Captain CRAIGasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if the lay assistants in Bray convent national schools are usually dismissed at the end of the spring term, and sometimes reappointed, after the vacation, at the beginning of the autumn term, the nuns thereby saving the salary 1763W for the intervening time; if a lay assistant who asked for her share of the Birrell Grant was afterwards dismissed; and will he state what steps does the Board propose to take to deal with this practice?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education have no information as regards the matters referred to in the question. The lay teachers employed in Bray Convent National School are not entitled to a share of the Grant referred to. The Commissioners do not propose to take any action in the matter.
Captain CRAIGasked the Chief Secretary whether the Board of National Education has in contemplation the enactment of a rule which will make training an indispensable condition of the recognition of an assistant mistress; is it proposed to apply that rule to nuns conducting national schools, or is it the intention of the Board, while requiring that all lay teachers must be certificated and trained, to permit nuns who have received no training as school mistresses and who possess no evidence of either educational or teaching competence to take charge of schools; and if he will state if associations of either lay Roman Catholic or Protestant women who have no qualification for the work of teaching but who desire to engage in it were formed, and either Roman Catholic or Protestant managers were to dismiss existing qualified teachers and appoint members of these unqualified associations in their stead, would the Board sanction the arrangement?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education inform me that at present all principal teachers appointed for the first time must be trained, and the appointment of an untrained assistant master cannot be made without the special sanction of the Commissioners. The Commissioners hope to be in a position at some future date to make training a necessary qualification for assistant mistresses in all ordinary schools, but it is not proposed to make such change at present. Convent schools are of two classes. In one the teachers are graded and paid personal salaries; in the other, payment is made under special rules. No alteration of these rules is contemplated. The third part of the question is of too hypothetical a nature to admit of a definite reply.
Captain CRAIGasked the Chief Secretary if he is aware that, at the national 1764W teachers' congress held at Bangor in 1911, Roman Catholic delegates from various parts of Ireland stated that there were cases where convent lay assistants were docked in their pittances for holidays and vacations; that they were obliged to discharge menial duties at the convents; that they had not even the protection of the Maynooth Resolution, futile as in most cases it is; and that their allowances were so inadequate that convent assistantships might be regarded as a sweating industry; if the Commissioners of National Education held a searching investigation into these charges; and, if so, what was the result?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education inform me that they have no official knowledge of the statements alleged to have been made at the conference referred to. In the absence of any definite complaint no inquiry has been made.
§ Mr. O'DONNELLasked the Chief Secretary what percentage of marks was required in order to get first, second, and third divisions, respectively, at the last Easter examination for candidate King's Scholars in Ireland; what is the total number of service marks and teaching marks allowed to monitors and pupil teachers, and were those marks taken into account in determining the divisions; will he say why the Commissioners refuse to give the marks obtained to each student who applies for them; and whether the Commissioners are aware that candidates and tutors who have friends at Tyrone House can obtain their marks?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education inform me that the information asked for in the first paragraph of the question is not supplied to the public. The maximum number of service marks awarded to monitors and pupil teachers on completion of their period of service is 100. These marks are not included in determining the division in which a final year monitor or pupil teacher passes at the King's Scholarship examination, but are included in determining the position in the order of merit in which such monitor or pupil teacher stands as a candidate for admission to a training college. The test in practice of-teaching is applied in accordance with the regulations that all candidates for recognition as untrained assistant teacher must,inter alia, be favourably reported on by the 1765W inspectors in the practice of teaching. The result of this test does not in any way affect the division in which a candidate is placed, or the position in order of merit of a candidate for admission to a training college. The Commissioners do not consider the notification of the marks obtained by candidates at the annual examinations desirable, and they are not aware that this information is supplied to the candidates.
§ Mr. GOLDSTONEasked the Chief Secretary whether a scheme has yet been determined upon for vesting in a representative committee the management of the new school which is to displace Carrowveagh national school and the school at Finvoy, to which Grants were made for the year ending 31st July, 1913; whether it was a conditions of such Grants that within that year steps would be taken to erect the new central school to displace the two existing schools; what progress has now been made with the building of the new school; whether the Grants to Finvoy school are to be continued for another yea;; having regard to the rule of the Board not to continue two one-roomed Protestant schools within a mile of each other, whether it is the intention of the Board to hold a public inquiry into the whole circumstances of the case; cod whether any objection has been made by the managers of the Carrowveagh and Finvoy schools to the establishment of a central school which will be controlled in part by representatives of the people in the district concerned?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioners of National Education inform me that so far as they are aware no scheme has yet been determined upon for vesting in a representative committee the management of the proposed new school referred to. Grants were made to Finvoy national school for one year from 31st July, 1912, on the understanding that in the meantime steps would be taken for the provision of the new school. The proposed central school has not yet been provided. The question of the further recognition of Finvoy school is under,consideration. The Commissioners do not propose to hold a public inquiry into this case. The manager of the Carrowveagh national school is apparently not in favour of the proposed new school, and the manager of Finvoy school is not opposed to the project.