AN ASSISTANT-MASTER IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—It was most refreshing to read your views in the Spectator of July 12th on the question of the training of teachers as expressed in your critique of "The Schoolmaster," by Mr. A. C. Benson. The battle of training has been fought and won in the educational world—though there is not yet unanimity of opinion as to the best method of being trained— but that portion of the Press which is not distinctly educa- tional has been slow to express any decided opinion on the matter. It is for that reason that we who for years have been working at the training of teachers welcome the decisive way in which you join issue with Mr. Benson on the question.
The Draft Order in Council for providing the manner in which a Register of Teachers shall be formed and kept" has made training of some kind a sine gua, non of admission to the Register in the future; it is astonishing that England 'should have been so slow to recognise the necessity for some special preparation of all those who would enter a profession of so great importance as teaching. I cannot help thinking that a great deal of the prejudice against training has in the past been due to misconception as to the kind of work done in secondary Training Colleges. It is astonishing to find the want of knowledge on this matter that exists even among those who in other respects are thoroughly well versed in educational matters. A good many people seem to think that a Training College for secondary teachers is a place where an inadequate education is supplemented, where people are taught how to teach subjects which they have not themselves mastered, and where a few cut-and-dried rules, based on a smattering of psychology, are imparted to students in training. It is not uncommon, too, to find that people who really should know better imagine that languages, mathematics, science, &c., are included in the Training College curriculum. As a matter of fact, evidence of adequate education is required before a student is admitted (the general trend of opinion now seems to be that the training course should be post-graduate), and the time is devoted entirely to professional subjects. The curriculum generally includes logic, psychology, and ethics ; the study of the best methods of teaching languages, science, mathematics, &c. (and here the methods used in Con- tinental and American schools are compared with our own); the history of great educational movements and some of the great books on education, as well as training in voice pro- duction, blackboard drawing, and the making of maps, models, &c., to illustrate various lessons. While these form the bulk of the work in the lecture-room, the students are at the same time gaining experience in the class-room in the actual work of teaching. This is done under the guidance not only of the lecturers on method, but also of the experienced teachers in the practising school. By this means the theory and practice, or the science and art of education, are taught side by side. Mr. Benson says : "I am inclined to think that the best system of all, if it were feasible, would be to send a young man for a few weeks to a. training college after he has had say a year's experience of teaching in a school." So for as the value of previous experience goes, I should like to corroborate what he says : the most eager, enthusiastic, and successful students I have ever had to train have been those who have taught before coming to College, and have found out some of the difficulties of the work; but surely this experience has in most cases been gained at the expense of their pupils. But "a few weeks !" These might suffice if the Training College could offer only a few cut-and-dried, rules for teaching, if it sought only to impart a list of maxims. The Draft Order more adequately recognises the magnitude and import- ance of the work when it demands at least a year's training.—
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