their duties, and as a violation of rule which will render them APPENDIX A. liable to dismissal. II. Rules and ers. 8. Should the Commissioners consider any Teacher employed Regulations of in a School under the Board unfit for his office, or otherwise Commission. objectionable, they require that he be dismissed and another provided. Teachers are also liable to be fined or suspended, at all times, when the Commissioners shall deem it necessary on sufficient cause being shown. 9. The Commissioners by themselves, or their Officers, are to be allowed to visit and examine the Schools whenever they think fit. Those who visit on the part of the Commissioners are furnished with credentials under their Seal. IV.-Inspection of Schools. 1. ADMISSION OF VISITORS. 1. The public generally must have free access to every National School, during the hours devoted to secular instruc tion, not to take part in the ordinary business, nor to interrupt it, but, as Visitors, to observe how it is conducted. 2. Every Teacher of a National School is to receive cour teously Visitors of all denominations, to afford them free access to the School-room, and full liberty to observe what books are in the hands of the Children, or upon the desks; what tablets are hung up on the walls, and what is the method of teaching; but they are by no means required to permit any person to interrupt the business of the School, by asking questions of Children, examining classes, calling for papers of any kind, or in any other way diverting the attention of either Teachers or Scholars from their usual business. 3. Should any Visitors wish for information which they cannot obtain by such an inspection, it is the duty of the Teachers to refer them to the Patrons or Managers of the School for it. 4. Every Teacher is required to have his Visitors' or Daily Report Book lying upon his desk, that Visitors may, if they choose, enter remarks in it. Such remarks as may be made, the Teachers are by no means to alter or erase; and the Inspector of the district is required to transmit to the Commissioners copies of such remarks as he may deem of sufficient importance to be made known to them. 5. As the religions instruction of the Children is under the control of the Clergyman or Lay person, communicating it with the approbation of their parents, the Commissioners can give no liberty to any other Visitor, whether Clergyman or Layman, to interfere therewith. APPENDIX A. IL Rules and Regulations of ers. 2. INSPECTION BY THE COMMISSIONERS OR THEIR OFFICERS. 1. The Commissioners do not take the control or reguCommission lation of any School, except their own Model Schools, directly into their own hands, but leave all Schools aided by them under the authority of the Local Conductors. The Inspectors, therefore, are not to give direct orders as on the part of the Board, respecting any necessary regulations, but to point out such regulations to the conductors of the School, that they may give the requisite orders. 2. The Commissioners require that every National School be inspected by the Inspector of the District, at least three times in each year. 3. The District Inspector on each inspection is to communicate with the Patron or Correspondent, for the purpose of affording information concerning the general state of the School, and pointing out such violations of rule, or defects, if any, as he may have observed; and he is to make such suggestions as he may deem necessary. 4. He is to examine the Visitors' Book, or Daily Report Book, and to transmit to the Commissioners copies of any observations made therein which he may consider to be of importance. 5. He is not to make any observation in the Book except the date of his visit, the time occupied in the inspection of the School, showing the precise time at which it commenced, and the precise time at which it terminated; and also the number of Scholars present. 6. Upon ordinary occasions, he is not to give any intimation of his intended visit; but during the middle term of the year, from 1st May to the 31st August, when the inspection is to be public, he is to make such previous arrangements with the Local Managers, as will facilitate the attendance of the parents of the Children, and other persons interested in the welfare of the Schools. 7. He is to report to the Commissioners the result of each visit, and to use every means to obtain accurate information as to the discipline, management, and methods of instruction pursued in the School. 8. He is to examine all the classes in succession, in their different branches of study, so as to enable him to ascertain the degree and efficiency of the instruction imparted. 9. He is to examine the Class Rolls, Register, and Daily Report Book; and to report with accuracy what is the actual number of Children receiving instruction at the School, and what is the daily average attendance. 10. He is to receive a monthly Report from the Teacher of each School, and also to make one quarterly himself to the Commissioners, in addition to his ordinary Report upon the APPENDIX A. School after each visit. II. Rules and 11. He is also to supply the Commissioners with such local Regulations of information as they may from time to time require from him, Commissionand to act as their agent in all matters in which they may ers. employ him; but he is not invested with authority to decide upon any question affecting a National School, or the general business of the Commissioners, without their direction. 12. When applications for aid are referred to the District Inspector, he is to communicate with the applicant so as to ensure an interview, and also with the Clergymen of the diffe rent denominations, in the neighbourhood, with the view of ascertaining their sentiments on the case, and whether they have any, and what, objections thereto. He is also to conimunicate personally, if necessary, with any other individuals in the neighbourhood. 13. The District Inspector is to avoid all discussions of a religious or political nature; he is to exhibit a courteous and conciliatory demeanour towards all persons with whom he is to communicate, and to pursue such a line of conduct as will tend to uphold the just influence and authority both of Managers and Teachers." V.-As to Appointment, Salaries, Conduct of Teachers, dc. 1. GENERAL RULES AS TO APPOINTMENT AND CLASSIFICATION OF TEACHERS. 1. The appointment of Teachers rests with the Local Patrons and Committees of Schools, but the Commissioners are to be satisfied with the fitness of each, both as to character and general qualification; and the Local Patrons have the power of removing the Teachers of their own authority. The Teacher should be a person of Christian sentiment, of calm temper, and discretion; he should be imbued with a spirit of peace, of obedience to the law, and of loyalty to his Sovereign; he should not only possess the art of communicating knowledge, but be capable of moulding the mind of youth, and of giving to the power which education confers a useful direction. These are the qualities for which Patrons of Schools, when making choice of Teachers, should anxiously look. They are those which the Commissioners are anxious to find, to encourage, and to reward. 2. The Commissioners have provided a Normal Establishment in Marlborough-street, Dublin, for training Teachers, and educating persons who are intended to undertake the charge of Schools; and they do not sanction the appointment of a Teacher to any School, unless he shall have been APPENDIX A. previously trained at the Normal Establishment, or shall have been pronounced duly qualified by the Inspector of the II. Rules and Regulations of District in which the School is situated. Commission ers. 3. Teachers selected by the Commissioners for admission to the Normal Establishment, must produce a Certificate of gcod character from the officiating Clergyman of the communion to which they belong; and must pass through an examination in the Books published by the Commissioners. They are to be boarded and lodged at the establishments provided by the Board for the purpose, in Dublin, and at Glasnevin in the immediate neighbourhood of Dublin, to which latter, an Agricultural Department is attached. They are to receive religious instruction from their respective Pastors, who attend on Tuesdays at the Normal Establishment; and on Sundays they are required to attend their respective places of Worship; and a vigilant superintendence is at all times exercised over their moral conduct. 4. They are to attend upon five days in the week at the Training and Model Schools, where lectures are delivered on different branches of knowledge, and where they are prac tised in the art of Teaching. They are to receive instruction in Agriculture daily, and they attend on Saturdays at the Farm, at Glasnevin, which is conducted under the direction of the Commissioners, and where they see theory reduced to practice. They undergo a final examination at the close of their course, and each will then receive a certificate according to his deserts. The course of training at present occupies a period of four months and a half, and for a considerable time previous to their being summoned, they are required to prepare themselves for the course. 5. Teachers of Schools unconnected with the National Board, if properly recommended, are also admitted to attend the Normal Establishment, as day pupils, without any charge for tuition; but such persons maintain themselves at their own expense. 6. All Teachers, appointed after the 1st of April, 1851, who have not been previously classed by the Professors or by a Board of Inspectors, shall be paid as Probationers, until they be examined at the first General or Special Examination held in the district subsequently to their appointment. Those who then obtain classification, will be paid from the commencement of their service under the Board according to the rate of salary attached to their class. 7. This rule will not extend to any teachers who, when summoned, shall fail, from any cause whatever, to present themselves for examination. 8. All Teachers who have been unsuccessful at their first examination, and who may be retained on trial, shall receive the salary of the class to which they may be promoted, at APPENDIX A. any subsequent examination, from the commencement of the II. Rules and quarter in which their classification shall be determined. Regulations of ers. 9. Teachers who after their first examination have been Commissionretained on trial as Probationers, if not recommended for promotion by the Head or District Inspectors, at the next ensuing examination, or by the Professors after training, cannot be continued in the service of the Board; but their salaries will be paid for one month subsequent to the date of dismissal. 10. All newly appointed Teachers who, after examination by the Inspectors, may be found wholly unqualified, shall be paid salary up to the close of the month in which the Commissioners refuse to sanction their appointment. 11. The Pupil Teachers of District Model Schools, on taking charge of National Schools after the completion of their course of training, shall rank as Third Class Teachers (provided they be deemed qualified for that class by the Head Inspector) until they shall have been classed at the first General or Special Examination held after their appointment in the district in which their Schools are situated, from which date they will be paid according to their classification. 12. All Teachers must remain at least one year in a lower division of any class, before they are eligible for examination with a view to promotion to a higher division; and they must remain two years in a class before they can become candidates for a higher class. These conditions, however, being fulfilled, Teachers of superior attainments may be advanced from any division of one class to any division of another after their first classification (except untrained Teachers who cannot be placed in the First Class) without requiring them to pass through the intermediate divisions. 13. This regulation does not apply to Teachers who may be promoted on the recommendation of the Professors at the termination of their course of training. 14. All Teachers, except Probationers, recommended for promotion after a course of training, will receive the increase of salary from the commencement of the quarter in which they are classed by the Professors. 15. No Teachers can be raised to any division of the First Class, unless they shall have been trained at the Normal School of the Commissioners, and recommended for promotion by the Professors at the end of the course of training, or by a Board of Inspectors. 16. The Commissioners have determined upon a course of study for each class, in which the teachers are to be examined as a test of their fitness for promotion; but their general conduct, the condition of their respective schools, their me VOL. I. C |