§ MR. SEXTONasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether promotion of Irish National Teachers to First Class is impeded by the regulations now in force; whether a teacher desiring to enter for the examination for promotion to First Class, held every year in July, is obliged, before the previous 1st October, to request the District Inspector to place his name upon the list of candidates; whether, after the name has been placed upon the list, the admission of the teacher to be examined still depends on the result of a visit by the Head Inspector, at some indefinite time between October and July; often after a vacation or a period of farm work, and when the school is at its fullest, with the result that the report made of a visit and examination, at a time of year when the school is in its least efficient state, may deprive the teacher, after months of study, of the right to be examined for promotion; and, whether, with a view to afford facility for improving the condition of the teachers, the system will be so reformed as to allow every teacher who presents himself for the July examination to be examined, leaving the question of the efficiency of the school to be tested by a fixed percentage of results, at the annual results examination?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, the object of the regulations is to secure that promotion shall be a stimulus to, and a reward for, zeal and efficiency; and they do not impede the promotion of any zealous and efficient teacher, but carry it on in a steady and efficient manner. No meritorious teacher is refused admission to enter for examination, merely on the ground that he has not complied with the rule, and requested the District Inspector, before the 1st of October, to place his name in the list of candidates. The visit of the Head Inspector to the intending candidate's school may be made at any time of the year. Its purpose is not anything in the nature of a results examination, or an exhaustive examination of the pupils. Its object is to enable him to certify whether the school is so conducted as to give satisfaction to the public, and to the teacher a right to be examined for 64 promotion. The Commissioners have no present intention of making any alteration in their regulations.