of Education the appointment, resignation, or dismissal of any teacher or teachers in their district, and in case of dismissal must state the reasons for such dismissal.

The Trustees shall, from time to time, select, from amongst those persons properly qualified, and appoint the teacher or teachers in their school district; and may remove and dismiss such teacher or teachers upon giving at least thirty days' notice. of such intention of removal or dismissal, and of their reasons for so doing.

Upon notification from the Council of Public Instruction of the inefficiency or misconduct of any teacher, the trustees must give such teacher thirty days' notice of dismissal.

But, when a teacher has been suspended by the trustees for gross misconduct, he has no right to thirty days' notice, nor to salary in lieu of notice.

(xv.) A teacher suspended or dismissed by the Trustees on a charge of gross misconduct may appeal to the Council of Public Instruction, which has power to take evidence, and to confirm or reverse upon evidence the decision of the Trustees. When a decision is reversed, the teacher shall not be reinstated in the same school without the consent of the Trustees.

Trustees cannot give authority to teachers to violate the regulations in any particular.

Trustees cannot appoint or retain as teacher a person who does not hold a certificate from the Education Department of the Province.

V. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS.

(i.) The following is taken from the Report for 1893-4."Our schools have increased in number and importance to such an extent as to require an expansion of the system. The experience of past years has shown that teachers before assuming active duties should be required to have a good general knowledge of the work that they undertake. In order that this be accomplished, it is necessary that a Normal School be established for the training of those who are about to engage in the instruction of youth. every professional pursuit special training is a requirement, and particularly should this be the case with those who have to deal with child-mind. Only those who have at least some knowledge of psychology and proper methods of school management should be granted certificates in public schools.

In

To place a school in charge of a teacher who possesses no other recommendation than a certificate is not, as a rule, doing justice to the pupils who have to attend the school.

"Experience has proved that it is a wise economy for any country to give to her teachers thorough instruction as to methods and general knowledge of school management. This can only be done by the establishment of a Normal School. Such an institution under two teachers, as a commencement, would be of invaluable benefit to the schools of the Province

thereby every school under the charge of a trained teacher would receive direct benefit for every outlay made in this direction."

(ii.) The following remarks are quoted from the Public Schools From the Report for 1896 :--Report for 1896.

"We again beg to recommend that iminediate steps be taken towards the establishment of a Normal School in this Province. It is of paramount importance that the young and inexperienced aspirants for the position of teachers should have some special preparation for their work. The success of the school is wholly dependent on the capability and fitness of the teacher, and the vital interests of children should not be intrusted to one who is ignorant of the first principles of the art of teaching. If in other pursuits special training is necessary to success, certainly teachers require preparation for their work. A Normal School affords to teachers the opportunity of properly preparing themselves for the achievement of the best results. While it is true that every teacher who has attended a Normal School may not prove to be a successful instructor, yet we believe that he will accomplish much more from the training he received in such an institution. It is also true that some of our best teachers have never attended a Normal School, but their success must be attributed either to natural aptitude or to many years of experience, or to both combined. When it is taken

into consideration that the Government is now paying about $140,000 a year for salaries of teachers alone, the extra cost of maintaining a Normal School, say $5,000 a year, is very small in comparison with the many benefits to our school system, which the establishment of such an institution would afford. British Columbia is the only Province in the Dominion which does not support one or more Normal Schools."

School.

(i.) The Inspector for the District of Nelson in 1898 records Necessity for his conviction of the "absolute necessity" for a Normal School. a Normal The majority of the teachers employed in the district are educated in the schools of British Columbia. Their knowledge is unquestionably adequate, he says, but they are deficient in ability to instruct and to use modern methods of teaching. He observes that the practical training of teachers is too often acquired at their pupils' expense, and that poor results are in consequence attained. A similar complaint is made by the Inspector for the Vancouver district. Many of the teachers know little of the art of teaching, and until the Province has a Normal School and a Model School, it is certain that the work of many of the young teachers will continue to be experimental. He recommends that the salary of inexperienced teachers should begin at a lower figure, and should increase regularly as the teacher proves his efficiency. One observation of the Inspector for Vancouver is remarkable and important. He suggests that the lack of interest taken in the schools by the people may be because "education is too cheap; what one gets for nothing is apt to be lightly prized." In view of this he would like to see the grant for "incidental expenses' cut off, except in exceptional cases. In some country schools the work of the upper classes is

to a certain extent hampered by the preparation of pupils for teachers' certificates. This would be obviated by the establishment of a Normal School, or by an arrangement for such instruction of intending teachers among the classes of the High Schools.

The necessity for the establishment of a Normal School in the Province is commented on in Inspector Wilson's Report for 1894-5 (Public School Report, p. 213). It is to this deficiency that he attributes the noticeable inferiority of the methods of primary instruction in the Province, as compared with the other Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The work of the advanced grades showed no such inferiority. But suitable professional training was, in his opinion, a real need.

Expulsion

and

VI-TRUANCY: PUNISHMENTS.

The record of the rural schools in regard to the severest punishments-suspension and expulsion-is a better one than Suspension. that of the city districts. That truancy is more prevalent in city districts than in rural districts is the natural consequence of the difference in home-training and modes of life in a considerable number of the children.

Corporal

A pupil can only be expelled when his example is very injurious and there is no apparent prospect of reformation. For gross misconduct, or a violent and wilful opposition to authority, a pupil may be suspended from attendance at a school for a specified period, not to exceed one week. It is enjoined by the Department upon the teacher not to suspend or expel a pupil until all other means have failed to bring the child to obedience and good conduct.

(ii.) The teacher of a public school derives his authority for the punishment. use of the rod in corporal punishment from the regulations, of which the following is a portion:-" Every teacher shall practice such discipline as may be exercised by a kind, firm, and judicious parent in his family, avoiding corporal punishment, except when it shall appear to him to be imperatively necessary." While, therefore, the teacher is given authority to use the rod, he is admonished to avoid corporal punishment except when it is absolutely necessary. Too frequent or too severe use of the rod is indicative of the teacher's incompetency as a proper trainer of those entrusted to his care. One remedy for the abuse of this power is vested in the Board of Trustees of every school district; they may dismiss any teacher at thirty days' notice provided they state the cause of dismissal. It rests, therefore, with the trustees whether they will retain or dismiss the teacher who abuses his authority by the excessive use of corporal punishment. This is the only way, other than by counsel, in which trustees are authorised to interfere with the teacher in regard to the use or abuse of the rod.-(From the Report for 1894-5).-In some schools "the rod would appear to be the chief means employed

to obtain discipline. It is proper to state, however, that more than half of the cases of corporal punishment reported are credited to less than twenty schools; one graded school reporting 108 cases, and one common school 91 cases.

(iii.) "It is to be feared that the use of the power of moral suasion Moral in obtaining good government in the schools is neglected, in suasion, great part, by a few of the teachers. Physical force is certainly not the only nor the best means at the command of the teacher for securing good discipline. The teacher who uses moral suasion effectively in the government of his school will accomplish the best results, not only in the moral training of the pupils but in their intellectual advancement,"

VII. LEGAL PENALTIES,

(i.) Any person wilfully making a false declaration of his right Voter's false to vote shall, on a summary conviction before any justice of the declaration. peace, be sentenced therefor to imprisonment for any period not exceeding three months, or to a fine not greater than one

hundred dollars.

(ii.) Any person who wilfully disturbs, interrupts, or disquiets Disturbance the proceedings of any school meeting authorised to be held, or of school any school established and conducted according to the regulameeting, tions, or who interrupts or disquiets any public school by rude or indecent behaviour, or by making a noise, either within the place where the school is held, or so near to it that he disturbs the order or exercises of the school, shall for each offence, on conviction before a justice of the peace, on the oath of one credible witness, forfeit and pay for public school purposes to the school district within which the offence was committed, a sum not exceeding twenty dollars, together with the costs of the conviction.

For the prescribed method of recovering these penalties, see the regulation already given above, Section III. (i.)

VIII-SCHOOL PROPERTY.

(i.) In rural school districts the trustees are responsible for the Trustees' 16good repair of the school-house. They should see that the sponsibility. windows are properly fitted with glass; that at the proper season the stove and pipe, or fireplace, are in good condition, and that suitable wood or coal is provided; that the desks and seats are in good repair; that the outhouses are properly provided with doors; that the blackboards are kept painted, the water supply abundant, and that everything necessary for the comfort of the pupils and the success of the school is provided.

school

(ii.) No public school-house, or school plot, nor any building, Misuse of furniture, or other thing belonging to it, should be used or buildings. occupied for any other purpose than for the use or accommodation of the public school of the district, without the express permission of the trustees as a corporation; and then only after

Teacher's re

school hours, and on condition that all damage be made goo and cleaning and sweeping properly done.

(iii.) The teacher has charge of the school-house on behalf of sponsibility, the trustees. He has no authority to use it otherwise than as directed by them, nor to use it at any other time than during school hours without their sanction. At the request of the trustees he must at once deliver up to them the keys of the school-house.

report.

IX.-INSPECTION.

Inspector's (i.) The supervision of the schools is the duty of the Superintendent of Education, and he is assisted in this work by two Inspectors. When a school is visited by an inspector, he is required to make a written report to the Department immediately on his return to the Education Office, on the internal work of the school-room, methods employed, and on the condition of the school-grounds and the buildings: in short, to report on all matters connected with the proper working and the welfare of the school. The Department, through the reports on inspections made, as well as through information furnished by trustees and teacher, is kept fully

Need of a third Inspector.

informed as to the condition of each school.

(ii) The Superintendent of Education wrote as follows, in his Report for 1896:

"A school system, to be effective, must have vigilant supervision. Owing to the large extent of territory to be traversed by representatives of the Department, and the yearly increasing number of schools, it has not been possible to make as frequent visitations as are desirable, or even to reach all the schools in any one year.

The first Inspector of Schools was appointed in 1887, to assist the Superintendent in his work. At that time there were 92 schools in operation, under the charge of 118 teachers. In 1892, the number of schools having increased to 149, and the number of teachers employed to 228, a second Inspector was appointed. In view of the fact that in 1896 there were 233 schools under a staff of 368 teachers, the necessity of the appointment of a third Inspector of Schools should be considered."

X.-HIGH SCHOOLS.

There are four public High Schools in the Province, viz., the Nanaimo, New Westminster, Vancouver, and Victoria High Schools. The salaries of the head-teachers vary from $135 to $108 a month. In all these schools, co-education takes place and the honours of the examinations, as well as of other school activities, seem to be about equally divided between the boys and the girls.