or who would not ordinarily be present but for the examination. This rule, that the school shall be going on in its ordinary way until disturbed by the inspector, is a vital thing. If work is suspended, and the children are sitting idle, in eager expectation, order cannot be preserved, the tone is lost, and the highly-strung nerves of children and young teachers break down. Moreover, owing to accidents of road and rail, the most punctual of inspectors may be late. If the school work is going forward in the ordinary way, the evils of an accidental unpunctuality are reduced to a minimum. But, if not, the injury done to the prospects of the school for that year's examination may be most serious.

16. How the Inspection should be Begun.On entering the boys' school, the inspector will begin his inspection by watching for some little time, as before described for the infant school (see § 7), the school at work. There is no loss of time in doing this. The assistant is either doing some mechanical work for him, such as testing the Registers, or is examining in the elementary subjects in another department, or is finishing another school in the same town. In the case of a boys' school, there will be some difference in the method. of inspection, according as the school is a small or large one. If it is a small one, consisting only (say) of a principal teacher, and two pupil-teachers, the principal teacher must always be taking a large share in the actual work of teaching; the amount of superintendence which he will have to do will be comparatively small; the school will depend for its instruction mainly on his own exertions; and the inspector accordingly will have to watch how he teaches, quite as much as how the pupil-teachers

teach. But in a large school, consisting (say) of a principal and an assistant certificated teacher, with five pupil-teachers, and three candidates, the case is different. Here the principal teacher must, during the year, have been largely concerned with superintending and directing, rather than with actually imparting knowledge. Not that a good and active teacher will ever fail to take some teaching work himself, both to keep his own hand in, and also to raise the standard of teaching and set an example. But still his main business, if his staff is fairly efficient, will have been superintendence and not teaching. And the inspector accordingly will be able to have him by his side as he goes through the school, to reply to any questions, to assist his judgment, and to give any necessary orders. This will be found in fact to be an excellent way of inspecting the principal teacher. Whether, however, the school is large or small, the first thing for the inspector to do is to consult the time-table, so as to understand what is and ought to be going forward, and to know how best to allot his time. In the case of a big school, he will also, if possible, consult the log-book. The log-book of a large school, kept by an intelligent and efficient teacher, will throw a flood of light on the organization and character of the school; the methods taken for instructing and training the pupil-teachers; the share of the work in the school which has during the past year been committed to assistantteachers and pupil-teachers; the course of instruction which has been given in the higher subjects to the upper classes; the difficulties which the principal teacher has met with in his year's work, and the means taken to encounter them. These, and many

similar particulars, may be gathered from a wellkept log-book; and, after studying it, an inspector will go to his task prepared in a great measure with a notion of what he should look at or look for. It is not a bad plan to make teachers bring their log-books to the collective examinations of the pupil - teachers, so that the inspector may have time to study them carefully. The inspector may with great advantage keep a private rota for this purpose of all the teachers in his district, so as to secure that every teacher should bring his log-book to the collective examination every two or three years. The inspector, in watching the routine of the school, will consider also such important questions of method as the means taken to promote emulation, and to encourage effort in the scholars; whether, for example, they are marked, either by valuation or place-taking, for any of their lessons as well as for attendance. It is singular that this is so much neglected in elementary schools. They might take example in this respect from the secondary schools.

17. Importance of Last Year's Notes.-In the boys' school, as in the infant school, the inspector will endeavour to see a change take place. The remarks made on this matter in reference to infant schools apply here also (see § 7); and the bigger the school, the more important is this part of the inspector's duty. Having witnessed a change, or otherwise satisfied himself that the school is well in hand, conducted methodically so as to economize time, to avoid disorder, noise, and confusion, and to produce habits of obedience and self-restraint in the scholars, the inspector will proceed to look to the teaching of the various

members and proposed members of the staff. If he has seen the school before, he will, of course, be careful to have with him his note-book of the last year, so as to be able to refer to it and see what improvement (if any) or the reverse has taken place. Nothing can be more discouraging to a young teacher, who has had fault found with him last year, and who has taken some pains to improve, and has looked forward with anxiety to the inspector's visit, than to find that the inspector takes no notice of the fault. And, on the other hand, it is surprising what an effect it has in a school, when the teachers find that the inspector remembers them, and all about them. A word from the inspector at the end of the lesson" I see you have remembered what I said to you last year about so and so "—will work marvels.

How to

18. Inspection of the Teaching. Inspect the Candidates for Pupil-Teacherships.— Unless there is some special reason for departing from that course, the inspector will begin his inspection of the teaching, by looking to the teaching of the candidates. There is no more difficult task that an inspector can have to perform, than that of judging the merits of candidates for pupil-teacherships. The pupil-teachers have definite work to do by which the inspector can test them. But it is often not till a day or two before the inspection, that managers are in a position to present a boy as a candidate. And then of course the inspector is in face of the usual difficulty of judging of raw material. To take a boy out of a class and judge whether he will make a good teacher is no easy task; and the responsibility and difficulty are increased when the managers present four or five candidates for one vacant place, and ask

the inspector to select the best. In practice I have found the following simple tests valuable :

Select a class to which the candidate may give a lesson; which should not be one of the youngest in the school, but a fairly steady one, somewhere about the middle of the school. It is a great mistake in testing or training candidates and young pupilteachers, to put them to take very young classes. If the candidate has ever taken a class before, observe how he holds himself before the class; whether he adopts a free and erect carriage, or is slovenly and listless in his postures. Even if he has only taken the class once or twice, he ought to have received some drill from the principal teacher in these matters, to say nothing of his having, while a scholar, observed how his teachers conducted themselves in these respects. Observe whether he shows any power of using the eye in controlling his class. One of the first things that a teacher has to learn is to make his class feel that every member of it is continually in his eye. If the candidate is shortsighted, he should not be passed for apprenticeship unless he has become familiar with the use of spectacles. Put the candidate to take a reading lesson. Use the lesson as a means of seeing whether he has been trained at all in the ordinary elementary rules of teaching that subject (see § 21); and after hearing this for a sufficient time, require him to question his class, as a means of testing his general intelligence and capacity, and his readiness.

19. Inspection of the Pupil-Teachers. Having finished with the candidates, the inspector will proceed to take the pupil teachers. He has already, when he came into the school, by examination of the time-table and by a conversation there