23 JULY 1887, Page 16

[TO TES EDITOR Or TIM "SPIDCTATOR."J

SIR,—You will, I am sure, be glad to learn that one statement in the article "Pedagogy," which appeared in the Spectator of July 16th, is incorrect. Yoa say of the Maria Grey Training College, that it "represents the only serious attempt to provide for teachers of schools higher than elementary the sort of pro- fessional instruction and discipline which have been for many years provided for the masters and mistresses of primary schools." I think the now defunct Finsbury Training College deserved some recognition as at least a " serious attempt." But what I am specially concerned to point out to you is that we hive a Training College in Cambridge for women who are preparing to teach in secondary schools. This College is just entering upon the third year of its existence; and if it receive the support it deserves—countenance from head mistresses, and endowment. from the public—it is likely to have a long and useful life. It has two resident lecturers; the students attend the University lectures provided by the Teachers' Training Syndicate; and they receive practical instruction at three different schools in the town.—I am, Sir, &c., Trinity College, Cambridge, July 19th. JAMES WARD.

[We regret that, owing to the newness of the experiment at Cambridge, we were unaware that the Training College there had yet been established on a permanent foundation, though not, it would appear, at present under the sanction of the University. We should regret still more if, by omitting a special reference to that young institution, we should have even in- directly discouraged what is evidently, from Mr; Ward's letter, an important and most promising enterprise. As to the Training College for men at Finsbury, the simple fact that it is defunct sufficiently explains our reason for not including it as one of the agencies available for the professional education of higher teachers.—En. Spectator.]