The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-03 00:00:00

NATIONAL EDUCATION

GENERAL EXAMINATION OF SCHOOLMASTERS WHO ARE
CANDIDATES NOR CERTIFICATES AT EASTER.
Committee of Council on Education, Council-
office, Whitehall, Nov. 25, 1847.
Sir,—The Committee of Council hare before them
applications under the minutes of August and Decem-
ber, 1846, from the trustees and managers of elemen-
tary schools in every county in England, on behalf of
their teachers, requesting that they may bo admitted to
an examination for the certificates of merit which are
necessary to the enjoyment of augmentations of salary
under those minutes.
Their Lordships have reason to know that many
other candidates only await the announcement of the per
nod when the examination will occur, and of its chief
conditions, ere they request of the trustees or managers
of their schools to present their claims to be examined.
Many of these candidates have for some time past been
engaged in preparatory studies, and in some towns have
been assisted by courses of instruction, established by
the friends of education. It has therefore been deemed
expedient not to precipitate the period of the general
examination of teachers who have not been educated to
training schools under inspection, but rather to allow
such time for their preparatory studies and courses of
instruction as to increase the number of candidates who
will present themselves with confidence for examination.
School managers have also suggested, that a period
of school holidays should be selected for a general exa
mination, in order that the candidates, who must be as
sembled for ten days at some central place in the in
spector's district, may attend without serious inconve.
nience to their schools.

For these reasons, the Lord-President directs me to
inform you that the first general examination of the
schoolmasters who are candidates for certificates will be
held in Easter week, commencing on Monday, the 24th
April, 1848, and extending to the middle of the follow-
ing week. Yeu are requested, in the interval, to
ascertain at what town or place candidates in your
district can be most conveniently assembled. The
chief considerations to be borne in mind .in
selecting this place, are the comparative facilities of
access from all parts of your district ; the arrangements
which, with the aid of persons desirous to promote the
comfort of the schoolmasters, can be made for their
lodging during the period of the examination, the ac-
cemmodation which you can procure for the daily
assembling of the candidates, and the existence of an
elementary school, the organization, discipline, and in-
struction of which render it a fit place for the trial of the
skill of the candidate in conducting a class.
When these arrangements have been reported for
their Lordships' approval, you will be authorised to
announce in the county papers of your district the
time and place appointed for the examination, together
with such other information as may be useful to the
candidate.

Meanwhile it may be desirable that you should ex-
plain to all persons interested in this general examina-
tion, that it is a necessary preliminary to the admission
of any candidate to it, that the trustees or managers of
his sehool should apply to the committee of council on
his behalf, and should fill up certain forms of inquiry,
which will be transmitted to them from this office in
reply to their application.
The examination of the candidates will extend to the
subjects contained in the first of the two following
schedules. The second schedule contains other subjects,
to which, on the application of a candidate for the
middle or highest class certificate, the examination may
be extended. This latter schedule is intended to afford
candidates an opportunity to prove the range of their
acquirements, on subjects on which they will not be
required to be examined for the third or lowest class
certificate.