Committee of Council on Education

Background notes

Treasury Minute

29 August 1833: set out rules regarding the distribution of the £20,000 grant for education

Orders in Council

10 April 1839: created the Committee of the Privy Council on Education

3 June 1839: approved the Committee of Council on Education's report on the distribution of funds for public education

Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education

24 September 1839: regulations governing the appropriation of grants

25 August and 21 December 1846: appointment of inspectors; teachers' qualifications and pensions; education of pupil teachers and stipendiary monitors; support for Normal Schools

6 August 1851: grants to certificated teachers in training schools

23 July 1852: grants to assistant teachers in elementary schools

2 April 1853: grants for the support of schools

20 August 1853: Queen's Scholars, apprentices and certificated teachers

2 June 1856: admission of Queen's Scholars and annual examination of students in training colleges

4 May 1859: cancelled Section 9 in the Minute of 20 August 1853

The 1862 Revised Code

On this page:

Revised Code 1862
Minutes and Regulations of the Committee of the Privy Council on Education

Instructions to HMI
advice on the administration of the Revised Code

The papers of the Committee of Council on Education were prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 30 April 2016.


Revised Code 1862

As reprinted in Reports on Elementary Schools 1852-1882 by Matthew Arnold, edited by FS Marvin and published by HMSO in 1908.

Note that the page numbers shown here are from the book, not from the original documents.


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REVISED CODE OF MINUTES AND REGULATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL ON EDUCATION, 1862

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER

1. A sum of money is annually granted by Parliament for public education in Great Britain.

2. This sum is administered by an establishment called the Education Department.

3. The head of the Education Department is the Lord President of the Council, assisted by a member of the Privy Council, who is called the Vice-President of the Committee on Education, and who acts under the direction of the Lord President, and for him in his absence (Order in Council, 25th February, 1856, Act 19 & 20 Vict., c. 116).

4. The object of the grant is to promote the education of children belonging to the classes who support themselves by manual labour.

5. The means consist in aiding voluntary local exertion, under certain conditions, to establish or maintain schools, which are either:-

(a) For the instruction of children (elementary); or

(b) For training schoolmasters and schoolmistresses (normal).

6. In elementary schools, the children attend from the homes of their parents, and charge is taken of them during the school-hours only.

7. In normal schools, entire charge is taken of the students.


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8. Every school assisted from the grant must be either:

(a) A school in connection with some recognised religious denomination; or

(b) A school in which, besides secular instruction, the Scriptures are read daily from the authorised version.

9. Aid to establish schools is given by grants towards the cost of building, enlarging, improving, or fitting up, elementary school-rooms and dwellings for elementary teachers.

Aid is not given to establish normal schools.

10. Aid to maintain schools is given by grants to the managers conditional upon the attendance and proficiency of the scholars, the qualifications of the teachers, and the state of the schools.

11. The aid given to maintain schools is known as "Annual Grants," being annually payable, at a fixed time to each school allowed to receive them.

12. No grants are made to schools which are not open to inspection by inspectors appointed by Her Majesty in Council on the representation of the Committee of Council on Education.

13. The Committee of Council consults the religious or educational bodies which are mentioned in Article 30 before making representations to Her Majesty for the appointment of inspectors to visit schools in connection with those several bodies.

14. The inspectors do not interfere with the religious instruction, discipline, or management of schools, but are employed to verify the fulfilment of the conditions on which grants are made, to collect information, and to report the results to the Committee of Council.


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15. No annual grant is paid, except on a report from the inspector, after a periodical visit, showing that the conditions of the grant have been fulfilled.

16. The Committee of Council, at the time of agreeing to make annual grants to a school, informs the managers in what month to look for the inspector's annual visit. The inspector gives notice of the day of his visit beforehand to the managers.

17. Annual grants are issued to each school only once per annum. The year for this purpose is reckoned as ending with the last day (inclusive) of the month preceding that fixed for the inspector's annual visit.

18. Schools which have received aid for building, but are not receiving annual grants, are inspected as often as the periodical inspection of the schools receiving annual grants permits.

19. The managers of schools, fulfilling the conditions of Articles 4, 6, and 8, may apply for the benefit of Article 18, without having received, or applying for, any grant.

20. The duration of the period over which the right of inspection extends depends upon the degree of permanency of the object for which the grant is made.

(a) If the grant is made for erecting, enlarging, or improving a school, the right of inspection is secured by a clause inserted in, or endorsed upon, the school deed, and is co-extensive with the interest conveyed by that deed.

(b) If the grant is annual only, the inspector's visit may at any time be declined by the managers. on forfeiting the grant depending upon it.

21. No undertaking must be commenced in general reliance upon the aid to be obtained from the Parliamentary grant. Separate applications, in the form of proposals,


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must, in the first instance, be addressed to the Secretary, Committee on Education, Council Office, London, S.W.

Full instructions are thereupon issued according to the particulars of the application.

The promoters, or managers, must appoint one of their own body to act as correspondent with the Education Department. Teachers cannot act as correspondents for the schools in which they are employed.

CHAPTER I

GRANTS TO ESTABLISH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Building

22. Aid is not granted to build new elementary schools unless their Lordships are satisfied:-

(a) That there is a sufficient population of the labouring class which requires a school in the vicinity.

(b) That the religious denomination of the new school is suitable to the families relied upon for supplying scholars.

(c) That the school is likely to be maintained in efficiency.

(d) That the buildings, at the time of application, have not been begun nor contracted for, and that no trust deed has been executed.

23. The grants made by the Committee of Council for building, enlarging, improving, or fitting up elementary schools, are not to exceed any one of the following limits, viz.:-
1st Limit The total amount voluntarily contributed by proprietors, residents, or employers of labour in the parish where the school is situated, or

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within a radius of four miles from the school. Such contributions may be in the form of -
(a) Individual subscriptions;

(b) Collections in churches or chapels in the same parish, or within the distance of four miles from the school.

(c) Materials, at the price allowed for them by the contractor, or at which sold off.

(d) Sites given without valuable consideration (the value to be certified by two professional surveyors).

(e) Cartage (the value to be certified by the parochial surveyor of roads).

2nd Limit 2s. 6d. per square foot of internal area in new school-rooms and class-rooms.

3rd Limit £65 for each teacher's residence.

24. The site, plans, estimates, specifications, title and trust deed, must be satisfactory to the Committee of Council.

25. The balance of expenditure which is not covered by the voluntary local contributions and by the public grant, taken together, may be made up from any other sources that are available, such as the proceeds of endowment, or subscriptions which are not local.

26. Grants are not made for rooms intended to be used on Sundays only; nor for rooms under places of worship; nor to pay off debts for building; nor in consideration of former expenditure for building; nor for maintenance of buildings; nor for improving or fitting up schools which have already received the maximum amount allowable under Article 23.

27. The extension of the area of existing school-rooms to receive more scholars, and the addition of teachers' dwellings, to existing school-rooms, are treated pro tanto as new cases under Article 23.


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28. No application can be entertained if the approved estimate (Article 24) falls below £20 in small rural schools (Article 133), or £50 in other schools.

The Site

29. The site must be:-

(a) In extent Not less than 1,200 square yards.

(b) In situation (1) Not unhealthy, nor noisy. (2) Within convenient distance from the homes of the scholars.

(c) In tenure Fee simple (Acts 4 & 5 Vict., c. 38., and 12 &. 13 Vict., c. 49).

(a) Without incumbrance, or rights reserved over the surface.

(b) If with reservation of minerals, the party in whom the fee simple of them is vested must covenant to make compensation in the event of damage, and the grant made by the Committee of Council must be the first charge upon such compensation; the whole of which is to be applied as the Secretary of State for the Home Department may direct in furtherance of the trust for a school.

(c) If subjected to powers of leasing, sale, or re-entry, the lease or sale must not be without the written consent of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, nor the re-entry without first repaying any grant which may have been paid in respect of the premises.

(d) Leaseholds are not admissible, if fee simple can be obtained. The term must not be less than ninety-nine years, and there must be no onerous covenants, nor more than nominal rent.

(e) Copyholds must be enfranchised (Act 12 & 13 Vict., c. 49. s. 6.)


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The Trust Deed

30. The trust deed must declare the premises to be granted in trust for the education of the poor, and for no other purpose whatever. It must also provide for the legal ownership of the premises, and for the inspection and management of the school, according to one or other of the precedents settled for: Church of England Schools, British Schools, Established Church of Scotland Schools, Wesleyan Schools, Free Church (Scotland) Schools, Roman Catholic Schools, Jewish Schools, Episcopal Church (Scotland) Schools, Undenominational Schools (belonging to none of the previous classes, but in which the Bible is read daily from the authorised version).

31. When the trust deed has been executed according to a draft approved and sealed by the Committee of Council, and (when necessary) enrolled or registered, a copy of it, including all signatures, attestations, and endorsements must be made on plain unstamped parchment and lodged in the Education Office.

32. When the application is for a grant to enlarge, improve, or fit up, an existing elementary school already conveyed in trust, the deed must be a legal conveyance of the land, and not at variance with any of the principles which determine the approval of new deeds. The right of inspection must be permanently secured (Act 7 & 8 Vict., c. 37, sections 1 and 2), and there must be no powers or reservations to which the Act 18 & 19 Vict., c. 131 cannot be applied, and which might become prejudicial to the school.

The Plans

33. The plans (with specification and estimate), when approved and sealed, may be returned to the promoters for use, but must be lodged in the Education Office before a grant is paid.


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Payment of Grants for Building, Enlarging, Improving, or Fitting up Elementary Schools

34. The amount of the grant is not announced until after the draft trust deed and plans have been sealed.

35. The grant must be accepted or declined within fourteen days.

36. The grant is paid on presentation of a certificate (with balance sheet annexed), by the Building and Managing Committees of the school, setting forth that the building and conveyance are completed, and that the money in hand, raised by absolute donations, will, when added to the grant, meet all claims, and finally close the account.

37. Grants under £50 are treated as lapsed, if unpaid at the end of nine months, and grants above £50 at the end of eighteen months, from the date of announcing them.

CHAPTER II

GRANTS TO MAINTAIN SCHOOLS

PART I

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

SECTION I

Annual Grants conditional upon the Number and Proficiency of the Scholars, the Number and Qualifications of the Teachers, and the State of the Schools

38. Schools may meet three times daily; viz., in the morning, afternoon, and evening.

39. Schools which do not meet more than once daily cannot receive grants.


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40. The managers of schools may claim at the end of each year, defined by Article 17:-

(a) The sum of 4s. per scholar according to the average number in attendance throughout the year at the morning and afternoon meetings of their school, and 2s. 6d. per scholar according to the average number in attendance throughout the year at the evening meetings of their school.

(b) For every scholar who has attended more than 200 morning or afternoon meetings of their school:-

(1) If more than six years of age 8s., subject to examination (Article 48).

(2) If under six years or age 6s. 6d., subject to a report by the inspector that such children are instructed suitably to their age, and in a manner not to interfere with the instruction of the older children.

(c) For every scholar who has attended more than 24 evening meetings of their school 5s. subject to examination (Article 48).
41. Attendance at a morning or afternoon meeting may not be reckoned for any scholar who has been under instruction less than two hours, nor attendance at an evening meeting for any scholar who has been under instruction less than one hour and a half.

42. Evening attendances may not be reckoned with morning or afternoon attendances in making up the prescribed minimum of 200 or 24 attendances.

43. Evening attendances may not be reckoned for any scholar under twelve years of age.

44. Every scholar attending more than 200 times in the morning or afternoon, for whom 8s. is claimed, forfeits


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2s. 8d. for failure to satisfy the inspector in reading, 2s. 8d. in writing, and 2s. 8d. in arithmetic (Article 48).

45. Every scholar attending more than twenty-four times in the evening for whom 5s. is claimed forfeits 1s. 8d. for failure to satisfy the inspector in reading, 1s. 8d. in writing, and 1s. 8d. in arithmetic (Article 48).

46. Every scholar for whom the grants dependent upon examination are claimed must be examined according to one of the following standards, and must not be presented for examination a second time according to the same or a lower standard.

47. Under any Half Time Act, 100 attendances qualify scholars for the grant:-

(a) Upon examination.

(b) Without examination, after they have passed according to the highest standard, but continue to attend school under the Act.

48Standard IStandard IIStandard III
ReadingNarrative in monosyllablesOne of the Narratives next in order after monosyllables in an elementary reading book used in the school.A short paragraph from an elementary reading book used in the school.
WritingForm on blackboard or slate, from dictation, letters, capital and small, manuscript.Copy in manuscript character a line of print.A sentence from the same paragraph, slowly read once, and then dictated in single words.
ArithmeticForm on blackboard or slate, from dictation, figures up to 20; name at sight figures up to 20; add and subtract figures up to 10, orally, from examples on blackboard.A sum in simple addition or subtraction, and the multiplication table.


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48Standard IVStandard VStandard VI
ReadingA short paragraph from a more advanced reading book used in the school.A few lines of poetry from a reading book used in the first class of the school.A short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper, or other modern narrative.
WritingA sentence slowly dictated once by a few words at a time, from the same book, but not the same paragraph.A sentence slowly dictated once by a few words at a time, from a reading book used in the first class of the school.Another short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper, or other modern narrative, slowly dictated once by a few words at a time.
ArithmeticA sum in compound rules (money).A sum in compound rules (common weights and measures).A sum in practice or bills of parcels.

49. The grant may either be withheld altogether or reduced for causes arising out of the state of the school.

50. The inspector does not proceed to examine scholars in reading, writing, and arithmetic for the grant, until he has first ascertained that the state of the school does not require it to be withheld.

51. The grant is withheld altogether:-

(a) If the school be not held in a building certified by the inspector to be healthy, properly lighted, drained, and ventilated, supplied with offices, and containing in the principal school-room at least 80 cubical feet of internal space for each child in average attendance.

(b) If the principal teacher be not duly certificated (Article 67), and duly paid. Teachers certificated before 31st March, 1864, and who have not otherwise agreed with their employers, are duly paid if they receive not less than three times the grant allowable upon their certificates in Articles 64-5 of the Code of


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1860, and they have a first charge to the extent of this grant, being one-third of such due payment, upon the money received by the managers, under Article 40.

(c) If the girls in the school be not taught plain needlework as part of the ordinary course of instruction.

(d) If the registers be not kept with sufficient accuracy to warrant confidence in the returns.

(e) If, on the inspector's report, there appears to be any primà facie objection* of a gross kind. A second inspection, wherein another inspector or inspectors takes part, is made in every such instance, and if the grant be finally withheld, a special minute is made and recorded of the case.

(f) If three persons at least be not designated to sign the receipt for the grant on behalf of the school.

52. The grant is reduced:-

(a) By not less than one-tenth nor more than one-half in the whole, upon the inspector's report, for faults of instruction* or discipline on the part of the teacher, or (after one year's notice) for failure on the part of the managers to remedy any such defect in the premises as seriously interferes with the efficiency of the school, or to provide proper furniture, books, maps, and other apparatus of elementary instruction.

(b) By the sum of £10 if after the first fifty scholars in average attendance there be not either one pupil-teacher fulfilling the conditions of Articles 81-9 for every forty scholars, or one certificated or assistant teacher fulfilling the conditions of Articles 67 and 91-3 respectively for every 80 scholars in average

*In Church of England Schools the Order in Council of 10th August, 1840, and the instructions to inspectors relative to examination in religion, which are founded upon it, are included under this paragraph.


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attendance. The forfeiture is reduced from £10 to £5 if the failure to comply with these Articles be confined to the examination of a pupil-teacher (Article 88); but this reduction is made only once for the same pupil-teacher, and not in successive years for the same school.

(c) By its excess above -

(1) The amount of school fees and subscriptions; or,
(2) The rate of 15s. per scholar according to the average number in attendance
in the year defined by Article 17.
53. If the excess of scholars over the ratio of forty to every pupil-teacher has arisen from increased attendance of children since the last settlement of the school staff (Articles 62, 63), the forfeiture prescribed by Article 22(b), does not accrue.

54. Pupil-teachers admitted before 30th June, 1862, and the masters or mistresses by whom they are instructed, have a second charge for their several stipends and gratuities so long as their service fulfils the conditions prescribed by the Code of 1860, upon the money received by the managers under Article 40; and in case the money so received shall not be sufficient to meet the second charge upon it, the Committee of Council will add the sum requisite to make up the deficiency.

55. In every school receiving annual grants is to be kept, besides the ordinary registers of attendance -

(a) A diary or log-book.

(b) A portfolio wherein may be laid all official letters, which should be numbered (1, 2, 3, &c.) in the order of their receipt.

Diary or Log Book of School

56. The diary or log-book must be stoutly bound and contain not less than 500 ruled pages.


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57. The principal teacher must daily make in the log-book the briefest entry which will suffice to specify either ordinary progress, or whatever other fact concerning the school or its teachers, such as the dates of withdrawals, commencements of duty, cautions, illness, etc., may require to be referred to at a future time, or may otherwise deserve to be recorded.

58. No reflections or opinions of a general character are to be entered in the log-book.

59. No entry once made in the log-book may be removed nor altered otherwise than by a subsequent entry.

60. The inspector will call for the log-book at his annual visit, and will report whether it appears to have been properly kept throughout the year.

61. The inspector will not write any report on the good or bad state of the school in the log-book at the time of his visit, but will enter therein with his own hand the full name and standing (certificated teacher of the ---- class, or pupil-teacher of the ---- year, or assistant-teacher) of each member of the school establishment. The inspector will not enter the names of pupil-teachers respecting whose admission the Committee of Council has not yet pronounced a decision.

62. The summary of the inspector's report when communicated by the Committee of Council to the manager must be copied into the log-book by the secretary of the latter, who must also enter the names and description of all teachers to be added to, or withdrawn from, those entered by the inspector, according to the decision of the Committee of Council upon the inspector's report. The secretary of the managers must sign this entry.

63. The inspector before making his entry of the school establishment in the following year will refer to his own entry made in the preceding year, and also to the entry which is required to be made by the secretary of the school


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pursuant to Article 62, and he will require to see entries in the log-book accounting for any subsequent change of the school establishment.

SECTION II

Teachers referred to in the preceding Section

64. The recognised classes of teachers are -

(a) Certificated teachers.
(b) Pupil-teachers.
(c) Assistant teachers.
65. Lay persons alone can be recognised as teachers in elementary schools.

Certificated Teachers

66. Teachers in order to obtain certificates, must be examined (Article 130), and must undergo probation by actual service in school (Articles 73, 74).

67. Certificates are of four classes. The fourth (lowest) class consists of an upper and a lower grade (Article 131), and includes special certificates for teachers of infants (Articles 122, 127-8). No certificate is issued above the fourth class. Certificates are raised to the higher classes by good service only (Article 78).

Examination

68. Teachers are examined for certificates as means of distributing the Parliamentary grant to schools. The examination is not open to candidates for professional diplomas only.

69. Examinations are held in December of each year at the several training schools under inspection (Articles 119 and 128). The relative proficiency of the candidate according to examination is recorded upon their certificates, but does not affect the class of them (Article 67).


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70. A syllabus, for male and female candidates respectively, of the course of study, may be had on application to the Committee of Council.

71. The names of teachers desiring to be examined must be notified by the managers of their schools to the Committee of Council before the 1st day of November preceding the examination.

72. Candidates admissible to be examined for certificates, must (in addition to Articles 68 and 71) fulfil one of the following conditions, viz.:-

(a) They must have resided for one or more years as students in normal schools under inspection (Articles 94, 119, and, 120-1); or,

(b) Must be upwards of twenty-two years of age, and either,

(1) Have completed an engagement as pupil-teacher satisfactorily; or,

(2) Have obtained at least two favourable reports with an interval of one year between them upon the school in which they are still employed.

Probation

73. Candidates for certificates, besides successfully passing their examination, must as teachers continuously engaged in the same schools, obtain two favourable reports from the inspector, with an interval of one year between them; and, if the first of these reports be not preceded by service of three months (at the least) since the examination, a third report, at an interval of one year after the second report, is required.

74. One favourable report is sufficient after the examination, if the candidate, being continuously engaged in the same school, has obtained two favourable reports in consecutive years immediately preceding the examination.


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75. Teachers under probation satisfy the conditions which require that schools be kept by certificated teachers.

76. If the second (or third) report is favourable, a certificate of the fourth class is issued, and remains in force (unless recalled under Articles 79, 80) for the next five years; after which interval it is open to revision, according to the intermediate annual reports; and so on after each further period of five years until the first class is reached.

77. No teacher who has changed more than once from one school to another during the five years preceding revision can be advanced to a higher class.

78. Re-examination is not permitted to candidates once passed, unless they fall under Article 131.

Concurrence of Managers and Inspector

79. The managers must annually state whether the teacher's character, conduct, and attention to duty have been satisfactory.

80. The Inspector must annually report whether the teacher's school is efficient in organisation, discipline, and instruction.

Pupil-teachers

81. Pupil-teachers are boys or girls employed to serve in a school under inspection on the following conditions, namely:-

(a) That the school is reported by Her Majesty's Inspector to be -
(1) Under a duly certificated master or mistress (Articles 67 and 13 I).
(2) Held in suitable premises.
(3) Well-furnished and well-supplied with books and apparatus.
(4) Divided into classes, and skilfully instructed.

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(5) Under good discipline.
(6) Likely to be maintained during the period of engagement.
(b) That the pupil-teachers be not less than thirteen years (completed) of age at the date of their engagement.

(c) Be of the same sex as the principal teacher of tile school, or department of a school, in which they are employed; but in mixed schools, or departments of schools, under a master and mistress, female pupil-teachers may receive instruction out of school hours from the master, on condition that the mistress be invariably present during the whole time that the lessons are being given by the master, who must be husband, father, son, or brother of the mistress, and not both young and unmarried.

(d) Be presented to the inspector for examination at the time and place fixed by his notice (Article 16).

(e) Pass the examinations and produce the certificates specified in Article 88.

(f) That the managers enter into an agreement In the following terms:-

To be stamped with a stamp of 2s. 6d.

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT between* ---- herein-after called the managers, on behalf of the Managers of the ---- School and † ----, herein-after called the surety the ‡ ----

*Names, etc., in full of a quorum of the Managers.

† Names, etc., in full of father or other surety of the assistant.

‡Father, or as the case may be.


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of * ---- herein-after called the pupil-teacher.

The said managers for themselves, their executors, administrators, and assigns, agree with the said surety h† ---- executors, administrators, and assigns, as follows:- (1) To engage the said pupil-teacher to serve under a certificated teacher during the usual school hours in keeping and teaching the said school, but so that the said pupil-teacher shall not be obliged to serve there more than six hours upon any one day, nor more than thirty hours in any one week.

(2) This engagement shall begin on the first day of ‡ ---- 186-, and shall end on the last day of § ---- 18 || --, but if the said pupil-teacher shall, with the consent of the other parties hereto, attend one of the examinations held by Her Majesty's inspectors of schools for Queen's Scholarships in December next preceding the last-mentioned date, this engagement may end on the 31st day of the said month of December.

(3) The said pupil-teacher shall be paid as wages ¶ ---- per ** in the first year, and this sum shall be increased by ¶ per ** in each subsequent year of the engagement, but such

*Name in full of the pupil-teacher.

†His or her.

‡Article 17.

§Preceding month.

|| Five full years, but if this falls beyond the candidate's 19th year (completed), any less number of years, not under two, may be inserted if the parties wish it and if the candidate has passed for admission the examination fixed for a later year in proportion to the reduced term of service.

¶The sum to be inserted must be fixed at the discretion of the parties having in view the local rate of wages, and the advantages of the school as a place wherein to learn the business of a teacher.

**Week, or as the parties may agree.


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increase may be stopped at the discretion of the managers of the said school for the time being for the unexpired remainder of any year after receipt of notice from the Committee of Council that the said pupil-teacher has failed to pass the examination, or to fulfil the other conditions, of a pupil-teacher according to the standard of the preceding year as prescribed in the Articles of the Code of the said Committee applicable to the case.

(4) The said pupil-teacher either while the school is not being held, or as one of the scholars (if any) attending the school for instruction in the evening, shall receive, without charge, from the certificated teacher of the said school for the time being, special instruction during five hours per week, of which hours not more than two shall be part of the same day. Such special instruction shall be in the subjects in which the said pupil-teacher is next to be examined pursuant to the said Articles.

(5) The said pupil-teacher shall be liable to dismissal without notice for idleness, disobedience, or immoral conduct, of a gross kind respectively; and this engagement shall be terminable on either side by a written notice of six months, or, in lieu of such notice, by the payment on either side of £3 in the first year, £4 in the second, and an additional £1 in each succeeding year of the engagement, but never exceeding £6 in the whole; such payment to be recoverable as a debt by the party entitled to receive it, and to be over and above the settlement of all other accounts between the parties.

(6) The said pupil-teacher enters into this engagement freely and voluntarily on h* --- own part, and with the privity and consent of the said surety.

*His or her.


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(7) The said surety agrees with the said managers, their executors, administrators, and assigns, to clothe, feed, lodge, and watch over the said pupil-teacher during the continuance of this engagement in a manner befitting the same.

Signed this ---- day of ---- 18---

------------- Witness.

N.B. This agreement should be deposited with the school papers (Article 55). The surety should have either an executed duplicate (which requires a second stamp), or at least a certified copy.

82. The Committee of Council is not a party to the engagement and confines itself to ascertaining on the admission of the apprentice and at the end of each year of the service -

(a) Whether the prescribed examination is passed before the Inspector.
(b) Whether the prescribed certificates are produced from the managers.
83. Whatever other questions arise upon the engagement may be referred to the Committee of Council on Education (provided that all the parties agree in writing to be bound by the decision of their Lordships as final), but, otherwise, must be settled like any other matter of hiring or contract.

84. Vacancies in the office of pupil-teacher, however occasioned, which occur in the course of any year (Article 17), must not be filled up until after the next examination by the inspector. In the meantime, the candidate or candidates must be engaged by the week as only monitors, and the memorandum of agreement, Article 81(f), must not be executed until after notice from the Committee of


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Council (Article 62) to the managers that the conditions of admission to pupil-teachership are fulfilled in each case.

85. Temporary monitors engaged by the week, pursuant to Article 84, for the supply of vacant pupil-teacherships during a current year (Article 17), satisfy Article 52(b), provided that -

(a) A sufficient number of candidates to complete the requisite proportion of teachers to scholars pass the inspector's next examination for admission (Article 88) to permanent engagements; and,

(b) The vacancies have not been occasioned by voluntary causes before the fourth year's examination has been passed.

86. Except in the cases provided for by Article 85, each vacancy in a pupil-teachership during a current year (Article 17) works a forfeiture under Article 52(b).

87. The qualifications and certificates required of candidates for admission and of pupil-teachers in each year of their service are regulated by the following Table.



This table was printed as a foldout-sheet. Click on the image for a larger version (1800x1471 pixels).


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89. Female pupil-teachers, before admission to apprenticeship, must produce a written attestation from the schoolmistress and managers that they possess reasonable competency as sempstresses; and, at the annual examinations, must bring certified specimens of plain needlework to the inspector, together with a statement from the schoolmistress, specifying whether they have been receiving practical instruction in any other kind of domestic industry. The inspector, at the time of examination, or afterwards, will obtain the opinion of some competent person upon the merit of the needlework.

Pupil-teachers who have successfully completed their Apprenticeship

90. At the close of the apprenticeship pupil-teachers are perfectly free in the choice of employment. Any person properly interested in knowing the character of a pupil-teacher may apply to the Committee of Council for a testimonial, declaring that the pupil-teacher has successfully completed an apprenticeship; or the pupil-teacher, if willing to continue in the work of education, may become an assistant in an elementary school (Article 91), or may become a Queen's scholar in a normal school (Articles 103-118), or may be provisionally certificated for immediate service in charge of small rural schools (Articles 132, 133).

Assistant Teachers

91. Pupil-teachers who can be certified, pursuant to Article 90, to have completed their apprenticeship with credit, may serve as assistants in schools in place of pupil-teachers, without being required to be annually examined. But such assistants cease to fulfil the conditions of Article 52(b), if at any time the Inspector reports them to be inefficient teachers.

92. Vacancies caused by the withdrawal of assistants in the course of any school year (Article 17) must be supplied


[page 354]

by the appointment of temporary monitors, pursuant to Articles 84, 85; but if another assistant, qualified according to Article 91, be appointed before the Inspector's next examination, the temporary monitors who preceded such appointment are not required to be examined.

93. Assistants are left entirely at liberty to make their own terms with their employers, both as to hours and wages.

PART II

NORMAL SCHOOLS

SECTION I

94. A normal school includes:-

(a) A college, for boarding, lodging, and instructing candidates for the office of teacher in schools for the labouring classes; and

(b) A practising department, in which they may learn the exercise of their profession.

95. Grants are not made for building, enlarging, improving, or fitting up the premises of normal schools.

96. Annual Grants are made to normal schools under the heads of -

(a) Certificated Assistant Teachers.
(b) Lecturers.
(c) Exhibitions (Queen's Scholarships) for candidates entering by competitive examination, or who belong to certain specified classes.
(d) Allowances according to examinations passed at the end of each of two years of residence in the school (Articles 11I9-124).
(e) The same grants to the practising department as to any other school fulfilling the conditions of Articles 4, 6, and 8.

[page 355]

97. No grant is made to a normal school unless the Committee of Council is satisfied with the premises, management, and staff.

SECTION II

Grants for Certificated Assistant Teachers

98. In normal schools under a principal and. vice-principal, or matron and head governess, grants may be made, according to Articles 61-83 of the Code of 1860, to resident assistant teachers on the following conditions:-

(a) The assistant teacher must have been placed by examination in the first division of the second year (Articles 121, 123, 129), or must hold a certificate not below the first division of the middle degree under the Code of 1860, or a certificate of the second class under this Code (Articles 67, 76).

(b) The Committee of Council must approve of the branches of instruction committed to the assistant teacher.

(c) The inspector must annually report that he is satisfied -

(1) With the general management of the normal school.
(2) With the skill of the assistant teacher. This report is verified by reference to the written exercises of the students.
(d) The principal must state that he has been satisfied with the assistant teacher's moral character and attention to duty during the past year.
99. Certificated assistant teachers, appointed according to the last article, are teachers of the students. The practising or model schools attached to normal schools, and the teachers of them, fall under the articles applicable to other elementary schools and teachers.


[page 356]

SECTION III

Grants for Lecturers

100. A sum of £100 is granted annually to resident lecturers receiving salaries of not less than £150 annually (or £100 with board and lodging), who have proved by examination (before 1862) their attainments in one, or at the most two, of the branches of knowledge enumerated below, and their skill in adapting those attainments to elementary instruction.

(1) History.
(2) English literature.
(3) Geography.
(4) Physical science.
(5) Applied mathematics.
101. No lecturer receiving a grant may be principal of the normal school, or master of the practising school attached to it.

102. The number of lecturers chargeable to the Parliamentary grant at the same time, in the same college, may not exceed -

(1) If the number of students in residence be under - 30
(2) If the number of students in residence be under - 60
(3) Under any circumstances.
SECTION IV

Grants for Queen's Scholarships

103. A competitive examination of candidates for public exhibitions called "Queen's Scholarships" is annually held in December, by one or more of the inspectors at each normal school, during the week following the examination for certificates (Article 119).

104. The examination extends to the subjects required at the end of a pupil-teacher's apprenticeship (Article 88).

105. The examinations are open to all competitors who are selected and presented by the authorities of each normal


[page 357]

school on their own responsibility, subject to no other condition than that the candidates intend bonà fide to adopt and follow the profession of teacher in schools fulfilling the conditions of Articles 4, 6, and 8, are more than eighteen years old, and (if pupil-teachers) have not deserted their service.

106. All candidates who obtain the minimum number of marks are arranged in order of merit, irrespectively of their having been pupil-teachers or not, and are divided into a first and second class, according as they exceed, or fall below, a certain number of marks.

107. From among the candidates declared to be admissible pursuant to Article 106, the authorities of each normal school are at liberty to select Queen's scholars in any proportion that does not allot more than 10 per cent. of the total accommodation in each establishment to Queen's scholars who have not been pupil-teachers.

108. In addition to candidates admitted by competition, the following persons may become Queen's scholars on simple presentation by the authorities of the normal school without examination:-

(a) Assistant teachers of three years' standing (Article 91) may become Queen's scholars of the first class.

(b) Resident students in normal schools, not having entered them as Queen's scholars, who are more than twenty years of age, may become Queen's scholars, for the ensuing year, of the first class, if, in the examination at the end of their first year's residence they are placed in the first or second division; and Queen's scholars of the second class, if they are placed in the third division (Article 123).

(c) Teachers in charge of elementary schools, and already certificated, but who have not yet resided more than one year in a normal school.


[page 358]

Certificates of the first and second grades, pursuant to Article 142 held for three years in the same Poor Law school, satisfy this article; the first grade qualifies teachers to become Queen's scholars of the first class, and the second grade to become Queen's scholars of the second class.
109. Before candidates are admitted:-
(a) The medical officer of the normal school must certify the state of their health to be satisfactory; and
(b) They must sign a declaration signifying their intention conformably to Article 105.
110. The grants allowed for Queen's scholars are £23 for males, and £17 for females, per annum.

111. In consideration of these grants, the authorities of the normal schools provide tuition, lodging, board, washing, and medical attendance, for such Queen's scholars as they admit, without further charge.

112. Queen's scholars of the first class (Article 106) are allowed, in addition, the following personal payments in aid of their travelling and private expenses, and of the purchase of books.

First YearSecond Year
Males£4£6
Females£3£4

113. The exhibitions are issued by quarterly, the personal payments by half-yearly instalments. Both depend upon quarterly certificates by the principal, of the Queen's scholar's good conduct, attainments, and skill in the pursuit of his (or her) profession.

114. Queen's scholarships may be extended to a second year's residence in all cases where the authorities of the


[page 359]

college apply for such extension, but not beyond a second year.

115. The examinations at the end of the year determine the class of the renewed scholarship. A place in the first or second division (Article 123) secures a Queen's scholarship of the first class for the ensuing year.

116. In normal schools, which, according to the inspector's report, provide a complete course of training for a separate class of infant school teachers, a limited number of Queen's scholarships of the second class are given, upon presentation of candidates by the college authorities:-

(a) Without examination, to pupil-teachers who have been apprenticed to, and have successfully completed their apprenticeship under mistresses of infant schools.

(b) Upon examination to young women more than eighteen years of age, and not having been pupil-teachers.

117. Candidates for scholarships under Article 116, who have not completed an apprenticeship as pupil-teachers, must satisfy the Inspector that their manners and address are primà facie suitable for dealing with very young children, and must also show that they can:-
(1) Read an easy narrative with fluency, correct pronunciation, and intelligence.

(2) Write simple sentences from dictation correctly.

(3) Work easy sums correctly in the four first rules, simple and compound.

The number admitted must not exceed one-tenth part of the total number fixed, with the consent of the Committee of Council, for the infant school class.

118. Ordinary female Queen's scholars (Articles 103-9), and students who pay their own expenses, may, on


[page 360]

entrance with the consent of the college authorities join the class in training for infant schools, without prejudice to the value of their scholarship.

SECTION V

Grants according to Examinations passed at the end of each of Two Years of Residence in Normal Schools

119. An examination of the resident students is held in December at the several normal schools in the week preceding the examination for Queen's scholarships (Article 103). The day fixed for the commencement of this examination is printed on the syllabus (Article 70) from year to year.

120. No student may be presented who has not been resident throughout the whole year; and no Queen's scholar who has so resided may be left out.

121. The students have a different examination according as they are males or females, or are at the end of a first, or of a second, year of residence.

122. The first year's syllabus for females includes special subjects for the teachers of infants.

123. The allowances to normal schools in respect to each student examined are determined according to the following scale:-

At the end ofFor Candidate placed
by Examination
in each Division
To be allowed
to College
(in the case of Females,
Two-thirds of these sums
)
First year's residence1
2
3
4
£20
£16
£13
£13
Second year's residence1
2
3
4
£24
£20
£16
£16


[page 361]

124. Allowances under Article 123 are granted in respect of all students who pass the examination, whether Queen's scholars or not. They are not appropriated to individuals like the grants for Queen's scholarships, but become a part of the ordinary school funds in the hands of the managers.

125. At the end of the first year's residence, students who fall into the fourth division are required to take up the first year's subjects again (viz., at the end of the second year), without forfeiture of their scholarships, but in such cases the grants to the normal school, and the certificates at the end of the second year, are respectively at the rate (Article 123) and in the form (Article 130) of the first year.

126. The principal is at liberty, by notice in writing to the Committee of Council before 30th June in each year, to designate any student who may have appeared in the third division at the end of the previous (first) year's residence, as proper to be examined again upon the same terms as the students included in the fourth division; but such designation on the part of the principal does not affect the privileges attached to the student's rank in the previous examination.

127. A separate examination is held (late in the autumn) of Queen's scholars and other students in training for service in infant schools only (Articles 116-8). The normal school receives a grant of £13 for every such student who is placed in the upper grade (Article 67), and £8 for every such student who is placed in the lower grade.

SECTION VI

Use made of Examinations in Normal Schools for awarding Teachers' Certificates

128. Teachers qualified to be examined for certificates, according to Articles 68, 71, and 72, receive notice to attend these examinations.


[page 362]

Teachers of infants, in order to be able to attend the special examinations mentioned in Article 127, must have been appointed before 29th April, 1854, and continuously engaged in the same schools up to the date of examination.

129. Teachers attending examinations pursuant to Article 128 may, at their option, take the papers of the first or second year's students (Article 121).

130. No candidate (Article 72) can obtain a teacher's certificate without passing one of these examinations, but the order of the candidates according to examination excepting the fourth division (Article 131) and the qualification for assistant teacherships in normal schools (Article 98(a)), is honorary (Articles 67 and 69).

Students who pass successfully through two years of training in normal schools receive special certificates.

131. Candidates (whether students or acting teachers), who are placed by examination in the fourth division (Article 123), receive their first certificate in the lower grade of the fourth class (Article 67). Such teachers are not recognised under Article 81(a), for the superintendence of pupil-teachers until they have risen to a higher certificate either by re-examination (Article 78), or good service (Articles 76, 77).

132. Pupil-teachers who fulfil the conditions of Article 90, may, upon special recommendation by the inspector, and upon consideration of their last examination papers, be provisionally certified in the lower grade of the fourth division for immediate service in charge of small rural schools, but after the holder's twenty-fifth year of age (completed) such provisional certificates must have been exchanged for permanent certificates (Article 66), or are ipso facto cancelled.

133. Rural schools, in order to fall under Article 132, must not contain more than 1,200 square feet of superficial


[page 363]

area in the whole of the school-rooms and class-rooms, or they must be certified as not needing nor likely to be attended by more than 100 scholars.

134. All teachers at present registered as competent to instruct pupil-teachers are included in the fourth class, upper grade, of certificated teachers; all other registered teachers, and all scheduled students acting as teachers, are included in the fourth class, lower grade.

CHAPTER III

PART I

Grants for Endowed Schools

135. Endowed schools, in order to be admissible to receive either grants or inspection, must fulfil the conditions of Articles 4, 6, and 8.

136. No grants are made to endowed schools in which the endowment yields more than 30s. per scholar per annum, according to the average number of scholars in attendance throughout the year (Article 17).

137. Whenever voluntary subscriptions are specified among the conditions of a grant (Article 52(c)), the proceeds of endowment are excluded from the reckoning.

PART II

SECTION I

Schools Inspected for other Departments of the Government

138. The Committee of Council on Education, in addition to the duties defined by Article 2, has been charged with inspection relative to -

(a) Poor Law schools.
(b) Schools under the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

[page 364]

SECTION II

Schools Inspected for the Poor Law Board

139. The Poor Law Board is advised by the Committee of Council in distributing a sum annually voted by Parliament upon the estimates of the Poor Law Board, in relief of the poor rate from the charge for schoolmasters and schoolmistresses in Poor Law schools.

140. Poor Law schools are periodically visited by inspectors, who report thereon to the Committee of Council. These inspectors are appointed pursuant to Article 21, and are chargeable to the grant for public education.

141. Teachers are specially certificated by the Committee of Council, in four grades, according to their merit, for service in Poor Law schools.

142. The amount to be issued by the Treasury, on an order from the Poor Law Board, to each parochial union, is regulated by the grade of the certificate which the teacher holds from the Committee of Council, and by the number of children in the school, according to the following table:-

Grades and Divisions
of Certificates for
Service in
Poor Law Schools
MastersMistressesSum to be
allowed in
respect of each
Scholar in
addition
to the
Minimum
Allowance
s.
Minimum Allow-
ance from the Grant
£
Maximum Allow-
ance from the Grant
£
Minimum Allow-
ance from the Grant
£
Maximum Allow-
ance from the Grant
£
First Grade
1
2
3
30
30
30
60
55
50
24
24
24
48
44
40
12
11
10
Second Grade
1
2
3
25
25
25
45
40
35
20
20
20
36
32
28
7
6
5
Third Grade
1
2
3
20
20
20
30
25
20
16
16
16
24
20
16
4
3
-
Fourth Grade15151212-


[page 365]

143. The Poor Law Board has laid down the following conditions of payment:-

(a) The whole amount issued to each union from the Treasury must be paid by the guardians to the teacher.

(b) If the salary at which the guardians have engaged the teacher exceeds the amount issued from the Treasury, the difference must continue to be paid to the teacher out of the poor rate, until the Poor Law Board has agreed to the engagement of the same or another teacher at a reduced salary.

(c) If the teacher does not reside in the workhouse, and is not provided with rations, the guardians must allow the teacher the sum of £15 a year in lieu thereof out of the poor rate.

(d) The teacher must have convenient and respectably furnished apartments; rations, the same in kind and quality as are supplied to the master of the workhouse; must be subjected to no menial offices; must have proper assistance in the management of the children when not in school.

(e) If the Committee of Council's inspectors report that any Poor Law school is not furnished with the necessary books and school apparatus, the guardians must provide them.

144. Industrial instructors, as well as schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, may be certified by the Committee of Council to the Poor Law Board for repayment of their salaries by the Treasury to the Poor Law Union.

145. If industrial instructors are not boarded and lodged in the workhouse, three-fourths only of the salaries paid by the guardians are repaid by the Treasury to the union.

146. Teachers in Poor Law schools must hold certificates of the first or second grade in order to be qualified for the instruction of pupil-teachers.


[page 366]

147. The guardians (with the consent of the Poor Law Board) appoint the boy or girl intended for a pupil-teacher to be an assistant to the schoolmaster or schoolmistress, according to Article 153 in the Consolidated Orders of the Poor Law Board, and they provide lodging, clothes, and rations for such assistant in return for his or her service.

SECTION III

Schools inspected for the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty

148. The schools in connection with Greenwich Hospital, for shipwright apprentices in the Royal Dockyards, for the Royal Marines, and on board ships of the Royal Navy in harbour, are inspected by an inspector, who reports to the Committee of Council for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.

149. This inspector is appointed pursuant to Article 12, and is chargeable to the grant for Public Education in Great Britain.

150. In January of each year, if the Code be revised, or any material alteration in it be necessary, it shall be printed in such a form as to show separately all articles cancelled or modified, and all new articles.

151. In the event of such revision or material alteration as mentioned in the last foregoing Article, it shall not be lawful to take any action thereon until the same shall have been submitted to Parliament, and laid on the Table of both Houses for at least one calendar month.

(Signed) GRANVILLE,
Lord President of the Council,
ROBERT LOWE,
Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education.

Council Office, 9th May, 1862.


[page 367]

INSTRUCTIONS TO HER MAJESTY'S INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS UPON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE REVISED CODE

Committee of Council on Education.
Council Office,
September, 1862.

Sir,

1. You will gather from the last Report presented by their Lordships to Parliament what are their views of the Revised Code, in its present form. The object of the following instructions is to arrange the immediate details of execution and to define your own part in them.

2. It is not the intention of their Lordships to begin by appointing any new class of officers. The inspection and examination prescribed by the Revised Code will, at least in the first instance, be conducted wholly by Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools.

3. Their Lordships have considered it advisable to abolish the office of assistant inspectors, and to subdivide the districts in which they are employed. The necessary communications to the inspectors and assistant inspectors concerned in this change will be made in a short time. The economy of time, money, and personal fatigue in travelling over a smaller area are obvious advantages. So far as the office of assistant inspector has served for probation, that object admits of being otherwise provided for. The office has never been introduced in any districts of inspection except those of schools connected with the Church of England. The area of the other districts has always been so large as to make subdivision the primary object so soon as the


[page 368]

schools became numerous enough to justify it. This object will now be pursued without exception throughout every district as occasion occurs.

4. The assistant inspectors do not make general reports to the Committee of Council, and in order that the subdivision now resolved upon may not multiply unduly the number of inspectors annually withdrawn for 14 days from inspection, their Lordships will call for such reports (after the present year) in alternate years only. One half of the inspectors will report in each year, and the districts will be so grouped for this purpose as that each year's volume may present a specimen of the state of education in the various classes of the labouring population throughout the country.

5. Assuming these changes to be in course of completion, but without waiting for them to be fully completed, my Lords direct me to request your attention to the following instruction for the inspection and examination of any school that you may find named in a Form XIX, as admitted to aid under the Revised Code.

6. You will observe, in the first place, that it is an object of importance to pass from one system of making grants to another with as little administrative shock as possible. Various simplifications and changes may follow in the course of time, but the administration of grants from a single centre to such a number of independent schools could not proceed for a day unless the greater part of those concerned both in distributing and receiving grants were familiar with the forms of procedure. You will observe therefore, that the new forms,

VIII. (Inspector's notice),
IX. (Managers' return),
X. (Inspectors report),
and the Examination Schedule, correspond to forms already in use, and are altered no more than is necessary.


[page 369]

You will do well to read these forms carefully and minutely over. They are the summary of your instructions.

7. The grant to be made to each school depends, as it has ever done, upon the school's whole character and work. The grant is offered for attendance in a school with which the inspector is satisfied. If he is wholly dissatisfied (Article 50), and if the reasons of such dissatisfaction are confirmed (Article 51e) no grant is made. You will judge every school by the same standard that you have hitherto used, as regards its religious, moral, and intellectual merits. The examination under Article 48 does not supersede this judgment, but presupposes it. That article does not prescribe that, if thus much is done, a grant shall be paid, but, unless thus much is done, no grant shall be paid. It does not exclude the inspection of each school by a highly educated public officer, but it fortifies this general test by individual examination. If you keep these distinctions steadily in view you will see how little the scope of your duties is changed.

8. In pursuance of this principle, the staff of each school is ascertained and recorded (Article 52b) from year to year. Inspection occupies but a few hours out of twelve months, at a time known beforehand; the examination of individual children according to a standard must always be, to a considerable extent, mechanical; the managers of the schools visited are voluntary, irresponsible, and fluctuating; under such circumstances no person of reflection and experience will doubt that, before distributing thousands of payment throughout every corner of the kingdom, it is an additional security of a very solid character to know, in each instance, that the principal teacher (Article 72) has either been trained in a normal school, or has served an apprenticeship as a pupil teacher, or has obtained two favourable Reports upon his present school, as well as passed an examination (Article 66), and that a certain proportionate number of


[page 370]

the assistant teachers and pupil-teachers (Article 52b) have satisfied (Article 91), or are annually satisfying (Article 81), similar tests. It is not contended that there may not be equally good schools under other agency, but it may be reasonably averred that inspection and examination alone do not afford equally good means of knowing such to be the fact.

9. You will observe, in pursuance of what has just been said, that cases may arise (under Article 72b2) in which two visits of inspection must precede the examination of the teacher. No grants will follow such visits; they are preliminary to grants, and are part of the means of acquiring that knowledge of a school, without which grants are not paid. Cases of this kind will be specially indicated to you; the earliest time at which the teacher can be examined will be in the December between your second and third visits. Irrespectively, therefore, of the month that may be permanently fixed (Article 16) for visiting the school you will in all such cases be careful to make, if possible, your first visit before the month of December next following the receipt of notice of the case from the Council Office.

My Lords express themselves as follows to the managers of schools in which the teachers are not yet certificated:-

"The enclosed syllabus, which is sent for your information, shows the extent of the examination, but acting teachers may obtain certificates (Article 69) who can answer plain and simple questions confined to the following subjects. They will find special sections of such questions in the examination papers, with directions that they need not attempt more.

1. Scripture, Catechism and Liturgy (in schools connected with the Church of England).
2. English history (leading facts).
3. Geography (elements of, and British).

[page 371]

4. Arithmetic (as far as practice, inclusive; neat and without failure).
5. English composition, spelling, and parsing.
6. The management of a school.
All candidates must pass reasonably well in reading and handwriting; and females in needlework."

In those small* rural schools which have hitherto experienced most difficulty in fulfilling the conditions of grants, the managers are not required to maintain pupil-teachers (Article 52b), and therefore principal teachers certificated in the lower grade (Articles 131-2) suffice for them.

10. Article 50 applies, as an imperative direction, only to schools which have not yet been inspected. In other instances you may use your own discretion in the order of combining inspection with the examination prescribed by Article 48. Inspection and examination are not to be sharply distinguished from each other, but inspection is the larger term, and includes a judgment founded upon an examination under Article 48, and upon other particulars also.

11. In those schools where the inspectors' duty extends to an inquiry into the religious knowledge of the children, this subject affords the best matter whereby to test what general effect their teaching has had upon their minds. Considering the age of the children in elementary schools, it may be taken as evidence of good general culture if they show an intelligent acquaintance with those parts of the Bible which are suitable to their years, and which an experienced and thoughtful examiner knows how to select and present to them. Complete failure in this part of the examination would cause the grant to be withheld altogether under Article 51(e). But short of this complete forfeiture,

*With less than ninety scholars in average attendance. See § 38, infra.


[page 372]

in order that your judgment of the general character of a school may carry due weight, power is given to you under Article 52(a) to reduce the grant allowable for attendance and examination. My Lords do not wish this power to be exercised in any but serious cases. You are not permitted, therefore, to recommend a reduction of less than one-tenth part of the whole. You have five such tenths at your disposal, and may apportion one or more of them upon such faults as defective furniture, books, and apparatus; confused and unskilful organisation, consisting in insufficient, or badly kept registers and accounts, ill-adjusted time tables, classes left wholly to monitors, or neglected in certain subjects; preventable dirt, disorder, and untidiness in the children; dull and unintelligent or shallow and pretentious, teaching; evidence of packing the school for examination, instead of fair correspondence between its ordinary classes and the number presented under each standard. Gross instances of this kind are to be referred to Article 51(e).

You will observe that your form of Report (X) conforms to this outline of your duties. It is framed to exhibit the staff, the organisation, and the action of each school.

12. You will be good enough to read the following directions for the examination of children under Article 48, with the examination schedule before you.

My Lords await the result of experience before attempting to determine the exact mode in which this examination may best be held. You will not regard the following method as obligatory, nor as intended to prevent you from trying other methods and it is evident that part only of the process may apply to particular schools.

13. It is assumed that you have before you the examination schedule filled up by the managers as far as column VIII. inclusive, and that the school is placed before you in the order of its usual classes. It may be well to test this


[page 373]

by asking for the class registers, and calling over by it the names of two of the classes taken at a venture. It is also assumed that you have a paper before you containing the dictation which you mean to give for writing and arithmetic under each standard.

14. All the children will remain in their places throughout the examination.

15. You will begin with writing and arithmetic, and you will direct the teachers to see that all who are to be examined under Standard I, have before them a slate and pencil, under Standards II and III a slate, a pencil, and a reading book; all under Standards IV-VI, a half sheet of folio paper, a pen, ink, and the appropriate reading book.

16. You will then call "Standard I, stand up throughout the school." The children answering to this description will stand up in their usual places without quitting them. The object of the movement is to ascertain those who are to act on your next order without destroying the daily arrangement of the school. When this has been correctly effected by the assistance of the teachers, you will call "Standard I, sit down, and write on your slates as I dictate."

17. You will then dictate the letters and figures which they are to write down.

You will pursue the same course with Standard II, directing them to write their names and standard on their slates, and announcing to them out of their book the line they are to copy, and their sums.

You will pursue the same course, mutatis mutandis, with Standards III (slates), and IV-VI (paper).

18. The whole school having thus had their dictation given to them, and being at work on their arithmetic (except oral arithmetic remaining to be given under Standard I), you will allow time enough to elapse for the completion of their exercises, say three quarters of an hour.


[page 374]

19. You will then call them name by name from the examination schedule to read, which you will hear each do, and, immediately afterwards, mark each in column ix of the schedule for writing and arithmetic also, as far as time will permit. If this fails before you can go through the whole of them, you will mark the reading only of all, and the slate work of those who do not write on paper, and you will bring the rest of the papers away and mark them at home. You must be careful to collect and keep them in the order at the names upon the schedule, otherwise you will not easily be able to put the right marks against the right names. When you pass a paper, you should write P against the writing and arithmetic in it respectively, besides marking column ix in the schedule.

20. Whether you mark the papers in the school, or reserve them, you should bring the whole away with you, and forward them to this office with your report. My Lords will probably appoint, from time to time, committees of Inspectors and examiners to look over specimens and determine the means of fixing the minimum of each standard.

As a tentative standard, My Lords are of opinion that an exercise which in the ordinary scale of excellent, good, fair, moderate, imperfect, failure, would be marked fair, may pass. The word fair means that reading is intelligible, though not quite good; dictation, legible, and rightly spelt in all common words though the writing may need improvement, and less common words may be misspelt; arithmetic, right in method, and at least one sum free from error.

21. My Lords are informed by Mr. Cook* that from four to six hours will suffice for examining and marking 150 children. It may hereafter be needful, as the Royal Commissioners suggest, to employ additional agency

*Quoted by the Vice-President in the House of Commons on 27th March, 1862. (Hansard. Vol. CLXVI. p. 216.)


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(p. 342), but experience must first be gained by a higher class of officers.

22. Under Column VI of the schedule children may be presented to you not belonging to the class (Article 4) for whose education the Parliamentary Grant is voted. Such children should be charged the full cost (about 30s. per annum) of their education at the least, and it is perfectly legitimate to charge them more for the benefit of the fest of the school, if the managers have the opportunity of doing so. The presence of a limited number of such children among the rest has some obvious advantages besides those which are financial. It has also its danger; that, namely of causing the poorer scholars to be neglected. Subject to the Inspector's Report my Lords leave the managers of elementary schools to decide whether such children shall attend or not; they cannot bring grants to the school by their examination, and must not be included in the calculation of average attendance.

23. The children between six and seven will in all cases require a certain amount of oral examination, which may be performed for each of them at the same time as they read.

24. The remaining observations which my Lords desire to bring before you will be confined to particular articles in the Revised Code, and will be given in the order of them.

Article 38

25. My Lords desire to see a third, or evening meeting, become as much a part of each school's routine, at least during certain periods of the year, as a morning or afternoon meeting. The entire staff of teachers should be made strong enough, if possible, to include this third meeting. If it has its own teachers only, it is apt to be less regularly conducted, and to be regarded as something extra, whereas, under the conditions of employment in this country it is indispensible. It should differ in nothing from the morning or afternoon meetings, except in the scholars who


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attend. Its business is not secondary, but continued elementary instruction. A few scholars here and there may be fit for more advanced instruction, and may be glad to find, at the evening meeting of the school, a room in which they can study and obtain assistance. It is far from the wish of my Lords that such scholars should not be encouraged. The pupil-teachers, if partly taught in the evening schools, will be of that order. It is a great mistake to suppose that such scholars ought to be wholly occupied with oral instruction. What they want is a time and place set apart for them to work in, and that their master or mistress be uniformly present to see that the attendance is regular, to look over previous exercises, and to afford such explanations as may be needed for those in hand. The scholars who attend in the evenings must be examined, pursuant to Article 48 if grants are to be allowed upon them. As a rule they must be presented at the same time and place as the other scholars, but in a class by themselves. Occasionally you may be able to examine such scholars apart when you are passing more than one single day in the same place as the school; or you may assemble the evening scholars of several schools together. If the school does not meet in the evening at the time of your visit, the evening scholars may, nevertheless, be assembled. They ought not to have forgotten what they have learnt within the year. Your report on evening scholars must always form part of your report on the whole school.

As the object of attendance in the evening is to fix and perfect elementary knowledge, evening scholars who have passed under Standard VI are not precluded from being examined again, and from bringing grants to the school by their examination. Article 46 is to be read as confined to scholars whose qualification to be examined (Article 42) is attendance in the morning or afternoon.

26. Teachers passed for evening schools under Article


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159 of the Code of 1860 will continue, but only in the same schools, and in the same kind of employment, to satisfy the conditions of the Code of 1861.

Article 40(b)2

27. If infants are taught by the same certificated teacher as older children, it will be your duty to judge whether they are instructed suitably to their age, and in a manner not to interfere with the instruction of the older children. If these conditions are not fulfilled, you are not at liberty to recommend any of the infants under six years of age for the grant offered without examination, and in recommending a grant for such of them as, being older, pass an examination, you will bear in mind Articles 51(e) and 52(a).

28. If infants are taught by a separate teacher, but as part of one school in the same premises under a certificated teacher their own teacher is not required to be certificated unless their number exceed 40.

29. As the greater part of the children in infant schools may obtain grants without individual examination, and as the instruction of such schools requires, above all others, special* methods and qualifications, it is reasonable to bring them, when they exceed the dimensions of a class, under the general rule whereby principal teachers are required to be certificated.

In granting certificates to teachers of infants, my Lords will give full effect to Article 122 as interpreted by paragraph 9 in the preceding part of these instructions.

Articles 44-45

30. It will save a great deal of trouble to managers and teachers, if they mark off in their class registers each scholar qualified for examination as soon as the number of his attendances rises above the prescribed minimum.

The contents of the first two columns of the examination schedules will thus collect themselves, and be ready to be

*See Report of Royal Commissioners, pp. 30 and 165.


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written off in the same order, instead of having to be hunted out from the registers at the last. I may again point out to you, in explanation of what has gone before, that your examination schedule, being filled up in this manner, will indicate to you, on the day of your visit, certain members in each of the ordinary school classes, the whole of which classes will be before you.

Article 51(a)

31. Cubical space has to be considered upon sanitary grounds, but does not supersede the consideration of area. If you find a schoolroom which allows the minimum number of cubical feet per child, but of which the floor is not sufficiently large, or not properly shaped, for the organisation of the school, you will report accordingly.

32. The "principal schoolroom" is named because the school must for many purposes meet as one body, and 80 cubical feet of space per child is a minimum everywhere.

Articles 51(b), 54

33. Managers of schools receiving grants under the Revised Code should regard them as part of those moneys in their hands which are applicable to meet all the expenses of their school indiscriminately, without the appropriation of particular receipts to particular outgoings.

34. If Article 51(b) forms an exception, it is only in certain special cases. As a rule, managers receiving such a grant should carry it at once to the common account, and should not pay it over to the teacher more than to any other creditor of the school. The Article does not interfere with the liberty of agreement between teachers and managers as to the amount of salary which the former shall receive, and the latter pay. It simply provides that if a teacher certificated before a certain date is not "duly paid" in a sense which it defines, the grant received by the managers, before becoming part of the common fund of the school,


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shall be answerable to him for one third part of his "due payment." The defence of managers to a teacher who would take advantage of the Article must be that he has been "duly paid" in the sense which it defines, and he is so in any of the following cases:-

(1) If his agreement was to receive three times the grant payable upon his certificate, or more, and he has received three times that grant, he is "duly paid," although he may not have received the full sum for which he agreed.

(2) If he agreed to receive less than three times the same grant, he is "duly paid" if he has received the sum he has agreed for.

(3) He may agree to waive the benefit of the Article altogether, in which case he is "duly paid" whatever he receives.

Whenever a teacher is thus "duly paid," his charge upon the money received by his employers from the Committee of Council is gone, but it must be remembered that this has nothing to do with other rights and remedies arising out of the general terms of his agreement.

The following cases are given by way of example. Assume a teacher with a certificate upon which three times the grant allowable by the Code of 1860 is £75. His "charge" never can exceed any one of the following limits, viz.:-

(1) The amount of the grant received by his employers under Article 40 the Revised Code.

(2) The sum of £25.

(3) The sum needed to raise his receipts to £75; Thus -

A. If he has agreed to receive £90, has received only £50, and the grant under the Revised Code is only £10, he has a charge only upon £10, and must proceed like any other creditor to recover the remaining £30.

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B. If he has agreed to receive £90, has received only £30, and the grant under the Revised Code is £60, he has a charge only upon £25, and must proceed as in A. to recover the remaining £35.

C. If he has agreed to receive £90, has received only £60, and the grant under the Revised Code is £30, he has a charge only upon £15, and must proceed as in A. to recover the remaining £15.

D. If he has agreed to receive £90, and has received only £75, he has no charge upon the grant, but may proceed as in A. to recover the remaining £15.

E. If he has agreed to receive £60, and has received £60, he has no charge upon the grant, and nothing more to recover.

F. If he has agreed to waive the Article, and to receive £100 but has received nothing, he has no charge upon the grant, of whatever amount it may be, but must proceed like any other creditor to recover the whole £100.

35. It is hardly needful to add anything about the importance of making all agreements between managers and teachers in writing. If the employers of a teacher wish to enter into a new agreement with him, they can do so only by mutual consent; failing which, they must observe the old agreement until, after due notice, they terminate it.

36. With reference to the second charge upon the Grant given by Article 54, as long as the pupil-teachers in question, and the masters or mistresses by whom they are instructed, fulfil the conditions of the Code of 1860, the managers are assured that the sum receivable by them from the Committee of Council under the Revised Code shall not be less than the amount of the stipends and gratuities, after satisfying claims, if any, under Article 51(b).


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Articles 52(b), 131-4

37. Managers must use their own discretion as to the staff of teachers they will maintain beyond one certificated teacher. So far as the fulfilment of Article 52(b) depends upon the employment of pupil-teachers, 90 scholars, or any number between 90 and 129, both inclusive, require one pupil-teacher. For 130 there must be two, and so on for every additional 40 scholars completed. For 89 scholars or for any less number, no pupil-teacher is required. These numbers are to be understood of the largest number of scholars present at one time together. The evening scholars commonly attend in the evening only. If a school by day is attended, on an annual average, by 100 scholars, and in the evening by 30, Article 52b is satisfied by one pupil-teacher.

38. Much has been said about the injustice and impolicy of the reductions imposed by Article 52(b). Upon this subject it is sufficient to refer you to paragraph 8 of the present instructions.

Article 52(c)

39. The condition annexed to the old capitation grant, whereby the scholars upon whom it was payable were required to have paid not less than 3s. nor more than 16s. in fees supplied by their parents or by persons standing to them in loco parentis, is no longer maintained. My Lords rely upon the good sense and interest of managers to demand fees as far as possible, but they limit their own interference to prescribing that those who manage and those who benefit by the school shall between them contribute at least as much money as they draw from the public funds. The reason of this rule is not financial only, but rests in a still greater degree upon the security for good management which is given by those who spend their own money upon an object close to them. It needs again


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and again to be repeated that the work of a school implies much more than is measured by examinations under Article 48, and that a certain amount of local contribution is a guarantee in one direction, just as the teacher's certificate is in another, for the system and framework of lasting institutions.

Articles 55-63

40. The diary or log book requires no special ruling. An outer margin for the date is all that needs to be observed. One such book should be kept by each principal teacher having charge of a school or separate department of a school. These books will not only furnish valuable records of school-keeping, but will (it is hoped) in the course of a few years save much of the registration which has to be performed at this office for the identification of teachers.

41. It does not occur to my Lords that further explanations of a general character require to be given. It would be idle to endeavour to determine all possible cases beforehand. It is sufficient if the principles whereby most of them may be promptly and consistently determined have been indicated. Practice and care must supply the rest.

I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
R.R.W. LINGEN.

Minutes of the Committee in Council 1839-1859