The training of teachers in England and Wales

Preface

The purpose of this study is to give a systematic and critical account of the training of teachers in England and Wales. The systems in vogue in Scotland and Ireland differ fundamentally from the English system and consequently fall outside the scope of this work. The study is the outcome of researches made during the past two years in the Departments of Elementary Education and of Educational Administration at Teachers College. To these researches have been added the practical knowledge and experience gained as a lecturer in the Education Department of the University of Manchester — a day training college recognized under the regulations of the English Board of Education. A brief account of the administration of education in England and Wales has been given to serve as a background for the work. In addition, the history of the subject from Elizabethan times has been traced. Since the government is assuming responsibility for the training of secondary school teachers, art teachers, teachers of domestic arts and other subjects, a chapter dealing with these aspects of the problem has been introduced. The main portion of the work is, however, devoted to the description of the training and service of elementary school teachers.

This Contribution is the third of a series on similar topics, the other two of which are Farrington, "The Public Primary School System of France, with special reference to the training of teachers " ; and Kandel, " The Training of Elementary Teachers in Germany."

I wish to express my indebtedness to Professor M. E. Sadler for many valuable suggestions on the historical aspects of the subject; to Mr. S. E. Maltby of Manchester University for securing information upon a series of questions submitted to him, difficult of access to students in America ; and to the correspondents of the training colleges and the secretaries of the numerous associations of teachers for their never-failing courtesy and kindness in forwarding catalogs and other documents devi Preface

scriptive of the institutions with which they are connected. I wish to express my thanks to Professors Strayer, McMurry, Snedden and Monroe for reading the dissertation in manuscript. To Professor Strayer, I am also indebted for many helpful suggestions.

P. S.

New York, 1910

Contents

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ' . . . MICHAEL E. SADLER xi

CHAPTER I The Administration of Education in England and Wales

Central Authorities. — Board of Education. — The President. — History of the Board. — The Committee of Council. — The Science and Art Department. — The Board of Education Act. — Organization of the Board. — Reports, Codes, Circulars, Regulations, Memoranda, Suggestions. — Inspection. — Inspectorial Divisions. — Powers of Inspectors. — Special Inquiries. — Consultative Committee. — Minor Central Authorities. — Home Office. — Local Government Board. — Board of Agriculture. — War Office. — Admiralty. — Charity Commissioners. — Central Authority for Scotland. — Central Authorities for Ireland i

Local Authorities. — Administrative County. — County Boroughs. — Municipal Boroughs. — Urban Districts. — Local Areas. — The Council. — Education Committee. — Managers. — Powers and Duties of Local Authority. — School Attendance. — Supervision 20

Chapter II

Prior to 1839. — Mulcaster's " Positions." — Qualifications of early schoolmasters. — Lyly. — Coote. — Brinsley. — Hoole. — Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge.— The German Situation. — The Monitorial System. — Lancaster and Borough Road. — Dr. Bell and the National Society. — Kildare Place Society in Ireland. — Early teacher training in Scotland. — Stow. — Parliamentary Grants for training teachers 29

From 1839 onwards. — Committee of Council. — Plans for a National Normal School. — Pupil-teachers. — Minutes of 1846. — Lowe's Revised Code. — Results of Revised Code. — Growth of Centre Classes. — Need for greater Academic Training. — Regulations for the Preliminary Education of Pupil-teachers. — Early Normal Schools. — Gray's Inn Road. — Battersea. — Borough Road. — Work of Dioce.san Boards and National Society. — Gibson's Report on Glasgow Normal Seminary. — Grants to Colleges on account of Queen's Scholars. — Curriculum of Early Nomial Schools. — Table of Early Normal Schools. — Training viii Contents

Colleges for Women Secondary Teachers. — Day Training Colleges. — Recent Movements 42

CHAPTER III Preliminary Education of Teachers

Changing Ideals of Training. — Secondary Schools. — Pupil-teachers. — Bursars. — Student-teachers. — Training and Instruction of Pupil-teachers, Bursars, Student-teachers. — Pupil-teacher Centres. — Curriculum. — Government and Local Grants for Preliminary Education of Teachers. — Relative Advantages of Pupil-teacher System and the Bursar and Student-teacher Systems 56

CHAPTER IV Training Colleges for Elementary School Teachers

Definition of Training College. — Governing Body. — Distribution. — Classification. — Boarding and Lodging of the Students — Hostels. — Grants for College and Hostel Buildings. — Maintenance of Training Colleges. Admission Requirements. — Form of Undertaking. — Social Status of Students. — Teaching Staff. — Classes of Students. — Two Year Students. — One Year Students. — Certificated Students. — Three Year Students. — Third Year Students. — Cost to Students. — Course of Study. — Alternative Schemes. — Comparison with America. — Texts. — Time-table. — Criticism Lessons. — Practice Teaching. — The Ideal Scheme. — Demonstration Schools. — The Fielden Demonstration School. — Certification of Students. — Student-life in the Colleges. — Athletics. — Typical Time-table. — Societies and Alumni Associations. — Question of Religion. — Courses for Teachers of Blind, Deaf and Defective Children. — Conclusion 65

Chapter V

Secondary Teachers. — History of Training Movement. — Diplomas. — Government Scheme. — Teachers of Domestic Subjects. — Curriculum. — Diplomas. — Teachers of Art. — Kindergarten Teachers. — Teachers of Educational Handwork. — Teachers of Physical Education. — Conclusion 94

Chapter VI

Types of Elementary Schools. — Classes of Teachers. — Powers and Duties of Teachers. — Appointment and Dismissal of Teachers. — Salaries of Teachers. — N. U. T. Scale of Salaries. — Typical Scales. —

Contents ix

Tables of Salaries of Head and other Teachers. — Salaries of Secondary Teachers. — Supervision of Teachers. — Reading Circles. — Summer and Sessional Courses for Teachers. — Teachers' Association and other Educational Organizations. — Activities. — Political and Legislative. — Legal Aid, Advice and Protection. — Economic Betterment. — Educational and Professional. — Insurance and Benevolent Work. — Tenure. — Information Bureau. — Appointments Bureau. — Social. — Publications Department. — The National Union of Teachers. . . . 104

CHAPTER VII The Teacher as a Civil Servant

Pensions for Teachers. — The Annuity. — The Superannuation Allowance. — The Disablement Allowance. — Suggested Pension Schemes for Secondary Teachers. — The Teachers' Register. — History of Register. — Work of Teachers' Associations on the Register, .... 131

CHAPTER VIII Statistical Interpretation and Comparison; Summary and Conclusions

Ntunber of Elementary Schools and Scholars. — Types and Sex of Teachers. — Statistics of Training Colleges. — Pupil-teacher System. — Secondary School Statistics. — Educational Finances. — American Statistics. — Comparison of English and American Systems of Training Teachers. — Summary and Conclusions 139

Appendix A. — English Course for Preliminary Education of Teachers 151

Appendix B. — Diagram representing the various ways in which a person may proceed through the different stages of the Teaching Profession 152

Appendix C. — Form of Undertaking for Resident Students 154

Appendix D. — Annuity Tables 157

BIBLIOGRAPHY 159

INDEX i65

Introduction

This volume fills a gap in the list of books dealing with the administration of English education. No other work covers exactly the same ground or gives so complete an account of the present regulations for the professional training of teachers in England and Wales. For the information of readers not familiar with the existing forms of public control in English education, Dr. Sandiford puts in the forefront of his work a brief survey of the powers and duties of the central and local authorities which inspect and aid different types of school. He then throws his subject into historical perspective by a review of the stages of opinion and of administrative effort which have led up to the existing regulations for the training of teachers for their professional duties. In the following chapters he describes the present state of things in this part of the educational field and, from his own varied personal experience, compares the systems of training in England and America. A book dealing with this subject, though mainly descriptive, must also, if it is to be practically useful and stimulating, be in some measure critical and even controversial. In forecasting the future of the educational system of England and Wales and in discussing various questions of method and organisation upon which opinion is sharply divided, Dr. Sandiford therefore states his own view, but with a candour which will be welcomed by every reader and will be not least respected by those who have formed a different judgment as to the probable course of future policy.

In one of Mr. J. M. Barrie's novels, the vigorous but bluntminded heroine rocks her arms at a critical point in her history and cries : " It is so easy to make up one's mind." " It is easy to you that has just one mind," retorts Sentimental Tommy, " but if you had as many minds as I have — I " England suffers from the same trouble as Tommy. As to the relation between the State and the individual citizen and between the secular, bureaucratic organisation of the State and the varied religious xii Introduction

traditions of the community, she has more minds than one. It is far from being to her discredit that she sees — or, to put the matter more accurately, feels rather than sees — the difificulty of the problems to which those relationships give rise. But her perception of the weight of argument which may be advanced in support of several possible solutions has greatly embarrassed her in the past, and still embarrasses her, in dealing with the question of national education. For that question, when it has to be dealt with in any thorough-going way, compels us to form a judgment as to the relative rights of the State and of the parents in determining the course of education which children shall receive, and as to the degree in which religious or secular influences should control the spirit of the instruction given in the schools. In determining national policy as to the professional training of teachers for the various types of school which make up the English system of national education, we are confronted with many of these questions in an acute form. Dr. Sandiford's chapters show how contorted has been the growth of the systems of training which have had to thrust their way upwards through this tough tangle of conflicting ideals.

One thing is especially likely to be borne in upon the mind of the reader of these pages. He will note that English educational ideals, and consequently English administrative regulations, for the training of teachers are now passing through a stormy time of change. What is written now may be in some important details obsolete a year hence. For some time change has followed change in bewildering succession. Public opinion has been deeply moved by the discussion of fundamental questions which lie at the base of all educational policy. In hardly any country in the world have administrative changes in the sphere of public education been more rapid than in England during the last eight years. To the student in Great Britain itself, and still more to the foreign observer, these changes have been profoundly interesting and at the same time the cause of serious perplexity. It is no exaggeration to say that there is probably no living man or woman in England or elsewhere who, if taken by surprise, could answer with accuracy all the questions of a searching examination paper dealing, in a comprehensive way, with the present educational conditions and regulations in the different

Introduction xiii

parts of Great Britain and Ireland. This difficulty gives a measure of the value of the service which Dr. Sandiford has rendered by gathering together, so far as possible, the threads of the situation so far as they concern the training of teachers in England and Wales.

In England, education was until quite lately divided into three virtually separate grades. Those grades were separated from one another by no clear-cut class division, but nevertheless by distinctions which roughly corresponded to three great sections in the community. A long history, almost unbroken from the Middle Ages, lay behind and explained this educational situation. At all times it has been easier than is generally realised for boys (not for girls) of marked promise, if they had the good fortune to meet with a patron or to win a scholarship, to rise from one grade of education to another. l>ut the modern sense of unity in national education, and the conception of a great system of schools and colleges organised throughout under the supervision of the State were slov/ in making their way into the minds of English people. During the last twenty years this new idea of national education has been working like a ferment in English thought. It has produced an almost revolutionary change in public policy in regard to education. But it is far from having fully realised itself either in administration, or in the distribution of endowments, or in the planning of courses of study, or in the personal relationships between those who teach in different grades of school. Imperfectly realised as yet even in the structure of English education, this idea of unity is still less mature in the sphere of the training of teachers. The older English conception of a teacher's professional training was empiric. It had the merits and the drawbacks of mediaeval apprenticeship. Very slowly, and in great part through the influence of Scotland, Germany and the United States, the belief in the possibility of a scientific training for the teacher's work has made its way into English thought. What is now taking place is the gradual adjustment of the methods of science to the maxims of practical experience. But until we see more clearly the function of each type of school (which in turn depends upon still unsettled questions of social organisation) it will be impossible to organise with precision xiv Introduction

corresponding types of professional training. We are feeling our way, with much hesitation but on the whole with successful adaptation of existing agencies to new needs, towards a clearer definition of educational ends and thus towards greater precision of efifort in the training of teachers. Of this agitated yet promising period of transition Dr. Sandiford gives a picture in this book.

M. E. Sadler.

University of Manchester.

THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS IN ENGLAND AND WALES

Chapter I The Administration Of Education In Eng- Land And Wales

A. The Central Authorities

Contrary to general belief there is, at the present time, no unified central authority controlling and administering all forms of education in the British Isles. The complexity of the situation is due to the fact that England is "a land of evolution rather than of revolution." No social or political upheavals comparable to the French Revolution have occurred in England. A sentimental regard for old customs and old inheritances, a great reluctance to remove old moss-grown laws from the statute books are characteristic traits of the English. Development has taken place by accretion with subsequent absorption rather than by re-organization of a radical nature. Hence it is not surprising to find that the educational systems of Scotland and Ireland are quite different from that of England and .Wales, and that the latter system is far from being homogeneous.

Board of Education: The chief central authority for Education in England and Wales is the Board of Education. It is the youngest of the great executive departments of state, viz : — the Foreign office, the Colonial office, the India office, the War office, the Home office, the Admiralty Board, the Board of Works, the Board of Trade, the Local Government Board, the Board of Agriculture and the Board of Education ; and bids fair soon to rival all the others in importance.^ The Board of Education, like the

* The fact that the salary of a Secretary of State, the head of an ofhce, is ;^5.ooo ($25,000), while that of a President of a Board is only y^2,ooo ($10,000), probably accounts for the fact that during the last Liberal Administration of four years there have been no less than three Ministers

I

Board of Trade, is a development out of a Committee of Privy Council. It is composed of the President, the five Secretaries of State, the First Commissioner of the Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer,^ but such are the perversities of Enghsh constitutional custom, that it never has met and probably never will. Yet the Board was created with the complete understanding that it would probably never meet. There were numerous precedents ; at best it had great potential powers and at worst it could do no harm. "The president alone constitutes a quorum, and he conducts the business of the department with the assistance of a secretary who is not himself a member of

the Board, but is, like the president, capable of sitting in the House of Commons, and occupies, in short, the position of a Parliamentary under-secretary. In practice, therefore, these boards are legal phantoms that provide imaginary colleagues for a single responsible minister."^

The President: The President is appointed by the King and if a person so appointed be a member of the House of Commons, such appointment according to English constitutional custom compels him to vacate his seat and seek re-election in his constituency. The Parliamentary secretary, being appointed by the Board and not by the Crown, need not seek re-election on his appointment. The President has a seat in the Cabinet. He is the person responsible to the country for all the acts of his numerous staff of civil servants. He it is who must answer all questions in Parliament relative to the conduct of his department; must fight the financial battles of Education with the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; must be responsible for all government Education Bills presented to Parliament; in short is the elected representative of the people and as such must protect their interests at all times. The Education Department is an excellent example of the efifectiveness of expert service controlled by a layman elected by and responsible to the people.* of Education. Such rapid changes cannot fail to be detrimental to the efficient working of the Department. The remedy is simple — give the President of the Board of Education the salary and prestige of a Secretary of State.

^ Board of Education Act, 1899, sec. i.

' Lowell, A. L., Government of England, I, 84.

History of the Board: The " Phantom " Board was established by the Board of Education Act, 1899,^ which came into operation on April ist, 1900. This legislation was the third of a series of consolidating measures. The first of these, in 1839, was the formation of a Committee of Council to "superintend the application of any sums voted by Parliament for the purpose of promoting public education." A grant of £20,000 ($100,000) had been voted annually by Parliament since 1833 for purposes of education. The grant was now raised to £30,000 ($150,000), subsequently to much larger amounts, and was to be administered by the special department created for the purpose.

The second of the measures was the foundation of the Education Department in 1856 which brought the Science and Art Department and the Committee of Council on Education under the same administrative heads.'' Previous to this time the only official representative of the Committee had been the Lord President of the Council, a member of the House of Lords. By the creation of the office of vice-president to be selected by the premier from among the members of the House of Commons the people were given a more direct control over the grants for education. But the two Departments were never joined ; there was a dual control until the actual fusion took place in 1899, although the Committee of Council concerned itself chiefly with elementary education and the training of elementary school teachers, leaving secondary and scientific education under the control of the Science and Art Department.

The Science and Art Department had its origin in the appointment of a select Committee of the House of Commons in 1835 "to inquire into the best means of extending a knowledge of the Arts and of the Principles of Design among the people (especially the manufacturing population) of the country." This committee, reporting in 1836, recommended the establishment of Schools of Design. Accordingly a sum of £1,500 ($7,500) was granted for the purpose, and the President of the Board of Trade elected certain artists and others interested in Art to form the Council of the Government School of Design. The school was opened in 1837. In 1841 schools in the provinces were opened and courses were offered for the training of teachers, A re-organization of

'63 and 64 Vict., c. 33. 'Order in Council, February 25, 1856.

Education Department Act, 1856; (19 and 20 Vict. c. 116.)

the School of Design took place in 1842. The grant administered by the Board constantly increased until, in 1852, it had reached the sum of £15,000 ($75,000). In this year the Council was abolished and a Department of Practical Art constituted. In the following year a science division was added and the Department of Science and Art was created. The amalgamation of Science and Art Department and the Committee of Council on Education in 1856 led to a transference of control from the Board of Trade to the Education Department.

The development of the scientific side of the movement progressed very rapidly. An elaborate system of examinations and payment by results was instituted in 1859. This was the forerunner of the wretched payment by result system which was instituted by Robert Lowe in his famous code of 1861. In 1856 the Parliamentary vote was £64,675 ($323,375) ; in 1894 it had risen to £700,722 ($3,503,610). The qualifications of teachers under the minutes of the Department rose with the grants. From 1859 to 1867 the necessary qualifications to teach were obtained by passing a general examination ; in the latter year a pass in the advanced stage, or in honors, was the requisite qualification ; the minimum quahfication was raised to a first class in the advanced stage or a pass in the honors in 1888. Training colleges for teachers participated in the grant. In 1893, fifty of these institutions sent in 4,054 persons for 8,054 examinations thereby earning for themselves £7,934 ($39,670) of grant. According to sec. 2, (i) of the Board of Education Act of 1899 the duties and powers of the Science and Art Department were transferred to the Board of Education. In this way ended a Department, which had, with a fair measure of success, met the demands for scientific education during the forty-six years of its existence.'''

The need for a thorough re-organization of the machinery of administration, especially in the field of secondary education, became very acute in the 90's. Consequently, according to English custom, a Royal Commission on Secondary Education was appointed in 1894, with James Bryce as Chairman, " to consider what are the best methods of establishing a well organized system of Secondary Education in England." The commissioners interpreted their task in liberal fashion and their report, brought out in 1895, is most comprehensive both in grasp and in interpretative solution of the problem. A unified, central authority was shown

' Calendar, History and General Summary of Regulations of the Department of Science and Art, 1895. (cd. 7601.) Sadler, Special Reports 1, p. 12.

Balfour, Educational Systems, pp. 13, 254-5, 201-2, 272-3.

to be essential to any scheme of reform, and so they recommended the constitution of a Department of the Executive Government, presided over by a Minister responsible to Parliament, to whom the charge of elementary education was also to be entrusted.^

Board of Education Act: Their recommendations were carried out almost literally by the third of the measures — the establishment of the Board of Education in 1899. By the Board of Education Act England obtained a central authority with preponderating powers over education of all grades.'' The Act is remarkable for its elasticity of powers : there is nothing very specific or detailed in the nine short sections of which it is composed. The chief provisions of the Act are: (i) The creation of a Minister of Education who is responsible to Parliament for all education, primary, secondary, and technical in England and Wales. (2) A Consultative Committee — the first recognition in England of the principle that teachers should have a voice in educational administration ; a more formal and less precarious method of expressing professional opinion than deputations and memorials gave ; and a permanent institution for taking stock of educational progress without which real efficiency is impossible. (3) A Register of qualified teachers, irrespective of sex or rank, constituted, maintained and controlled by the teachers themselves. (4) The inspection and examination of secondary schools by the Board's officers or by universities and other organizations approved by the Board and the Consultative Committee, except those provided under the Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 which are to remain under the jurisdiction of the Central Welsh Board for Intermediate Education. This again is important for it is the first explicit statement of the fact that the State is responsible for the secondary, no less than for the primary, education of the country. (5) The total absorption of the Education Department (including the Science and Art Department) and the possibility of transfer by the Privy Council of the powers

'Bryce: Commission on Secondary Education, 1895. i, 256-266.

' The types of institutions which fall within the Board's jurisdiction are (i) public elementary schools; (2) secondary schools; (3) training colleges for elementary and for secondary school teachers; (4) technical institutions ; (5) schools of art ; (6) training schools for teachers of domestic subjects.

of the Charity Commissioners of the Board of Agriculture in matters appearing to relate to education. In short, the Act paved the way for the supervision, co-ordination and regulation of the whole system of national education, the universities alone excepted, by one supreme central authority.

Minor ])owers still retained by the Board are the control of the Victoria and Albert Museum ; the Royal Colleges of Science and Art ; the Geological Survey and Museum ; and the work of the Solar Physics Committee.^"

Organisation of the Board: The organization of the lioard of Education is comparatively simple. In the first place it must be clearly understood that the Board concerns itself only with education in luigland and Wales. The first great division of the Board is between the two countries, England and Wales." Wales has a separate department presided over by a permanent secretary. It also has its own staff of inspectors and examiners. The administration of English education is separated into three main divisions : — the Elementary Education Branch ; the Secondary Schools Branch (including the education of pupil-teachers) ; and the Technological Branch (including continuation schools, both day and evening). The heads of these three main divisions are styled ])rinci]^al assistant secretaries. The three divisions, however, are not water-tight compartments ; in the matter of inspection there is much interchange among them.^" Training colleges for elementary school teachers are included under the general head of elementary education, although there is a Training of Teachers Division provided for in the scheme of organization. Common to both countries are the Special Inquiries and Reports, Legal Branch, the Medical Department, and the Consultative Committee. The number of officials employed

'"An annual appropriation to carry on the work of these various institutions is made by Parliament in the Budget. The Board of Education is also reqvtired to publish an annual report outlining the work accomplished during the preceding twelve months. Rejiort for iqo8 is (cd. 4772).

" The Welsh Department was created in February, 1907. Except for minor changes such as the substitution of the Welsh History for English History, etc., the regulations, codes and circulars for the two countries are identical. The heads of the Department are directly responsible to the President of the Board.

" Circular to Inspectors, 532.

by the Board on June 30, 1909, was 1336 of an established staff and 187 of a non-established staff /'' Many of these are civil servants and all are out of politics.^* The highest ranking officials are Inspectors and Examiners. Inspectors are the field men. The examiners at the central office receive the reports of the inspectors, collect statistics and publish the various official regulations. At the head of all, holding a civil service appointment, is Sir Robert L. Morant, the permanent secretary of the Board.

The general work of the Board is to administer the Parliamentary grants for education. Since it is axiomatic, so far as educational administration in England is concerned, that there shall be " no grants without inspection," the Board maintains an annual inspection and exercises a general supervision of the schools, issues regulations determining the condition upon which the grant may be received, and, in general, sees that the money of the people is beneficially and economically expended.

The detailed work of the Board may be said to be divided into (a) central office work and (b) field work which is called inspection.

(a) Work of Central OfUcc: From the central office are issued annual reports, codes, regulations, circulars, memoranda, blanks for statistical returns and suggestions. The code for elementary schools is a body of regulations issued annually, and as it receives the sanction of Parliament'"' it has the same force as the laws. It is divided into eight chapters and six schedules. The chapters deal with such topics as: (i) curriculum, syllabus and time table; (2) teaching staff; (3) premises, accommodation and equipment; (4) inspection and reports; (5) exchequer grants in aid and annual grant list; (6) higher elementary schools; (7) attendance and school meetings; and (8) miscel-