School inspector

“ The state inspector of schools is co-ordinate with the state legislature, and the school inspector of a city or a country district, who is elected now by the mayor, now by the council, now perhaps directly by the community, is a sort of technical specialist with considerable discretionary power; he is co-ordinated to the school committee, which is elected by the community, and which directs the expenditures and confirms all appointments. ”

“ Firstly, it was often hard on a teacher, for the inspector might err, and the endorsement was permanent. Secondly, and this was the last straw, it became an intolerable nuisance to the inspector. In a school of 100 children it was easy to be terse, innocuous, and fairly truthful. But I open a recent notebook, and find a school of 600 boys with 21 teachers. Supposing that ten of these teachers want certificate reports; conceive the strain on the imagination, or the commonplace book! Therefore a cynical and eccentric colleague adopted the startling method of applying the same treatment to all. ”

“ As a rule, women are not eligible as school inspectors. Every Commune, in addition to the inspectors, has a school commission, elected by the communal assembly. They are charged with providing sufficient school accommodation, and keeping the buildings in repair; also to visit the schools and see that any suggestions made by the inspector have been properly carried out. The Commune provides the sites for the school buildings, and these are erected at the joint expense of the Commune and Canton. ”

“ And the Inspector? The children, nay, possibly the [Pg 43] youngest teachers, think (like Poor Peter Peebles) , “I have not been able to sleep for a week for thinking of it, and, I dare to say, neither has the Lord President himsell.” Alas! at Llangastanau the inspector wants yet ten years to teach him the most needful lesson, that what to him is “Wednesday’s job” is the day of the year to them. He sleeps a solid eight hours’ sleep, and dreams that he is playing football with Harry and the Druid.
In 1871 school inspection was, as a science, still in its infancy. ”

“ The control of the state comes in to the extent of providing district inspectors who visit the schools once a year, and hold a meeting of the teachers in their district once a quarter. In each province there is a chief inspector who is bound to visit each school once in two years, and reports direct to the minister of public instruction. ”

“ In one county stories of the eccentric Mr. Goodheart still survive. A country rector told me some:
“Mr. G. frequently stayed here for the inspection of my school. In those days there was no such system of pupil-teacher examinations as you have now (he referred to the monthly examinations, long since dropped) : the Inspector examined the candidates at their own schools, or at any convenient centre, and set his own questions. He always came to the parish school here on a Monday: slept here that night, and took St. George’s school next day, examining the pupil-teachers where he could. ”

“ It is in their speech that the unexpectedness triumphs; and the younger the child the more unexpected are his remarks. Many an inspector, many a teacher, has been reduced to utter confusion by these random shots. It was one of my own staff who came to grief in a country school in this way. ”

“ The full report was sent to the Department, and, if approved, was forwarded to the managers. But, in addition, every certificated teacher who had passed through a period of probation had a parchment certificate of merit; and on this it was our duty to inscribe an epigrammatic abstract of the report on the school, or, if he were a class teacher, on his class. The advantage of this “endorsement” was great. It gave managers of schools a complete history of an applicant’s career. It gave an inspector still more valuable information ”

“ The duties of the board as to the granting of teachers’ certificates will be discussed in another chapter.
Township Board of School Inspectors.
The state constitution (Art. 11, Sec. 1) provides for the election of a township clerk who shall be ex-officio school inspector, and for the election of one school inspector; the statute (684a) in addition to this declares that the term of office shall be two years. The board of school inspectors, therefore, consists of the township clerk and two inspectors. Women are eligible to hold the office (782) . ”

“ Let a thoroughly competent person, a man of large views, and general knowledge, be selected and appointed an inspector, and receive a sufficient compensation to devote a considerable portion of his time to this subject; let him have under his charge the schools of a sufficiently extensive district; let him spend a considerable time in these schools in rotation, inspect the manner in which they are instructed, suggest to the teachers any improvements in the method of instruction and government, and be, in fact, a kind of regimental school-master. ”

“ C. If a teacher, new to a given high school, does not fully meet the requirement of the above standards but, in the opinion of the inspector, possesses the equivalent of the training prescribed, the inspector shall submit, to the Board of Inspectors, a statement concerning the training, experience, and teaching efficiency of the said teacher, together with his recommendation. ”

“ The proof of want of balance is not to be taken from a single teacher. If three teachers, at least, whose pedagogic reputation is good, agree about a child, the chances are that their estimate is correct. The inspector will resort to such controls, and if he is not satisfied, and if the alleged facts are not very serious, he will remove the child to another class or another school rather than send him to a class for defectives. ”

“ The inspector who conducts the general examination should have with him various papers of questions of equal value on each subject, so as to diminish the possibility of information as to the questions set at the examination being communicated from one school to the other. The masters have a direct pecuniary interest in preventing any information being sent to the other schools. ”

“ To receive the duplicate annual reports of the several boards of school inspectors, examine into their correctness, require them to be amended when necessary, indorse his or her approval upon them, and immediately thereafter and before the first day of November in each year, transmit to the Superintendent of Public Instruction one copy of each of said reports and file the other in the office of the county clerk. ”

“ The [Pg 291] district inspector is always a man of pedagogical training and experience. He is appointed for life and devotes his whole time to the schools in his district. His efficient and wise inspection of the schools insures their success. The district school board erects school buildings, determines the amount of the teachers' salaries, oversees their pensions, enforces compulsory attendance laws, decides upon taxable property, fixes boundary lines, and provides for the finances. ”

“ If any pupils should arrive at this state of proficiency before thirteen or fourteen, they could even then leave school only through the official certification of the teacher, minister, and 374 inspector. Provision was also made for the attendance of children who had to herd cattle or were too poor to pay the school fees. Sunday continuation schools were to be established for young people beyond the school age. Teachers must have attended Hecker’s seminary and had to be examined and licensed by the inspector. ”

“ Lastly, in the municipality, the Alcalde, the President of the Ayuntamiento, has the same functions in his district as those of the Civil Governor in the province. [23] The Alcalde also has his local consultative committee, whose functions are not unlike those of school managers in England.
The inspection of all schools except the elementary is the duty of the Rector of the university. The inspection of elementary schools is committed to an Inspector-General, under the immediate orders of the sub-Secretary of State, and forty-nine inspectors, one for each province. ”

“ The chief function of H.M. Inspector was to assess the amount which the Treasury should pay; and this was done by rapid examination of every child above seven years of age who had attended 250 times in the school year. Those who had made less than the specified number usually came to school to see the stranger; but in most cases they were rewarded for their habitual truancy by being sent home as soon as the great man arrived. Whereby they got a holiday, with the additional relish of thinking that the good children were on the rack. ”

“ Another interesting item is the fact that school inspectors instead of school directors at that time had charge of the schools. In Section twenty-three, these inspectors are provided for in the following words: "There shall be chosen at each annual township meeting, three school inspectors in the same manner as other township officers are chosen, who shall hold their office until others are chosen." ”

“ My intention is to address a circular to the different Boards of School Inspectors throughout Michigan, urging upon them the necessity of doing something for the cause, and invoking their efficiency in the matter. If they will take hold and raise a certain amount in their district, and pledge their constant exertions to excite and keep alive public interest on the subject of common schools, much will have been effected. ”

“ Dr. Temple, and Matthew Arnold, for instance, gave lustre to the office. But the former was “Inspector, chiefly of Training Schools” (Life, Vol. I., p. 97) for only two years; and the latter was—to put it in most courteous terms—more efficient on the literary side. “Mr. Arnold inspects our school in Westminster,” a London school manager said to me. “Of course we are much honoured, and the managers make a point of attending to meet him. He arrives in the course of the morning; shakes hands with the managers and teachers; and talks very pleasantly for a few [Pg 157] minutes ”

“ In April 1835 the society appointed him organiser of country schools, his duty being to 'organise new schools' and assist newly appointed masters in obtaining 'good discipline by moral means.' In October 1839 he was appointed normal school teacher and inspector, and from 1835 worked both in the training college and as an inspector outside. In 1846, when the training department of the institution in the Borough Road became recognised by the privy council as a grant-earning normal college, Cornwell was appointed by the British and Foreign School Society its head teacher or principal. ”

“ A number of well-qualified and laborious inspectors constitute an essential part of every good school organization. It should be the business of these inspectors to examine into the qualifications of teachers, and to see in what manner the business of instruction is carried on. ”

“ Compulsory inspection of our great schools is, I imagine, out of the question; but I would ask whether a voluntary system could not be devised which should place at the disposal of such schoolmasters as chose to avail themselves of it, accredited government inspectors, who, being invited, should repair to a school, examine its system and its pupils, and report formally and publicly upon both. ”

“ The professional reader knows them already: the unprofessional reader would not be interested. Briefly I may say, that he has to see that the District Inspectors and their staff do their work, and maintain the requisite standard of education; he has to advise the staff in all cases of difficulty; he has to hold enquiries in cases of dispute between the District Inspector and the local authority. Also he has to attend conferences at the Office, and to advise the Board “before any important change [Pg 263] is made.” ”

“ Up to 1871 the inspection of Elementary schools was carried on by three sorts of H.M. Inspectors. The Church schools were inspected by clergymen; the Roman Catholic schools by Roman Catholic laymen; and the other schools by laymen, of whom the best known was Matthew Arnold. In Wales the British Schools in receipt of Government grant were not numerous; and North Wales was grouped with Lancashire and Cheshire. As a rule their inspector lived in London, and, except when he paid his annual visit, they saw nothing of him. ”

“ Besides a large but somewhat diminishing body of apprenticed pupil teachers, there is a very considerable and rapidly increasing number of duly qualified assistants, and at their head a large array of certificated teachers, whose ranks are being replenished, chiefly from the Training Colleges, at the rate of about 2,000 a year. (5) The whole of the work done is examined and judged every year by inspectors and inspectors' assistants organised in districts each superintended by a senior inspector--the total cost of this inspection for the present year being estimated at about £150,000. ”

“ She gave private information on the characters of the pupil-teachers and the children, generally hinting that the pretty ones were undesirable. And she had the strongest views about their dress, views that the male inspector regarded with lack-lustre eye. It was not only at the inspection that she appeared: in many schools she was to be found without fail two or three days a week; possibly assisting in the needlework; possibly taking a general interest in the girls: always full of good works. ”