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 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 Of ILLI NOIS
 
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 COMPULSION AND THE CODE 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR A MORE 
 
 UNIFORM SYSTEM OF EDUCATIONAL 
 
 COMPULSION, WITH CORRESPONDING ADAPTATIONS 
 
 OF THE CODE REGULATING THE 
 
 PARLIAMENTARY GRANT 
 
 BY 
 
 A. E. B. 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 solir at tlje 
 
 National Society's Depository 
 
 westminster 
 
 AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS 
 1881 
 
 Price Fotirpcnce
 
 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 
 
 It is the fundamental idea of this essay, that the sub- 
 ject of the rights and obHgations of the parent — involving 
 a reconsideration of some of the rules, which, at first sight, 
 seem only to affect the grant — forms a branch of the 
 Elementary Education Question scarcely yet sufficiently 
 examined, whether from a social, a political, or even a 
 moral and religious point of view. 
 
 The changes in the present Edition will be found to 
 relate almost entirely to points of detail, and will probably 
 sufficiently explain themselves. There is one, however, of 
 considerable importance, affecting the grant for half-time 
 scholars. 
 
 The * Supplementary Suggestions,^ already placed before 
 the readers of the First Edition, are incorporated in the 
 present impression. 
 
 For the criticisms and suggestions of various friends, 
 more especially teachers, the writer has had much cause to 
 be grateful. 
 
 Two further proposals are now also offered, as 'Additional 
 Suggestions.' 
 
 Afril, 1881.
 
 COMPULSION AND THE CODE 
 
 The following suggestions, many of which have already 
 appeared in the correspondence columns of the School 
 Guardian^ are submitted to the friends of elementary 
 education, in the hope of securing the discussion of a large 
 number of important points, both of principle and detail, 
 affecting the present administration both of the compulsory 
 law and of the Parliamentary grant. It seemed impossible 
 to raise these questions in a concise manner, without putting 
 them into the form of a scheme like the following. Many 
 of the changes proposed would require fresh legislation; 
 others could, with slight modification, be adapted to existing 
 bye-laws and to the Code of the Department. No claim is 
 here made to novelty or originality, the principal object in 
 view being to remove difficulties in the way of alterations 
 generally regarded as in themselves desirable. 
 
 GENERAL PROPOSITIONS. 
 I. That compulsion and examination should go hand- 
 in-hand, so that, during the whole course of a child's school 
 life, the parent may have the utmost possible liberty of 
 choice as to the way in which the indispensable minimum of 
 teaching shall be provided, and may be able to show, from 
 year to year, that he is fulfilling the duty imposed upon him
 
 by the conditions of modern life and by the laws of the 
 country. 
 
 2. Tliat it should be deemed the first obligation of a 
 public elementary school to enable every child attending it 
 to obtain his industrial freedom as early as possible ; but 
 (subject only to this condition) that the rule which expects 
 progress of every child in all the three fundamental subjects 
 pari passu need not be retained. 
 
 3. That all educational requirements should be enforced 
 in each district *by the same authority, and should be the 
 same for all classes of children partially employed in labour, 
 so far as circumstances render possible ; whilst the * half- 
 day' system is pecuharly and unnecessarily inconvenient 
 in many respects. 
 
 4. That the * Child's School Book ' should be a real 
 and reliable record of each child's educational course. 
 Hence the regulations affecting it should be such as to 
 make it valuable primarily to the parent, in whose custody 
 it should remain. 
 
 5. That school attendance should only be required as 
 the alternative of proved proficiency, this being, of course, a 
 necessary inference from the first of the principles here 
 enumerated. 
 
 6. As a further consequence, that no entry of school 
 attendances should be made in the school book. 
 
 7. That it is an infringement alike of the liberty of the 
 subject and of the doctrines of political economy, and 

 
 ultimately very dangerous to the cause of education itself, 
 for the State to discourage or suppress all schools not 
 supported by public money, unless they profess to be 
 managed by persons having no pecuniary interest in 
 them, as is now virtually the case. 
 
 8. That the present anomalous position of public 
 elementary school teachers, which renders them doubly 
 responsible to the State and to their committees of manage- 
 ment, is wholly untenable, and should be put an end to, by 
 making the certificate, if retained at all, a purely professional 
 diploma without endorsement. 
 
 9. That the possession of a certificate by the teacher 
 ought not to entitle a school to be placed and retained on 
 the Government list, unless direct and tangible minimum 
 results can be shown. 
 
 10. That the liability of the managers to provide^ staft 
 according to the attendance ought to be merely a guarantee 
 of their continued interest in the school, and should be 
 separated from all necessary connexion with the training of 
 future teachers. 
 
 11. That this liability having all along been determined 
 by the average attendance, and not by the number of 
 scholars under permanent instruction, it is of importance 
 that every attenda7ice of every child should possess equal 
 value as regards the grant.* 
 
 12. That this cannot be the case while the grant is 
 largely dependent, not simply on the proficiency^ but on the 
 
 * Subject to a qualification hereafter to be explained.
 
 number of scholars, not in average^ but in regular 
 attendance. 
 
 13. That whatever may have been the case before the 
 establishment of an administrative machinery for securing 
 attendance, managers are not now entitled to claim credit, 
 nor ought they to be held responsible, for the regularity of 
 their scholars. 
 
 14. That the principle upon which grants are at present 
 administered unnecessarily creates a temptation to evade, 
 wherever it may be possible, the obligation of admitting 
 children who cannot possibly complete their attendances, 
 and is consequently incompatible with one of the principal 
 objects of recent legislation. 
 
 [As an illustration, take the case of two infant schools 
 equally efficient, each meeting 450 times in the school year. 
 To one of these schools five fresh infants are admitted, 
 making 270 attendances each in the course of the year : 
 total, 1,350. To the other school, 7ii7ie fresh infants are 
 admitted, making 150 attendances each : total, 1,350, as 
 before. This constitutes an addition of three children to 
 the average attendance of each of the two schools, pro- 
 ducing an additional grant of i8i-. to each. But, in the 
 one case, this is the whole addition to the grant; in the 
 other there are also five children, for each of whom a grant 
 of lox. maybe claimed on presentation, or a total of ;2^2. lox. 
 Do the nine irregular infants, or the five regular ones, form 
 the larger addition to the labours and responsibilities of the 
 teacher?]
 
 15. That whilst every child is entitled to examination in 
 his own right, as maintained above, the merit and efficiency 
 of a school, so far as tested by passes, ouglit to be estimated 
 solely with reference to the average proficiency of the 
 regular scholars ; in other words, with reference to the 
 percentage of passes made by these latter. 
 
 16. That there is no reason, however, why this per- 
 centage, and the grant depending upon it, should not be as 
 minutely and as completely graduated as under the present 
 code. 
 
 17. That the standards for the grant should be strictly 
 the same as those for the labour certificate — a point which 
 has been somewhat lost sight of in the changes of the code 
 since Lord Sandon's Act was passed. 
 
 18. That the percentage of presentations in the higher 
 standards depending almost entirely as it does upon the 
 previous educational condition of the district, it is not fair 
 to make the amount of the class grant dependent upon that 
 percentage. 
 
 19. That however desirable it may be to retain what are 
 termed * specific ' subjects in our elementary schools, there 
 is no sufficient reason for distinguishing in the mode of 
 payment between them and ' class ' subjects. 
 
 20. That the principle of a graduated payment, depending 
 upon a more or less successful examination, ought to be 
 introduced in the class subjects. 
 
 21. That to reduce the school grant for results, when
 
 8 
 
 those results have been effected by a smaller pecuniary 
 expenditure, must operate as a positive discouragement 
 to the exercise of labour, skill, and care in producing them. 
 
 It is not intended in this short statement to discuss 
 these principles at length, but it may be as well to advert to 
 one or two points of detail in the plan sketched which 
 seem to call for special remark. 
 
 And first as to the raising of the minimum age for 
 compulsion to seven, and the lowering of the maximum to 
 thirteen. The former change is simply a corollary of the 
 fundamental principle that compulsion and examination 
 should go hand in hand. Both the efficiency of * dames' 
 schools' and the regular attendance of infants at public 
 elementary schools would be greatly increased if the parent 
 were enabled to meet the very »first visit of the attendance 
 officer with a certificate of proficiency. There is no reason 
 why such a certificate in a preliminary standard should not 
 be acquired by almost any child between the ages of six 
 and seven. The other change is a more doubtful one. If 
 it is not adopted, then children between thirteen and four- 
 teen should be subjected to dind and not, as now, merely 
 to indirect^ compulsion; not to say that (at present) half-time, 
 though universal under thirteen, only applies above that age 
 to children under the Labour Acts. If, however, children 
 up to fourteen are to be effectively brought under compul- 
 sion, then it will probably be necessary to adopt something 
 of a ' dunce clause,' e.g., that a child who has never gained
 
 the half-time privilege till he is twelve or thirteen should be 
 excused on the ground of his demonstrated incapacity from 
 further examination or attendance at school. 
 
 Again, under present rules, a half-time scholar under 
 the Factory and Workshop Act has to attend, if not 
 so often as another, yet with strict regularity, and to ccme 
 much oftener than the minimum number of times qualifying 
 him for examination. On the other hand, the compulsory 
 attendances of agricultural half-timers are generally limited 
 to 150, which is surely too low. What is here proposed is to 
 make the principle of the rule the same in all districts, with 
 increased powers to the local authority for regulating details. 
 
 There has been, hitherto, a great and seemingly excessive 
 diversity as to the preliminary proficiency required of half- 
 timers. Under the Labour Acts, and under the Metro- 
 politan bye-laws, half-time was, until very recently, a matter 
 of course from the age of ten. On the other hand, most 
 School Boards in towns require Standard IV. ; but then the 
 effect of the Labour Acts was to exempt a vast numbe* of 
 children from this provision ; and in rural bye-laws there 
 seems an increasing and unfortunate tendency to be content 
 with a line even lovvpr than Standard III. The exemption 
 afforded by the Labour Acts being put an end to for the 
 future, it seems a good opportunity to fix a uniform rule, so 
 that a child who is entitled to be employed half-time in one 
 district may have the same right anywhere else. Probably 
 Standard III. will be found the best for the purpose, 
 considering the differences in the natural abilities of children. 
 
 A3
 
 lO 
 
 Next, with regard to the Parliamentary grant, a claim is 
 sometimes made for schools containing many ' half-timers,' 
 that either the attendance or the/^^i" of the half-time scholar 
 should count for more than that of the ordinary scholar. 
 If, however, the claim is conceded as regards the atteiidance^ 
 then the same attendance ought also to count for more in 
 determining the compulsory school staff. As to the pass^ 
 under the system here proposed, all children above ten 
 examined in Standards IV. and V. will be half-timers, so that 
 no injustice will be done to any. This is already the case 
 with all children in Standard V., and yet the percentage 
 of passes in that standard is rather higher than in Standard 
 IV., and the same (80 per cent.) as in the three lower 
 standards. [Of course volunteers are here counted as half- 
 timers, however often they may have attended.] 
 
 Still, it is doubtful whether such a percentage can be 
 kept up when the system is more widely extended. But it 
 is hoped that the whole case may be met as follows : 
 
 1. Since, under the proposed rule for half-time employ- 
 ment (p. 16, No. 2), it ought to be easy for a .half-timer to 
 complete 200 attendances in the year, the adoption of that 
 number is now suggested, instead of 150, as the qualification 
 of half-timers with a view to the grant. 
 
 2. As an encouragement to the advancement of children 
 into the upper classes as early as possible, and at the same 
 time as a further recognition of the difficulties involved in 
 the instruction of half-time scholars, it is now proposed that 
 the attendances of all such scholars should be deemed, both
 
 1 1 
 
 in calculating the grant and previous attendance, and in 
 determining the staff, to be increased by 25 per cent. It 
 must be admitted that, without some such change as this, 
 the adoption of a grant on attendance and average pro- 
 ficiency only (equitable and sound in principle as it has 
 been shown to be), would entail a serious loss upon all 
 schools where the half-time system was largely in operation 
 (as it will now be in all districts), and where, at the 
 same time, the managers were endeavouring to provide a 
 thoroughly efficient staff. Of course this change includes 
 the former. [Thus 30 attendances as an ordinary scholar, 
 and 176 as a half-timer — or, again, 200 attendances as an 
 ordinary scholar, and 40 as a half-timer, would constitute 
 previous due attendance with a view to the grant.] 
 
 It is believed that the substitute proposed for the two 
 grants, 19 A and 19 B, when taken with the suggested relaxa- 
 tions and restrictions, will not be found materially to affect 
 the total public expenditure on the one hand, nor to give 
 fair cause of complaint to any reasonably efficient school on 
 the other. One of the relaxations referred to consists in 
 allowing the shilling for singing to count as an extra, with 
 a substantial, but not severe, addition to its requirements. 
 
 The proposed absorption of Art. 21 in an enlarged form 
 of 19 C perhaps involves an augmentation on the whole ; but 
 it is accompanied with a graduation calculated to render it- 
 much more efficient as regards the mass of the scholars, 
 if somewhat less ambitious as regards the fefw. The much 
 disputed question of ' reading books ' for geography, &c.,
 
 12 
 
 has not been touched. The writer's feeling on this point is 
 strongly in favour of the view taken by the Education 
 Department, as expounded in their recent circular. 
 
 Readers who may have seen this essay as originally pub- 
 lished will observe one change in the present edition which 
 is more apparent than real. It is now proposed to admit 
 no proof that a child is ' receiving efficient education ' 
 except the school-book entry, even though he may be 
 actually- attending a public elementary school. The only 
 consequence, however, of the failure to produce this proof, 
 will be to place the child under special surveillance, by 
 means of an attendance order, unless the magistrate is of 
 opinion that the parent has been so far culpably negligent 
 that he ought to pay the whole or part of the costs. 
 
 The present attempt to solve the problem of compulsion 
 proceeds on a conviction that our existing system is at once 
 too mechanically severe in its terms, and too lax in its 
 administration. The writer believes that the principle of 
 section 74 of the Act of 1870 is sound, so far as it recognises 
 no formal release from the educational obligations of the 
 parent, except one founded upon the proficiency of the 
 child. But he thinks that the facilities for obtaining such 
 a release should be more readily and constantly accessible 
 than any now provided, and should be required from time 
 to time through the child's whole school life. There would 
 then, he feels sure, be much less repugnance to the steady 
 enforcement of the law than would appear in many quarters 
 to be the case at present.
 
 SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 I.-DIRECT COMPULSION. 
 
 1. A child shall, mean any person below the age of 
 thirteen years. 
 
 2. The parent of any child above the age of seven years 
 may be summoned, at the instance of the Educational Local 
 Authority, to prove before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction 
 that his child is receiving efficient education in reading, 
 writing, and arithmetic. 
 
 3. Such proof shall consist of an entry or entries in the 
 Child's School Book, to be hereafter described, showing 
 that the child has within the last fifteen months been 
 examined by one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, 
 or by his assistant, and has passed in not less than two of 
 the three subjects aforesaid, according to standards prescribed 
 by law, or by the Code of the Education Department. 
 
 4. In default of such proof as aforesaid, the parent may 
 prove, either by the evidence in Court or by the affidavit of 
 any duly qualified medical practitioner, or by the certificate
 
 14 
 
 of the medical officer of the Union, that the child is for the 
 present incapable of being beneficially instructed in the said 
 subjects. 
 
 5. If proof of efficient instruction be given, no renewal 
 of such proof shall be required before the expiration of its 
 term. If incapacity for instruction has been proved by 
 medical evidence upon oath, the proof shall hold good until 
 the production of fresh evidence on the part of the Local 
 Authority shall appear to the Court to render a renewal of 
 the proof requisite ; but the certificate of the medical officer 
 of the Union shall only hold good for twelve months from 
 its date. 
 
 6. If no proof be given of either of the above, the Court 
 shall order the child to attend a public elementary or (with 
 consent of the parties) a day industrial or other certified 
 efficient school, named in the order, and may, at its dis- 
 cretion, order the parent to pay the whole or any part of the 
 costs of the proceedings. The substance of the order shall 
 be endorsed on the School Book. 
 
 7. A child ordered to attend a particular school shall, 
 in the absence of reasonable excuse, attend every time the 
 school is open, and shall pay in advance the ordinary fee of 
 the school. Failure in either of these respects shall be 
 deemed disobedience to the order. Legal employment to 
 be included in the list of reasonable excuses. 
 
 8. An attendance order shall hold good in any part of 
 England and Wales until the child is proved to be receiving
 
 15 
 
 efficient education as above, but, in case of removal to a 
 different district, another school may be substituted for that 
 originally named, on application of the Local Authority and 
 presentation of a certified copy of the original order, or on ap- 
 plication of the parent with presentation of the School Book. 
 
 9. The parent of any child who is either 
 (a) Illegally employed, or 
 
 (i^) Unnecessarily occupied at home to the neglect 
 of his education, the parent being required 
 to prove any alleged necessity; or 
 (c) Habitually wandering, or not under proper con- 
 trol &c. ; or 
 (^) Disobedient to an order of attendance at school, 
 may be summoned before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction 
 at intervals of not less than a fortnight; and on every such 
 occasion, if the offence is proved, shall be liable to a fine 
 not exceeding 10s., including costs. Further proceedings 
 to be in accordance with section 12 (2) of the Elementary 
 Education Act, 1876. 
 
 II.— INDIRECT COMPULSION. 
 
 I. No child shall be employed in any way which would 
 interfere with his constant full-time attendance at a public 
 elementary school until he has attained the age of ten, 
 and has also passed in reading, writing, and arithmetic in 
 Standard HI. of the Code of the Education Department. 
 Passes to be certified by entries in the Child's School 
 Book.
 
 i6 
 
 2. No child shall be so employed on more than half the 
 days of any civil year until he has attained the age of 
 twelve, and has also passed in the same three subjects in 
 Standard V. of the said Code. All Saturdays in the year 
 shall be deemed to be days on which the child is employed. 
 
 3. The days on which a child may be so employed shall 
 be fixed from time to time by public notice of the Local 
 Authority, after approval by the Education Department, with 
 the consent of the Home Office. Reasonable opportunity 
 shall be afforded by the Department for representations and 
 objections to be made by any persons interested, and the 
 days fixed need not be the same for different kinds of employ- 
 ment ; but partial daily employment shall no longer be 
 recognised. 
 
 4. These regulations shall be enforced by the Educa- 
 tional Local Authority. Any person employing a child in 
 contravention of them may be summoned before a Court of 
 Summary Jurisdiction at intervals of not less than a fort- 
 night. All educational provisions of the Laboujr Acts shall 
 be deemed to be superseded. 
 
 IIL— THE CHILD'S SCHOOL BOOK. 
 
 I. Future issues shall contain no attendance column, 
 but shall have separate columns to enter passes in reading, 
 writing, and arithmetic respectively. Failure to pass, and 
 non-examination on a particular occasion in any subject or 
 subjects, shall be distinctively indicated. In copies of the
 
 17 
 
 present issue, passes in the three subjects may be shown by 
 the letters «, b^ c, respectively, after the numeral represent- 
 ing a standard of the Code. 
 
 2. The School Book shall be supplied directly to the 
 parent, and by the Local Authority only ; gratuitously in 
 the case of all children for the first six months after the 
 coming into force of this rule, and afterwards gratuitously in 
 the case of all children under the age of six. In all other 
 cases a charge of sixpence may be niade for supplying or 
 replacing the book. All entries, whether of age or pro- 
 ficiency, shall be made without charge to the parent, on the 
 exclusive responsibility of the Local Authority, which shall 
 guarantee every entry by the impression of a stamp kept for 
 the purpose. 
 
 3. All School Books at present in the hands of school 
 teachers shall be handed over to the Local Authority, 
 whose stamp shall authenticate previous entries made by 
 the teacher. The book shall then be given up to the parent, 
 in whose custody it shall remain. The Local Authority may, 
 however, claim and retain possession of the book for 
 necessary inquiries during a fortnight in every year. 
 
 4. The School Book must be shown to the teacher as a 
 condition of admission to a public elementary school, to 
 Her Majesty's Inspector before examination, and to the 
 attendance officer on demand. No entry must be made in 
 the admission register of a public elementary school which 
 has not been verified by it.
 
 i8 
 
 IV.— PUBLIC EXAMINATION. 
 
 1. Public notice shall be given, a fortnight beforehand, 
 of the annual visit of Her Majesty's Inspector to any public 
 elementary school, and at such visit any child above six 
 resident in the attendance district may present himself 
 for examination. A child may be examined at a public 
 elementary school different from that which he ordinarily 
 attends. Attendance districts may be combined for the 
 purposes of such examination. 
 
 2. A child between the ages of six and seven may be 
 examined in Standard I. of the Code of 1870, which shall 
 be termed the * Preliminary Standard.' Other standards, 
 up to IV. inclusive, shall be those of the Code of 1876, 
 until otherwise provided by Act of Parliament. 
 
 3. Any child may be examined in reading, writing, or 
 arithmetic, according to any standard in which he has not 
 already passed in the subject in which he is so examined. 
 Provided that he shall not be examined in any subject of a 
 standard higher than III. or V., as the case may be, until 
 he has passed in all the three subjects of one of those 
 standards. The work of boys and that of girls, in each of 
 the three subjects, shall be judged precisely in the same 
 manner. No child may be examined in a subject in which 
 he has failed until after an interval of at least one calendar 
 month. 
 
 4. On receiving the schedule containing the results of 
 examination, the managers of the public elementary school
 
 19 
 
 where the examination was held shall transmit a copy, as 
 formerly, to the Local Authority, in order that the requisite 
 entries may be made in the children's School Books. 
 
 5. If it is alleged by the parent that a child was ex- 
 amined in a different attendance district from that in which 
 he is now residing, but no record to that effect appears in 
 the School Book, the book shall be forwarded by the Local 
 Authority of the district in which the child is residing to the 
 Local Authority of the district in which he is alleged to 
 have been examined, in order that, if the statement is 
 correct, the requisite entry may be made. 
 
 v.— PARLIAMENTARY GRANT. 
 
 I. No passes, though entered in the examination 
 schedule, shall be taken into account in determining the 
 amount of grant which may be claimed by the managers of 
 a public elementary school, except, as at present, in the 
 case of children qualified by previous due attendance at the 
 school for which the grant is claimed. But no passes 
 made by such children shall be left out of account. Passes 
 made in the Preliminary Standard shall be reckoned in regard 
 to the grant, solely for the purpose of determining the portion 
 of it claimable in respect of infants under the age of seven, 
 except in the case of an infant school or department. 
 
 2. No grant shall be paid to a school (not being an 
 infant school or department) where the number of passes 
 made by the children above seven, qualified as above, is for
 
 20 
 
 two successive years less than 50 per cent, of those which 
 might have been made. In the first of two such years the 
 grant shall not exceed ss. per child in average attendance. 
 
 3. In an infant school or department, the grant shall be 
 i^s. upon the average attendance, subject to. the present 
 conditions of 19 A and 19 B i (d), and of the foot-note on 
 19 B 2 (if), provided that 75 per cent, of possible passes are 
 made by qualified children above six years of age in the 
 Preliminary Standard, and in Standards I. II., taken 
 together. 
 
 4. Otherwise the grant shall only be 12s. 6d. upon the 
 average attendance. 
 
 5. In a mixed school or department the grant upon the 
 average attendance of infants under seven shall be 12s. 6d., 
 subject to the present conditions of 19 A and 19 B i («;), 
 provided that 50 per cent, of possible passes are made in 
 the Preliminary Standard by qualified children between the 
 ages of six and seven. 
 
 6. Otherwise the grant shall only be loi". upon the 
 average attendance of children under seven. 
 
 7. The name of every child acquiring the half-time 
 privilege (p. 16, No. 2) shall be immediately, but not 
 retrospectively, entered on a separate page of the school 
 register. The number of all attendances found on that 
 page shall be separately returned, but four of such attend- 
 ances shall, for all purposes connected with the grant, 
 be equivalent to five ordinary attendances.
 
 21 
 
 8. The attendance qualification shall be 250 attendances 
 in the school year, calculated in accordance with the above 
 rule. But unless that number has been completed since 
 passing in a lower standard of a given subject, failure in 
 that subject shall not be reckoned to the disadvantage of 
 the school, while credit shall be given for success.* 
 
 9. Every child qualified by attendance, whether present 
 or not on the day of examination, shall be taken into account 
 in determining the percentage, unless in the case of sickness, 
 or danger of infection, certified by a duly qualified medical 
 practitioner, or of absence from the district on the day of 
 examination, or absence from the school during a period 
 equal to a calendar month immediately preceding the 
 examination. 
 
 10. If the weather be very unfavourable, and the scholars 
 have to come to the examination from great distances, as 
 well as in cases of epidemic as at present, an instalment of 
 the grant may be paid upon special report of Her Majesty's 
 Inspector ; or, at the discretion of the Education Depart- 
 ment, a grant may be paid upon average attendance at the 
 same rate as in the previous year. 
 
 11. Subject to the present conditions of 19 A (i) and (3), 
 but whether singing forms a part of the regular course of 
 
 * Thus, if 140 children attended 250 times each in the school year, 
 the number of possible passes would be 420. But if 5 of the failures 
 (say in arithmetic) were made by children who had only attended 200 
 times since passing in arithmetic at some public examination in lower 
 standard, the possible passes would be reckoned as only 415.
 
 22 
 
 instruction or not, a grant of loi". upon the average attendance 
 of children above seven may be claimed whenever the 
 actual passes of such children in reading, writing, and 
 arithmetic, are 50 per cent, of their possible passes. 
 Average attendance to be calculated in accordance with 
 Rule 7, as above. 
 
 12. A further grant of li*. upon the average attendance of 
 children above seven, calculated as above, shall be paid 
 whenever singing forms a part of the regular course of 
 instruction, provided that a reasonable proportion of the 
 children show an intelligent acquaintance with the meaning 
 and intention of musical notes, both as regards time and 
 pitch, according to any of the systems at present in use. 
 
 13. A further grant of id. upon the average attendance 
 of such children shall be paid for every 07ie per cent, of 
 possible passes after the first 50 per cent, made by the 
 qualified children in reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
 
 14. A further grant upon the average attendance of 
 such children shall be paid, subject to the present conditions 
 of 19 C (except 19 C 6, which shall be abolished), upon the 
 classes of the school passing a creditable examination in 
 not more than three of such definite subjects of instruction 
 as are there referred to (the privileges described in the 
 foot-notes, and in 19 C 7, being retained). 
 
 15. Such grant shall not exceed 2s. upon the average 
 attendance as aforesaid for each of such subjects, and may 
 be withheld altogether, or reduced to 6^., ij-., or \s. 6d. for
 
 23 
 
 each subject, for faults apparent in the examination, or if 
 less than a sufficient proportion of the children examined 
 pass creditably. 
 
 1 6. This grant shall supersede that at present paid under 
 Art. 21, as well as that under 19 C. The schemes which 
 may be approved by Her Majesty's Inspector in each school 
 are to be regarded as provisional, pending the construction 
 of a syllabus to take the place of the present Schedule IV. 
 
 17. The deduction 32 {a) of the present Code, as pre- 
 scribed by section 19 (i) of the Act of 1876, shall be 
 abolished. 
 
 18. Two stipendiary monitors, approved by the Depart- 
 ment in respect of age and qualifications, shall always be 
 deemed equivalent to one pupil teacher, and one such 
 monitor shall be required for every 20 scholars in average 
 attendance after the first 60, for whom an assistant or pupil 
 teacher is not provided, average attendance being calculated 
 as above. [No suggestion is here offered as to the attend- 
 ance which should be deemed to require the engagement of 
 a second adult teacher.] 
 
 VI.— TEACHERS' CERTIFICATES. 
 
 No endorsement of such certificates shall for the future 
 be made, and managers shall be exclusively responsible, 
 through their grant, for the accuracy of their registration 
 and returns.
 
 24 
 
 ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS. 
 
 The two following may perhaps be deemed worthy of 
 consideration : 
 
 1. Any person may employ a child in domestic service, 
 but shall thereby become responsible for his education as 
 though he were the parent ; provided that, in any case 
 where the parent would become liable to proceedings under 
 section 12 (2) of the Act of 1876, such employer as above 
 shall be deemed to be employing the child illegally, and the 
 child shall be returned into the custody of his natural 
 parent. 
 
 2. Any Court of Quarter Sessions may appoint one or 
 more stipendiary magistrates, for the sole purpose of 
 exercising summary jurisdiction under the Education Acts 
 in the various Petty Sessional Divisions belonging to the 
 jurisdiction of such Court ; and thereupon all the powers of 
 the ordinary Petty Sessional Courts under the Education 
 Acts shall cease. 
 
 The latter of these suggestions may possibly meet the 
 complaint which we hear both from School Board visitors 
 and from police magistrates, as to the impossibility of giving 
 due attention at once to Education cases and to ordinary 
 business. 
 
 Spottiswoode &* Co., Printers, New street Square, London,
 
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