Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][graphic]

W

THE

SCHOOLMASTER

ABROAD.

BY DR. M. P. LINDO, OF THE HAGUE.
I

WHILST strenuous efforts are being made in all quarters at home for the improvement of our national education, it may fairly be presumed that a sketch of what has already been done in other parts of the world will not prove devoid of interest or utility.

We offer, in the first place, a few hints from Holland, where the system of national education has met with the general approbation of all those who have had an opportunity of looking into the matter.

Years ago, before the present laws were promulgated, M. Cousin wrote a somewhat exaggerated panegyric on the system followed in Holland; Mr. Matthew Arnold has written largely on the law on Primary Instruction; Mr. Keenan visited Holland and corresponded with his foreign colleagues, the Dutch Government Inspectors, on the subject; Mr. Hume Burnley, during the time he was British Chargé d'Affaires at the Hague, wrote, with the assistance of the Dutch authorities, a lengthy paper on Middle Class Instruction, which was published in the Parliamentary Blue Book of 1868; and in that volume, too, an excellent translation of the law on Primary Instruction is to be found from the pen of the Hon. Hovell Thurlow, then Secretary to the British Legation.

A few months later Mr. Edwin Chadwick, C.B., was in Holland, visited the schools, obtained reports from the Government Inspectors, and published a good deal of information in various numbers of the papers issued by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce.

Visits to Holland, too, were paid by Mr. Jesse Collings, the Hon.

Secretary of the National Education League at Birmingham, and by Mr. Rutson; and a good deal of information, particularly on middle-class instruction, was imparted by Baron Mackay, of the Hague, during the discussion of the National Education Bills in the British Parliament.

Something, then, is known of the matter on which we intend writing more fully, without repeating what has already been stated by competent authorities. Our design is rather to give an aperçu of the whole system as it works, and to condense as much as possible in so doing the results of our many years' labour in the field.

The law on Primary Instruction was promulgated in 1857. The principles on which it is based are the following: In every commune in the kingdom public schools for primary instruction must be maintained at the public expense. the commune is too poor to bear the expenditure, it is subsidised by Government and by the province to which it belongs in equal shares.

If

No religious instruction is allowable at public schools during school hours; but between school hours, or at other times, the buildings are to be opened to the ministers of all sects for the benefit of children whose parents may desire to let them enjoy religious instruction.

An article of the law forbids the schoolmaster himself ever to make use of any terms or to promulgate any doctrines likely to hurt the religious feelings of any of the pupils entrusted to his care.

At the head of each school stands a master duly certificated, and the law prescribes the number of qualified assistants he is to have in ratio

to the number of his pupils. All the teachers are appointed by the commune, subject to the control of the district inspector, who presides and regulates the competitive examinations of the head masters, in the presence of the local boards. At the expiration of a term of forty years' service, and at the age of sixty, the schoolmasters are entitled to a Government pension, to the amount of two-thirds of their pay. They can only be discharged with the concurrence of the district inspector.

The same rules apply to the assistants. The amount of salary is fixed by the commune, subject, however, to the approbation of the higher authorities, of whom we shall have to speak anon. The minimum amount of salary fixed by law for a head master or mistress is in round figures 401.; for an assistant, 20l. Besides the pay, the head master has a house and garden, or a pecuniary indemnification. There are but very few schools indeed where the salaries are not higher than the minimum, and their number is steadily decreasing.

The law, too, decrees that at every public school there shall be at least, besides the head master, a pupilteacher if there are 75 children at school, an assistant if there are 100 pupils, and so on-for every 50 pupils another teacher.

Besides the three R's,' the rudiments of history, geography, natural history, and music (singing) must be taught at all public schools.

The law, too, allows elementary instruction to be given under the denomination of 'extended primary instruction' in modern languages, mathematics, agriculture, drawing, gymnastics, and female handiwork.

It may be considered as a serious defect that gymnastics and female handiwork are not rendered obligatory by the law. Parsimonious communes injure their schools by neglect of these very necessary

branches of instruction, and often cause much trouble in that respect to the higher authorities.

Private schools may be opened by all qualified head masters or mistresses, whose assistants must likewise be certificated. At these establishments religious instruction may be given or not, as the director of the school pleases. He is, too, quite free as to the number of assistants he employs; but his school must be always open to the authorities, who have a right to insist on its containing the requisite space for the pupils, on its being properly ventilated, &c. The district inspector can condemn the building, and close the school, if defective in these respects; but, of course, subject to an appeal to the higher authorities; and this is the case, too, with all public schools.

The private schoolmaster enjoys entire liberty with regard to the branches of instruction at his own establishment. He is not compelled by law to teach any one of them, and the consequence very naturally is that many of these schools are greatly inferior to the public ones, not only with regard to the number of masters employed, but also as to the amount of instruction imparted.

The communes may, if they please, grant subsidies to private schools, but only subject to the proviso that no religious instruction be given, and on other conditions they may think proper to impose.

The population of the kingdom amounts in round numbers to about 3,600,000 souls; and there were, according to the Government Report on January 1, 1869, 2,590 public schools for primary instruction, 3,675 private schools, and 125 private schools in receipt of subsidies.

The statistics of the last ten years have proved that the number of schools of all descriptions is steadily on the increase, and that the complaints of the sectarians that public

education is ruining the private schools are utterly unfounded.

The communes may raise schoolmoney or not, as they please; but no subsidy is granted unless something, however trifling the sum may be, is paid by the scholars for the support of the school. The children of the indigent classes, however, pay no school money. About 180,000 children between six and twelve years of age enjoy free schooling at the public institutions, and at the private schools there are about 30,000 free scholars.

Where the schooling is paid for at public schools the rate varies according to the class of the school, or the social condition of the parents. For instance, in all larger places there are free schools for the poor; other schools for the working classes, who can afford to pay a trifle, say 2d. a week; and again higher class schools where the foreign languages are taught, and where the school money paid ranges from il. 10s. up to 31. or 41. per annum.

Compulsory schooling does not exist in Holland, and in the industrial and agricultural districts the number of children growing up in absolute ignorance is perfectly frightful. Altogether some 20 per cent. at least of the children between seven and twelve years are not to be found at the schools.

The only efficacious remedy would be compulsory education, against which serious difficulties exist, in the agricultural parts of the kingdom from the indigence of the labouring classes, who employ their children in the fields at the age of seven, or even earlier, and in the manufacturing parts from the want of a law on child labour. But public opinion is making itself heard on the subject, and the matter has been seriously taken up by an Educational League founded in Holland last year, which has, however, declared against compulsory schooling.

In

Before we treat of the very important part assigned to the higher authorities in elementary instruction, we must refer to an offshoot of the primary schools, for which a law is in course of preparation. These are the infant schools. all the larger towns, and in most of the prosperous villages, infant schools, under the direction of women, are established, and frequented by children between three and six years of age. These schools in the towns, under the local authorities, are in many instances models of all that is praiseworthy, and have always excited the admiration of those foreigners by whom they have been visited. The buildings are large and airy, well warmed, and as neatly arranged as possible. They have, too, mostly nice playgrounds and a large stock of toys for the benefit of the children.

No lessons are given to the little ones. The schoolmistress tells stories and imparts some little instruction in that way; she makes the children in their turn repeat her tale, or a verse or two they learn by rote; and by talking and playing alternately, they learn their letters and perhaps to read words of one or two syllables. All the games played are carefully selected for the improvement of the mental and bodily capacities of the children; they are taught manners and deportment to a certain extent, and on going to the primary school have acquired habits of cleanliness and order that serve in a great measure to simplify the arduous task of the master.

The private infant schools are often very defective in many respects, and in such a wretched condition that a law on this branch of education is a great desideratum.

The inspection of all primary schools in Holland is entrusted to the following authorities:

1. Local Boards. In all communes where there are more than

[ocr errors]

3,000 inhabitants the town council appoints the members. Where there are fewer inhabitants, the burgomaster and his assessors form the local board. The members visit the schools, settle the order of the lessons with the head master, examine the classes at stated periods, see to the wants of the establishment with regard to books, maps, &c., and send in a yearly report to the town council and the district inspector on the state of all the schools entrusted to their care. They form, too, a sort of council, to whom the municipal authorities apply for advice on all educational matters, such as raising the salaries, increasing the number of masters, improving the buildings, and so forth. They are likewise bound to give all information required by the inspector of the province. The district inspector has a right to attend the meetings of the local board, and give his opinion on all matters of debate.

2. The District Inspector.-This functionary is appointed by the King. The post is considered an honorary one, and the district inspector has no pay at all, and nothing but a trifling sum, perhaps 50l. a year, for travelling and main tenance allowances. He is appointed for a term of six years, but may be reappointed at the expiration of that time, or removed previously, at the pleasure of the Crown. The position is influential, and generally sought after by young lawyers or landholders in the district who wish to form connections. The

district inspector has to visit some twenty or more communes, to inspect the schools, to preside at the schoolmasters' meetings, to correspond with the municipal authorities on all appointments, &c., and to send in his yearly report to his

chief, the provincial inspector, and the States of the province. His opinion is taken, too, on all public and private school buildings; and he can require, subject to an appeal in higher quarters, the dismissal or suspension of any schoolmaster who has misbehaved. It is his special duty to control the proceedings of the local authorities, and to see to the due observance of all articles of the law. Besides these duties, he has, in his turn, to be a member of the board of examiners for granting certificates to masters, which meets twice a year and is presided over by the provincial inspector.

It is beyond a doubt that it would be advisable to make salaried officers of the district inspectors, who could devote their whole time to their office. They are generally recommended to the Minister by the provincial inspector for appointment, and very often great difficulty is experienced in finding a suitable person for the office. Here and there a university professor has accepted the appointment, or some other man eminently fitted for its requirements; and where this is the case, the state of the district always improves in a remarkable manner. In the smaller communes great tact is required on the part of the district inspector to overcome sectarian prejudice, and the very general desire to spend as little money as possible.

3. The Provincial Inspector is appointed by the Crown, and is a salaried officer. He represents the Government in his province, and corresponds on all matters of importance directly with the Minister of the Interior, his chief. The Minister and the States of the province take his opinion on all educational matters, and his advice may

There are eleven provinces in Holland; at the head of each is an inspector for educational matters, who has under him district inspectors: in the larger provinces some ten or twelve.

« ZurückWeiter »