LIST OF ACTING TEACHERS WHO PASSED THE CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION HELD AT THE BOROUGH ROAD AND STOCKWELL, CHRISTMAS, 1868.

EXAMINATION FOR ADMISSION. CHRISTMAS, 1868.

The following is a list of the successful Candidates who have been admitted :

BRITISH TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

Ar the quarterly meeting of this Association, held at the Borough Road on the 8th of February, Mr. Bourne addressed the members on the question, "What can the Government and the British and Foreign School Society do for Teachers?" He introduced the subject by referring to two documents, viz., a paper by Mr. Thomas Hill, on a scheme for superannuating aged and infirm teachers, and a memorial prepared by the London Church Schoolmasters' Association, in which occurs the following sentence::

"He (the elementary schoolmaster) has no opportunity, as in other professions, of raising himself by energy, good conduct, or long service, and they think it worth consideration whether some means may not be devised by which higher posts could be opened to those who, through long experience or ability, might be able to fill them."

The British school teacher might fairly, Mr. Bourne thought, look for help from the Government and the British and Foreign School Society in securing PROMOTION and SUPERANNUATION. He expressed regret that want of experience and the pressure of other duties had prevented his gaining more than a very general idea of how it could be done without setting aside recognised principles, and overturning existing arrangements. A British school teacher's life, as teacher, might, he thought, be regarded as comprising (in theory, and without considering exceptional cases) seven parts,-Pupil-teacher, Student, Probationer, Fourth Class Man, Third Class Man, Second Class Man, and First Class Man, divided as follows:

Certain privileges, Mr. Bourne contended, might be given to the teacher at each stage. For instance, a teacher in the third class might, without drawing any rigid line, consider himself entitled to ask for a higher salary than one in the fourth, either in the same school or a new one; a teacher in the second class might look for a gratuity in case of failing health; or, again, a teacher in the first class might be considered eligible for a higher class public school, or at liberty to take a private school, or to compete for an endowed school. In case of his electing to remain a British school teacher, he might be allowed to claim an annuity at the end of a given term,—at the age of (say) 67, or earlier if disabled.

The principle of "payment for results" might be maintained by making everything depend on the class of certificate, regulated, as this is, by the amount of school work done, as testified by the Local Committee and measured by the Government Inspector.

The principle of "grants in aid" might be maintained by insisting, as a condition of any payment on account of a teacher, that he should have

purchased a deferred annuity of equal value, or in some way laid by an equivalent.

The practical difficulty of distribution might be avoided by a simple extension of the plan at present adopted by the Committee of Council with reference to colleges, viz., placing against each teacher's name a certain sum (say £20) for each year of service after the obtaining of the third class certificate, and, the prescribed conditions being fulfilled in any case, transferring the total sum to the Government annuity department.

The details of such a scheme, its adaptation to the case of female teachers, its bearing upon the position of uncertificated teachers, and those who, now or soon needing superannuation, have not an opportunity of complying with the conditions to the letter, &c., &c., would (Mr. B. felt) require a mass of statistics which he announced his willingness to collect and arrange, if supported by the teachers of British schools.

THE ENDOWED SCHOOLS BILL.

THE condition of our endowed schools has long attracted the attention of those interested in education. Established to promote the instruction of children in elementary or grammatical knowledge, they have, in a majority of cases, at least, ceased to carry out the intentions of their founders, and in rare cases only have they kept abreast of the progress of the times. To obtain accurate and authoritative information on the condition of these schools formed an important part of the functions of the Schools Inquiry Commission, appointed at the close of the year 1864. From the reports of the Assistant Commissioners it was found that some of the schools were virtually extinct-that others were serving no useful purpose-that the great majority of them imparted an education decidedly inferior to that obtainable in a good National or British school, leaving Latin out of the question, and that the number of efficient schools was comparatively few.

Apart from these defects, the need of organization became very conspicuous. The Commissioners say that "large endowments are attached to places where there are few to benefit by them, and pittances only are found where the need is great. Viewed as a whole, the condition of school education above the primary has been called a chaos, and the condition of the endowed schools is certainly not the least chaotic portion." Control," they report, "is rendered necessary by the fact that the social position and prospects of the community, its hopes and desires, have changed enormously, both over the whole country and in the several districts of it, since the large majority of these schools were established; that the value of property has experienced no less a change, but a change affecting these endowments in very unequal degrees, so that the founders' language, as applied to the present position of the endowments, is frequently that of men disposing blindfold of property of which they do not know the value, distributing it to persons of whose needs they are ignorant, and directing the execution of purposes which are impracticable and undesirable."

Early in the present session of Parliament Mr. Forster, the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education, and one of the members of the

Commission, introduced a bill, embodying, more or less, the recommendations of the Commission for the improvement of these schools; and as this measure, if adopted by Parliament, will exert a potent and beneficial influence on secondary education, and will materially enhance the value of Government certificates, we think teachers will be glad to have an opportunity of becoming familiar with its provisions, both those of a temporary and those of a permanent character:

The preamble states that the Commissioners appointed in the year 1865 to inquire into the education given in all endowed schools, except Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Charterhouse, St. Paul's, Merchant Taylors', Harrow, Rugby, and Shrewsbury, have recommended various changes in the government, manage ment, and studies of endowed schools, and of the application of educational endowments, with the object of promoting their greater efficiency, and of carrying into effect the main designs of the founders thereof, by putting a liberal education within the reach of children of all classes; and have further recommended other measures for the object of improving education-objects which cannot be obtained without the authority of Parliament.

The bill then begins with preliminary matter and definitions. An endowed school is defined as a school which is (or if it were not in abeyance would be) wholly or partly maintained by means of any endowment; but, by virtue of a saving clause, nothing in the Act is to apply to any school (not being a grammar school or a department of an endowed school) which, at the commencement of the Act, is in receipt of an annual grant from Government.

The first part of the bill provides for the re-organization of endowed schools. Commissioners, not exceeding three, are to be appointed by the Crown for the execution of this temporary work, and their salaries are to be fixed by the Treasury. They are to have power to prepare schemes for rendering any educational endowment most conducive to the advancement of the education of boys and girls, and to alter trusts, directions, and provisions affecting such endowments, as well as to make new ones. They are also authorized to consolidate two or more such endowments, to alter the constitution, rights, and powers of any governing body, or to establish a new governing body with such powers as they think fit; but in every scheme which abolishes or modifies the privileges of a particular class of persons, the Commissioners are to have due regard to the educational interests of such class of persons.

They are to provide in any scheme for saving, or making due compensation for, the following vested interests:-1. The pecuniary interest of any boy who at the time of the passing of the Act was on the foundation of any endowed school, so far as respects his interest in such foundation during his continuance at the school. 2. The interest of any such boy in any preference to or right of competing for any exhibition which may be given away within three years after the passing of the Act. 3. The tenure by any person of any exhibition which was held by him at the time of the passing of the Endowed Schools Act, 1868, and does not form part of the interest of a boy on the foundation before in this section mentioned. 4. Such interest as any teacher or officer in any endowed school or educational endowment, appointed to his office before the passing of the Endowed Schools Act, may have. 5. Such interest as any person may have in any pension or compensation allowance to which he was entitled at the passing of the Endowed Schools Act, and the amount of which is not within the discretion of the governing body. 6. Such interest as any member of the governing body of any educational endowment, appointed to his office before the passing of the. Endowed Schools Act may have in any emolument payable to him as such, or in any right of patronage which has a marketable value, and is capable of being sold by him.

It is further provided that nothing in this part of the Act shall authorize the making of any scheme interfering (1) with any endowment originally given to charitable uses less than thirty years before the commencement of the Act, without the consent of the governing body; (2) with any school wholly maintained out of the endowment of any cathedral or collegiate church, without the consent of the dean and chapter of such church; (3) with any school or exhibition (other than