As to warmth, we have to remember that the tempe- Warmth. rature, if work, especially sedentary work, is to be carried on in comfort, should not in any school-room be lower than 60°. But it is bad policy to get warmth by vitiating the air, e.g. by gas-stoves, by stoves not provided with flues, by steam, or by large heated metal surfaces. On the whole, except for very large schools, open fires, if judicious arrangements are made to surround them with proper reflecting surfaces and also to diffuse an equable temperature through the room and to prevent waste of fuel, are best for the purposes of heat and ventilation as well as of cheerfulness. It may be added that a grey colour is better for the walls, than either a more pronounced and strong colour or simple white.

tus.

Of the teaching appliances in the room, no one is Apparamore important than the Black-board. We may not perhaps go so far as the enthusiastic Charbonneau, who says 'Le tableau noir, c'est la vie de l'enseignement,' but we may safely say that no school or class-room is complete without one, that there is no single subject of instruction wherein constant recourse should not be had to it; and that it and all its proper appurtenances of chalk, sponge, and duster should always be within easy reach, that there may be no excuse for dispensing with its aid whenever it is wanted. Perhaps there is no one crux by which you may detect at once so clearly the difference between a skilled and an unskilled teacher, as the frequency and tact with which he uses the blackboard. In some American schools there is a blackboard all round the room, 4 or 5 ft. wide; and the black surface close to the teacher's desk extends nearly to the ceiling. This surface is more often of slate than of wood, and is sometimes of a material known as liquid slating. It is occasionally of a green colour

Furniture of a State school in

Belgium.

Care of furniture important as disci

pline in habits.

instead of black, as offering a pleasanter surface to the eye; but diagrams and writing are apt to be less clear when any colour but black is adopted.

I will give you from the official regulations of the Belgian Government the list of objects required to be provided in every State school:

A bust or portrait of the King, some religious pictures, a small shelf or case for the teacher's own books of reference, a collection of weights and measures, a set of diagrams or pictures for each of the subjects taught.

A map of Europe, a map of Belgium, a globe, a special map of the province, and a cadastral plan (ordnance map) of the commune in which the school is situated.

A small collection of objects of natural history illustrative, as far as possible, of the flora, fauna, and physical products of the district.

A clock; a thermometer; and a collection illustrative of the principal geometrical forms.

A frame or board on which to affix all programmes and special rules, as well as the permanent time-table of the class.

To this one might add that an easel on which maps or diagrams may be displayed is useful, and that all books, slates, and other objects in use in the class should be kept in an easily accessible cupboard in the room itself, not only because all these things should be at hand-otherwise there is a pretext sometimes for trying to do without them-but also because all fetching and carrying from store cupboards at a distance increase the risk of loss and destruction.

We are to remember that over and above the convenience and economy which have to be secured in regard to all school-material, there are important incidental purposes to be served by care and method in all these

material arrangements. We have to teach respect for
public property, care in handling things which are not
our own or which have no visible owner. It is notorious
that this is much disregarded in higher schools for boys,
and that the aspect of the desks and school furniture in
them is such as would be simply disgraceful in a school
for the poor.
There seems no good reason for this
difference. I would therefore never permit the school-
room to be used for play, or to be open as a common
room out of school-hours when there is no supervision.
Remember too that every time you enlist the services
of the scholars in some little effort to render the school-
room and its surroundings more comely and attractive,
you are doing something to encourage the feeling of
loyalty and pride in the school, and are doing still more
to educate them into a perception of beauty, and a
desire for refined and tasteful surroundings. In schools
for the poor, this aim is especially important; but in
schools for children of every rank, it must be borne in
mind that the careful and artistic arrangement of all
the school material, and of all pictures and illustrations,
is a silent but very effective lesson in good taste; and
will go far to make children love order and neatness.
Whoever carries into his own home, a feeling of dis-
comfort and of æsthetic rebellion against dirt, vulgarity
and untidiness, has learned a lesson which is of con-
siderable value as a foundation for an orderly life. Old
Joseph Lancaster's rule, "A place for everything and
everything in its place," is of universal application.

tion.

The registration of admission and of attendance Registra in elementary schools subsidized by government grants demands a special and minute care, owing to the fact that a portion of the grant is assessed according to the attendance; some of the payments made being dependent

Communication to parents.

on the average attendance of scholars and some on the aggregate of attendances made by the particular scholars presented for examination. Hence, for the elementary schools the strictest rules are laid down (1) for the marking of every attendance, (2) for the computation of the number of attendances registered for each child in every year and in every separate school term, (3) for the computation of averages in each class, and of the whole school: the total number of all the registered attendances being of course for this purpose divided by the number of times in which the school has been open. No erasures are ever allowed. An exact estimate is thus easily arrived at as to the degree in which the work of the school has been interrupted by irregularity of attendance, and as to the proportion of the actual attendance to the number of those whose names appear on the school registers. Nothing so elaborate is needed in the case of higher schools, partly because no grant of public money is involved, and partly because in such schools the scholars attend much more regularly. But I am sure that the importance of careful registration is insufficiently recognized in our secondary and high schools; and I think that even in the best of them it is essential that there should be a systematic record for each pupil of these particulars: (1) the date of admission and the exact age; (2) the date of promotion to a higher class or of the entry on a new study; (3) absence; (4) lateness; (5) the result of each examination; (6) any punishment, or failure of duty.

You want all these particulars for your own satisfaction; and also for reference when you send to the parent of each scholar, at the end of the term, a tabulated statement shewing his precise position as to attendance, conduct, and progress. The particulars which parents

Registration of Attendance and Progress. 75

have a right to expect from a well-ordered school, and which may easily be recorded and summarized at the end of the term wherever the habitual book-keeping is careful, are these:

The number of times in which the scholar has been absent from a lesson or late in attendance.

The result of any examinations which may have been held within the term.

The number of scholars in the class to which he belongs.

His standing, in order of merit, in regard to each subject of instruction.

His place in the form or class, as determined by the collective result of his work.

A general estimate of his conduct.

progress.

So long as these particulars are held in view, it Tabulated matters little what form the report takes. You will of reports of course preserve a duplicate of every such report. Each teacher will do well to adopt his own form, and to determine on his own particular mode of estimation, whether arithmetical, by the use of mere figures or marks; or more general, by the use of such symbols as Excellent, Good, Fair, Moderate, and Imperfect. The thing to be chiefly borne in mind in the choice of your system of marking is to reduce to a minimum the chance of caprice and guess-work, and not to attempt to record anything unless you have carefully preserved the data by which you can assure yourself that the record is thoroughly accurate. Some teachers, in their zeal for comprehensiveness of statement, have columns for deportment, for politeness, and for other moral qualities which are in their nature very difficult to estimate, and in respect to which hap-hazard and therefore somewhat unjust estimates are almost necessarily made. For