The training of elementary school teachers in Germany

Preface

The accompanying study is an expansion of two papers presented at Teachers College, Columbia University, in the Departments of Educational Administration and Elementary Education in 1908-9. The investigations then made were supplemented in the summer of 1909 by a visit to the German Normal Schools. It was considered advisable to limit the scope of this work to the training of teachers for elementary schools, since the training of secondary school teachers presents an entirely different problem. It has so long been the practice in this country to look abroad, and particularly to Germany, for guidance in educational matters, that it is hoped that the present contribution may offer some suggestions on a question that is of vital importance for the progress of elementary education. Reference may here be made to works in this series on similar topics in France and England (Farrington, "The Public Primary School System of France, with special reference to the Training of Teachers"; and Sandiford, "The Training of Teachers in England and Wales").

Acknowledgments are due to the Commissioner of Education and The English Board of Education for securing permits which enabled me to pursue my investigations in Germany; to the directors and instructors in the normal schools which I visited, for the ready and friendly spirit in which they gave me information; to Professors Sachs, Monroe, Snedden and Strayer, of Teachers College, Columbia University, for reading the work and offering some valuable and helpful suggestions.

I. L. K.

CHAPTER I Historical Development page

German leadership in education. — ^Training of teachers a late development. — Writing and vernacular schools. — Teachers' guilds. — The Reformation and teachers. — Ratke and Comenius. — Gotha. — The Pietistic movement. — Francke. — Hecker and Frederick the Great. — Basedow. — Dinter. — The end of the eighteenth century. — Pestalozzi's influence. — Plamann. — Zeller. — Prussian ministry of education, 1819. — Harnisch. — Diesterweg. — 1848. — Reaction and the Regulations of 1854. — Saxon Regulations, 1859. — Normal schools for women. — Progress. — Regulations of 1872. — Of 1901. — Clerical influence. — Saxon Ordinance of 1873. — Bavarian Regulations. — Training of women. — Conclusion i

Chapter II

The Imperial Government. — Prussia, Ministry for Public Worship, etc. — The Minister. — Provincial School Boards. — Royal Counties. — Local Authorities. — School inspectors. — Educational training of pastors. — Duties of inspectors. — Saxony, differences from Prussia. — Bavaria. — The administrative principle 19

Chapter III

Preparatory institutions. — The systems of Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria. — Advantages of dual training institutions. — Preparatory institutions in Prussia. — Entrance requirements. — Curriculum. — Regulations. — Saxony, first three years of normal school. — Bavaria, preparatory institutions. — The problem of preparatory training. — Proposed reform 29

CHAPTER IV The Normal Schools (Volksschullehrerseminarien)

The state and training of teachers in Germany. — Prussia, normal schools. — Intern v, extern institutions. — Location of normal schools. — Buildings and equipment. — Faculty. — Special courses for normal school instructors. — School visits. — Salaries. — The pupils. — Recreavi Contents

PAGB

tions. — Saxony. — Faculty of normal schools. — Their training. — Salaries. — Bavaria, faculty, salaries

Chapter V 42

The Normal School Curriculum. Academic Subjects

Entrance requirements. — Suggestions for reform. — ^Academic and professional studies. — Prussian Course of Study, etc., 1901. — Class-room methods. — Aim of the normal school curriculum. — Religion. — German. — Modem languages. — History. — Geography. — Science. — Music. — Drawing. — Gymnastics. — Saxony. — Bavaria 58

Chapter VI

Division of the programme into three years. — Psychology. — Theory and principles of education. — History of education. — Administration and hygiene. — Method. — Practice schools and practice teaching. — Different aims of practice teaching, Prussia, Saxony and Bavaria. — Supervision of practice teaching. — Points of contrast between the three states. — Leaving examinations and First Teachers' Examination... 71

Chapter VII

First appointment. — Appointing authorities. — Rural schools in Prussia. — First appointment in Saxony and Bavaria. — Second Teachers' Examination. — Military service. — Methods of appointment in the three states. — Status of teachers. — Salaries. — Pensions. — Provisions for widows and orphans. — Table of teachers' expenditures 80

Chapter VIII

Need for further training. — Promotional examinations. — Middle school teachers' examination. — Principals' examination. — -Inspection. — Conferences. — Further training in Bavaria. — Associations. — Deutsche Lehrerverein. — Local associations and their work. — ^The Leipzig Association. — School museums. — Demands for university privileges. — Saxony and university training of teachers 97

CHAPTER IX The Training of Women Teachers

Increase of women teachers. — Opposition to their employment. — Conditions favoring their increase. — Figures for 1901-1906. — Prus-

Contents vii

PAGE

sian Regulations for the training of women. — Entrance requirements for normal schools. — Previous preparation. — Normal school curriculum. — Proposed reform. — Teachers' examination. — Further promotional examinations. — Training of women in Saxony and Bavaria. — Salaries of women teachers. — Length of service of women teachers. — Associations. — The future of women teachers in Germany in

Appendix

I. Time-Table for Preparatory Courses 127

II. Daily Routine in a Prussian Normal School 127

III. Official Time-Tables in Normal Schools 128

IV. Comparison of Some Smaller German States with Prussia 129

V. Typical Time-Table of a complete Training-School in Prussia 130

BIBLIOGRAPHY 132

INDEX 135

THE TRAINING OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN GERMANY

Chapter I Historical Development

It is a commonplace of the history of education that the educational system of a nation is the outward expression of its aims and aspirations, its traditions and its hopes. Nowhere is this more clearly exemplified than in the history of the training of teachers for the elementary schools of Germany. With a national ideal that is explicitly defined the Germans have evolved a clearly formulated system of training teachers to achieve that ideal. A system such as this, it might be felt, evolved by a nation that has long been regarded as the educational leader of the world should afford lessons of value to other countries where the importance of well-trained teachers has been a matter but slowly realized.

When education meant nothing more than imparting a certain amount of knowledge to the pupil, the necessity of training teachers could hardly have arisen, for it sufficed if the teacher was but a lesson ahead of his pupil. Nor could it have been thought of so long as teaching was considered part of the duties of the clergy. A conscious recognition of the importance of the problem did not arise until the era of the great pedagogic writers of the eighteenth century. But attempts were made as early as the thirteenth century to exercise some form of control over the teachers in the writing of the vernacular schools. These schools, out of which the elementary schools were to develop, arose about the end of the twelfth century to supply the new needs which the rapidly increasing progress of the commercial towns was creating. The Latin schools could no longer serve as a preparation for the life of the business man. Hence arose the new type of schools and with them a struggle between the municipal authorities and the local Scholasticus or chancellor. The church not only felt that her power was being disputed, but feared that the number of pupils in the Latin schools would be diminished. The struggle often resulted in a compromise, by which the town council was permitted to make the appointment of a teacher to keep a writing-school subject, however, to the approval of the Scholasticus, and the teacher had to agree to surrender part of his school-fees to this authority.^ Very frequently this surrender had to be made to the Rector of the local Latin school. Wherever there was a vacancy in a writing-school, there was no dearth of candidates. These were often students who had failed to do any good at the universities, sometimes they were artisans who were able to read and write; not infrequently they were men who had already had some experience in the work. The teachers, however, were constantly moving about, for the license to teach was only given from year to year and was subject to three months' notice — conditions which were satisfactory to both sides and particularly to the teacher who found that the fees did not come up to his expectations. Nor was great circumspection exercised in the appointment of a teacher, since he could easily be got rid of if he proved incapable. But the town councils had to observe one condition, namely, to protect their appointee against any competition from an unlicensed teacher.

The Winkelschulen (hedge or " dame " schools) were private adventure schools opened by persons without the permission of the local licensing body. Here the merest elements of reading and writing were taught. These schools enjoyed a great popularity, probably because the fees were lower than in the recognized writing-school and because (owing to the necessities of competition) the discipline was less severe. As the towns grew and the number of recognized schools increased, some organization against the unlicensed teachers was necessary and was early put into operation. This organization took the form of a guild. The earliest teachers' guild in Germany is found in Munich as late as 1595. That this guild was a protective organization is certain, but it is not quite clear why it appears at a time when the guild system generally was nearing the end of its development. Teachers' guilds are found at about the same time at

'See Fischer, Geschichte des Deutschen VolksschuUehrerstandes, I, 9.

Historical Development 3,

Frankfort, Nurenberg, Augsburg, Liibeck. They have all the features of a trades' guild. In connection with the training of teachers these organizations are of some interest but of little importance. No person who was not a "master" could keep a school for the teaching of elementary subjects. To become a "master" it was necessary to go through a period of apprenticeship, to pass an examination, to teach for several years as an assistant until a vacancy (for a master) should arise in the guild. The period of apprenticeship usually lasted six years, beginning at eighteen years of age. At the end of the period of apprenticeship the apprentice announced his intention to offer himself for examination. This took place before the representatives of the town council and the elders of the guild. The subjects of examination were arithmetic, writing, geometry, and in some cases, book-keeping. After a successful examination the apprentice became an assistant teacher. As soon as a vacancy occurred in the guild, the oldest assistant teacher became a "master" on complying with the necessary ceremonials, which included the wiriting of the signboard to be hung before his school. The practice here described was that which prevailed in Nurenberg and varied in other places only in some minor details. The teachers' guilds continued until the end of the eighteenth century. In Liibeck, where there were two guilds, the last did not disappear until 1818. Towards the solution of the question of the training of teachers the guilds contributed nothing. For the time they were of service in insisting on some kind of preparation, however inadequate it may have been. But in adopting the methods of a trades' guild they not only protected themselves against competitors but served to perpetuate narrowing traditions and to exclude new ideas. It is rather significant that more pride was taken in being a member of a guild than in being a schoolmaster. On the occasion of a procession at Munich the teachers' guild was offered the privilege of walking without its banners among the representatives of the professions and trades instead of taking their places with their standards among the artisans. The Munich teachers preferred the show and glitter and remained by their banners. As protective organizations the teachers' guilds can hardly have met with the success which they expected, for at Liibeck a second guild arose to represent the interests of the teachers of reading and prayers.^

Outside of the towns there was hardly any attempt to give more than the necessary religious instruction. Nor did the Reformation contribute to the progress of elementary education in Germany. In spite of the great tribute which Luther^ pays to the "industrious, pious schoolmaster" and in spite of his exhortations to the clergy on the importance of the schools, the only result of the Reformation was to fix the school as the handmaiden of the church and the teacher as the servant of the parish pastor. The duty of teaching the Catechism and of giving religious instruction, which Luther and most of the Church Ordinances of the early sixteenth century entrusted to the clergy, came to be delegated to the sexton of the church. Gradually the duties of this official were enlarged so that in the Church Ordinance of Saxony in 1580 the village schools are assigned to the sexton, who is to teach reading, writing, and church-singing,* The sexton came to be identified throughout Germany with the schoolmaster without contributing anything to the dignity of the latter, particularly where the pastor did not hesitate to assert his superiority. The qualifications demanded from the sexton were hardly higher than those of the teacher of the writing-schools. Reading, writing, a strong voice to lead the church singing, ability to play the organ, and later a knowledge of the rudiments of arithmetic, were generally expected from the candidates. Since the right of appointment was vested in the community, subject to the approval of the local patron or the pastor, great discrimination could not be expected. The candidates came from the same class as the writing-school teacher, and when after the Thirty Years' War crippled soldiers and veterans presented themselves as candidates for the twofold position, there was no reason to object to their appointment. To the Reformation is due the association of school-keeping with the subordinate duties of the church as well as the subjection of the teacher to the pastor, a condition of things from which the teacher is still struggling to free himself.

^On teachers' guilds see Fischer, I, ch. 8. 'Painter, Luther on Education, pp. 142, 143.

*Mertz, Das Schulwesen der deutschen Reformation, ch. 8; Fischer, I. pp. 86-101.

Historical Development S

It is usual in Germany to trace the impulse to establish a system of training teachers to Ratke and Comenius. To do this is to miss the point emphasized by both these writers, namely, the universality of the methods, which they suggest. With them skill in teaching depends on a knowledge of their methods, which could be obtained by private study. "As soon as we have discovered the proper method," says Comenius, "it will be no harder to teach schoolboys in any number, than with the help of the printing-press to cover a thousand sheets daily with the neatest writing."^ And elsewhere he says, "There is one factor which by its absence or its presence can render the whole organization of a school of no avail or can aid it in the highest degree, and that is a proper supply of comprehensive and methodical class-books. It is evident that the success of my scheme depends entirely on a supply of encyclopaedic class-books."^ Nor can the system which Comenius suggests of dividing a class into decuries under the charge of a decurion be regarded as a method of training teachers so much as a class-room device. Trbtzendorf (1523) had already employed this system in a form which more nearly resembled the monitorial system later introduced by Lancaster, but which was not intended to train teachers so much as to carry out completely the Roman organization on which the school at Goldberg was based.'^ Indirectly both Ratke and Comenius, in so far as they awakened an interest in educational questions, contributed to general progress and only in this sense may they be said to have shown the need of teachers with a good preparation.

To Duke Ernest the Pious^ belongs the honor of having been the first to recognize explicitly the necessity of training teachers. Enthusiastic as he was for the educational welfare of his state, he saw clearly that it would be impossible to establish a sound educational system until properly qualified teachers could be obtained. Unfortunately for the plan the Thirty Years' War had depleted the treasury of the Duke. He accordingly embodied his proposals in his will, which he drew up in 1654. "It is very desirable," he writes, " that the teachers at their expense or with

"Comenius, Magna Didactica (Keatinge's transl., p. 248). •Ibid., p. 449.

'Barnard, German Teachers and Educators, pp. 185-192. 'Schmid, Encyklopadie des gesamten Erziehungs und Unterrichtswesen, vol. 10, p. 50.

assistance remain in one central place and .... through' pfa'Ctite learn that .... for which they will in the future be employed. Since we in our lifetime could not establish such an institution nor assign a place and means for this purpose, our heirs and successors in the future will, if with the blessing of God they obtain more means, carry out the work with the help of the state in accordance with this intent." It was not until 1698 that the means were found by his grandson, Frederick II, of Gotha. Ten "Seminaria scholastica" were established. Ten of the most skilled schoolmasters were summoned before the supreme consistory and ordered "that they should as Moderatores assist with the necessary guidance those who wished to apply themselves to schoolkeeping." The Moderatores circulorum seminarii scholastici, as the directors of the ten training centres were called, soon received their instructions. In addition to religious and secular subjects the candidates were to listen to the lessons given by the directors and themselves to give lessons in their presence. "After that he (the director), should discuss the School-method with them at certain hours and not only point out how to act in accordance with that, but honestly tell them this or that advantage which he, the preceptor, has found practicable and also to give them a model lesson in the school so that they may learn well how to apply it hereafter."® But this experiment was shortlived, for it was found difficult to make even the first payments to the directors which had been promised. The experiment was dropped and bore little fruit, since it was soon overshadowed by another movement out of which the whole system of training teachers in Germany was to develop.

Under the influence of the pietistic movement greater interest began to be shown in the education of the people. The difficulty of obtaining suitable teachers soon manifested itself. According to the author of "Sieben Bose Geister,"^^ a satire descriptive of conditions at the end of the seventeenth century, the teachers in the elementary schools were utterly incompetent and to this was added the fact that many continued to practice some handicraft even in school hours. The pietists soon began to pay

"Ibid.

"Quoted in Klreitz, Diesterweg und die Lehrerbildung, p. 9. See also Sammlung Selten Gewordenen pSdagogischen Schriften des i6ten und ijten Jahrhunderts, vol. 7.

Historical Development 7

some attention to this state of affairs and under the impulse of Francke the foundations for the normal schools of Germany were laid. In 1696 Francke established the Seminarium praeceptorum in connection with his institutions at Halle. In order to have candidates at hand to fill vacancies in his schools, he introduced the practice of giving free board to some 120 students on condition that they taught for two hours daily or copied out sermons for Francke and his friends. For the guidance of these students Francke drew up the Instructions or School Ordinance in full detail.^^ Points of difficulty had to be reported to the inspectors. Conferences were held, at which the work of the school was discussed. The practice of listening to the lessons of other teachers was also introduced. It was the duty of the inspector to visit the classrooms to see whether the preceptors carried out the ordinances. In addition to the Seminarium praeceptorum Francke also instituted a Seminarium selectum praeceptorum consisting of students, not more than twelve in number, who were selected from the ordinary boarders. These had a good foundation in theology and showed skill in teaching. In a course lasting two years they were prepared to teach in Latin schools on condition that they would accept an appointment in the Orphanage or the Royal Paidagogium for three years after their training. The advantages accruing to Germany generally from Francke's work were incalculable. Not only was there a supply of good teachers for the schools, but many of the theologians who later obtained preferments were in a better position to take an intelligent interest and to exercise a salutary influence on education in their parishes.

The work of Francke was taken up and carried on in other parts of Prussia by two of his pupils — J. C. Schienmeyer and J. J. Hecker.^2 The former established an orphanage in Stettin to which at the order of the king, Frederick William I, he added a department for the training of teachers in 1732. Under the same royal influence Abbot Steinmetz established a normal school at Kloster Bergen near Magdeburg, where the lackeys and servants of the young noblemen, who attended the Paidagogium, received some training. It is to be noticed that both Frederick

"Francke, Erinnerung an Studierende der Theologie. "Schmid, Encykl., 10, 51-55.

William and Frederick the Great took a very keen interest in the education of the people.^^ So far as the schools under their own patronage went they honestly endeavored to introduce a better class of teacher. That they failed was not due to absence of regulations, but to the evil traditions which had been established and the inability to exercise any coercion over the noble patrons of the schools.

Of more enduring influence, however, was the normal school established by Hecker in connection with his Real school in Berlin. His attention was directed to the question by the difficulty which he experienced in obtaining suitable teachers for the lower classes of his school. He represented in an address to the king, Frederick the Great, the necessity of establishing normal schools not only in Berlin but also in other parts of the state. The normal school in Berlin was opened as a private institution in 1748. The pupils were divided into two classes, those who only came for a short course and left as soon as their means came to an end, and a selected few who received support and took a fuller and longer course. The former, who very often were artisans desiring to eke out their income by keeping school, did not have any teaching practice. The course which was offered was somewhat varied and extensive and, as it is representative of the work done in the normal schools for the next century, may here be mentioned. The greatest importance was attached to instruction in religion and singing. The secular subjects included reading, caligraphy, ciphering, German, geography, history, natural history and meteorology, a short course in pedagogy and method, and gardening, tree-culture and the breeding of the silkworm. The inclusion of the practical subjects was due to the influence of the King, who desired in this way to foster the industry of the state and indirectly to offer an additional means of support to the teachers. In 1753 the King gave the institution an annual grant and extended for the whole state the order, which he had issued in 1752 for the schools on the royal estates, to the effect that all vacancies should be filled with teachers from the Berlin normal school. But the King himself frustrated the good intentions of this decree and of the General-Lands chul-Reglement, when in 1779 he countenanced an order which encouraged the

"Cf. the Principia Regulativa, 1736, and the General-Landschulreglement, 1763.

Historical Development 9

employment of disabled and veteran soldiers. But general interest and enthusiasm were now aroused and from the founding of the normal school in Berlin to the end of the century scarcely a year passed without a record of the foundation of a normal school in some part of Germany. Some were founded by means of private endowment, as the normal school in Hannover (1751). Others owed their foundation to the efforts of educationalists; Halberstadt, for instance, was established on the suggestion and through the interest of Von Rochow (1778).^*

Basedow's contribution to the question of the training of teachers scarcely deserves consideration, were it not for the fact that he is given more credit than he deserves. In the Agathaerator in which he drew up a plan for a Seminar he proposes an institution where young people under an inspector might practice better methods and spread them to other normal schools. In soliciting funds for the Philanthropinum he says that the system of education must be changed and first through normal schools. The institution was opened in 1775 with a great flourish for "gentlemen commoners" (Pensionisten) and servitors (Famulanten). From among the latter, who were to be boys between the ages of eleven and fifteen, he proposed to get teachers. The best of them were to go through the same course as the commoners, and were to become tutors in good schools and houses. For those of mediocre ability part of the course was to be curtailed, and positions were to be found for them in lower schools. The poorest pupils were to be taught reading, writing, arithmetic and a little language and were to be prepared for positions of personal service. At the end of the four years this system broke down and no more "servitors" were received at the institution in Dessau. The attempt would only have tended to retain the poor type of valet as teachers in the elementary schools.^**

Another form of training was that given to a few pupils by those of the clergy who had the ability and interest in education. This system received recognition and was recommended in the Renewed School-ordinance for the German town^^tbnd — ruj^ schools of the Electorate of Saxony (section 13).^" Dinter, who

'*Kehr, Padagogische Blatter, 1878, p. 331, fif. "Schmid, Geschichte der Padagogik, IV, 2, pp. 190, ff. ^'Leuschke, Zur Geschichte der Lehrerbildungsfrage itn K5nigreich Sachsen, p. 23.

ao Training of Elementary School Teachers in Germany

later became the director of the normal school in Oresden- Friedrichstadt, gives an account in his autobiography of the work which he accomplished in the training of five pupils in this way.^' IBut however well-meaning these efforts were, progress was -checked through lack of means. Although the course of training as a general rule lasted two years the accommodation and the teaching staff were in most cases so limited that the two or three classes had to be taught together. Dinter, for example, had a three years' course at school in Dresden-Friedrichstadt, but was compelled to repeat his curriculum annually. When library facilities were very small, this practice had some advantages, but on the whole it must be admitted that it was uneconomical. The relations between the teachers and the students were very friendly. Dinter's reply to the critics, who found fault with his liberal attitude towards his pupils, was " Whoever expects too much seriousness from young fellows of seventeen to twenty, has at any rate no knowledge of men."

Although the salaries paid to teachers in those days were small and the position of a teacher still commanded very little respect, the students and teachers in the normal schools at that time had all the enthusiasm of pioneers. It was this spirit of earnestness and devotion which slowly and surely won the respect and support of the leading men of Germany. In 1794 all schools and universities were recognized as state institutions by the General Constitution of Prussia {Allgemeine Landrecht). And in the same year a Normal School Commission (Seminarkommission) was established in Saxony, and three years later an examination ordinance was promulgated for those who had completed a three years' course in a normal school. The institutions, however, still remained in private hands and were maintained mainly out oi private funds, although the Prussian Government occasionally gave some contributions.

The first twenty years of the new century saw an increased activity in educational affairs in Germany. To the national and political causes was added the interest aroused by Pestalozzi's work. In 1803 J. E. Plamann^^ visited Burgdorf, where he remained several months. On his return to Berlin he established a

"Dinter, Autobiographic, pp. 169-190.

^'Barnard, Pestalozzi and Pestalozzianism, p. 217.

Historical Development ii

school on the same system, which soon became the centre of German Pestalozzianism, and in 1805 he received royal recognition. In 1809 K. A, Zeller, a devoted student and follower of Pestalozzi, was summoned from .Wiirtemherg to Konigsberg, where he conducted courses in pedagogy for clergy and teachers. He was instrumental in founding three normal schools in East Prussia. At the same time the government adopted the farsighted policy of sending young men to study the work of Pestalozzi at Yverdun for two or three years at the expense of the state.^® Many of these later became directors of normal schools or school inspectors. Thus Henning became director at Coslin, Preuss director at Karalene, Dreist became school inspector in Stettin and Kawerau in Coslin. The Plamann institution in Berlin was also used to train teachers in Pestalozzian ideas. Here W. Harnisch spent some years at the expense of the state. He became first teacher in the normal school at Breslau, where he found two colleagues who had been students at Yverdun, and later he was appointed director of the normal school at Weissenfels. In Saxony Dinter strove to carry out the Pestalozzian ideals, and in Wiirtemberg the new education was introduced by Denzel, who was director of the normal school at Esslingen. The twenty years after the disaster at Jena (1806) were marked by a rapid increase in the number of normal schools throughout Germany. In 1817 the Ministry for Public Worship, Education and Medical Affairs was separated from the Ministry of the Interior, with Von Altenstein at the head. In 1821 Dr. Ludolf Beckedorfif was appointed to take charge of the section for normal schools, which now numbered twenty-eight. Acting on the principle that "to have good schools we must have good teachers," he devoted the six years during which he was in office to improving the status of teachers and to raising the standard of the candidates for the teaching profession. In 1820 the first Regulations for Normal Schools were published in Saxony, and recognised Latin and Prench as part of the curriculum of these institutions.