EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS. Many educational and professional associations have been formed since the middle of the 19th century, these have done much to co-ordinate methods of education and to organize the teaching profession as a whole.
University teachers of Great Britain are represented by The Association of University Teachers (founded 1919) which has a membership of 1,200 and publishes The Universities Review terminally.
In the sphere of secondary education, there are five important associations : The Head Masters' Conference (founded 1869) ; membership (187) is restricted to head masters of public schools and is revised periodically, regard being had to the measure of independence enjoyed by the school's governing body and the head master, and to the number of resident undergraduates at Ox ford and Cambridge who have been educated at the school. The Association of Head Mistresses Incorporated (founded 1874); its membership is approximately 600 and its objects are to sup port and protect the status of women teachers and to safeguard professional and educational interests. The Incorporated Asso ciation of Head Masters (founded 1890), mainly represents the interests of publicly controlled secondary schools, with a mem bership of 900; like the Association of Head Mistresses, it has a wide influence on school administration; it issues a review terminally. The Association of Assistant Mistresses Incorporated was founded in 1884, to promote the discussion of educational questions and to improve professional status side by side with the cause of education; it has a membership of 8,30o drawn from 11O0 schools. The Incorporated Association of Assistant Mas ters was founded in 1891; its membership, confined to masters in secondary and public schools, totals over 11,300. It is organized in a central body with 75 branches. Its objects are educational and professional. It publishes a monthly journal, The A.M.A., and a Year Book ; it has also issued many memoranda on teach ing methods.
Secondary teachers in Wales are mainly enrolled in one or other of the four major secondary associations, but there is also the Welsh County Schools Association (membership 148) for headmistresses and headmasters; this publishes The Welsh County Schools Review.
Two other associations connected with secondary education are The Association of Preparatory Schools, founded in 1892, with a present membership of 700, all of whom are or have been head masters of preparatory schools, and an official organ The Prepara tory Schools Review; and the Independent Schools Association, with a membership of 75o confined to proprietors; its official publication is The Independent School.
There are three main associations connected with technical edu cation; The Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions was founded in 1904 for the advancement of technical education and the safeguarding of professional interests. It has a membership of 2,30o and issues monthly The Technical Journal. The Associa tion of Technical Institutions includes representatives from technical institutes in Great Britain. The Association of Princi pals in Technical Institutions has 170 members. There is also the Higher Education Section of the National Union of Teachers with a membership of over 4,00o men and women engaged in higher education.
Associations on the administrative side are : The Association of Education Committees representing 27o local education authori ties; it publishes a weekly journal, Education, and organizes an nually the North of England Education Conference. The County Councils' Association and the Association of Municipal Corpora tions also have education committees in constant relationship with the Association of Education Committees and these bodies have considerable influence with the Board of Education. The Asso ciation of Directors and Secretaries for Education has a member ship of 25o.
The more important subject associations are : The Classical Association (3,000 members), The English Association (6,000— English), The Geographical Association (4,400—Geography), The Historical Association (4,500 members—many local branches), The Mathematical Association (1,7oo members— Mathematical Gazette), The Modern Language Association (2,000—Moder1 Languages), The Science Masters Association (1,650 members—School Science Review) and The National Society of Art Masters (1,130 members). Other subject associa tions are The Art Teachers' Guild, the Educational Handwork Association, the Music Teachers Association and the Secondary Schoolmasters Physical Education Association.
Bodies of a more general order include : The British Association for Commercial and Industrial Education, The British Association for the Advancement of Science, into which has been merged the British Science Guild sections including educational science), the New Education Fellowship (2,000—New Era, with editions in English, French and German), The National Union of Scientific Workers, The Parents National Education Union, and the Work ers Educational Association (27,000 members, over 2,000 affiliated associations and nearly 600 branches).
Most of the above associations are affiliated to the Annual Con ference of Educational Associations presided over by distinguished educationists and first held in 1913. The Conference has supplied a rallying place for teachers and administrators of all categories and its comprehensive organization gives a free platform for full discussion of educational questions from all points of view. A full report of the papers and discussions is published yearly.
(G. D. D.) National Union of Teachers. The National Union of Teach ers was constituted in 1870. Its principal objects are to associ ate and unite the teachers of England and Wales; to provide means for co-operation and the expression of collective opinion upon matters affecting education and the teaching profession; and to secure the establishment of an efficient national system of edu cation. In 1936 the Union achieved a record membership with a total of 159,500 teachers of all types and grades : university pro fessors, secondary, primary and special school teachers, fully qualified instructors in handicraft, domestic science and other special subjects, and student members (6,500) in universities and training colleges.
The controlling body of the Union is an annual conference held at Easter, of about 2,000 delegates, representing 638 local associa tions which, for the most part, are grouped together in 6o county associations. The executive consists of 38 members, directing a large official and clerical staff.
The headquarters of the Union are situated at Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London, and housed in the same imposing build ing are two other bodies which are independently constituted and governed, yet are integral parts of the Union. The Teachers' Provident Society, with accumulated funds of £5,750,000, and nearly ioo,000 members, offers friendly society and insurance benefits expressly designed to suit teachers; the benevolent and orphan fund raises about f 50,00o annually for charitable pur poses. Minor departments are the Union library, its War Aid fund, which raised f 250,000 to assist ex-service men and their de pendents, and the Thank-offering fund which was established to augment the small pensions of those teachers who retired under pre-war superannuation schemes. The Sustentation or Defence fund has investments worth .£i,34o,000. The Union publishes its own journal : The Schoolmaster and Woman Teacher's Chronicle.
In recent years successful efforts have been made to establish contact and co-operation with teachers in other lands for educa tional progress and international goodwill, and the Union is affiliated to the World Federation of Education Associations and to the International Federation of Teachers' Associations.
Working in friendly co-operation with the Union are the Educa tional Institute of Scotland, the associations of teachers in sec ondary and technical schools, the National Association of Head Teachers and the National Federation of Class Teachers. The two latter organizations include a large number of teachers in primary and central schools who are employed mainly in the principal urban centres of the country and are usually members of the Union. Both bodies hold annual conferences at which educa tional and professional policies are formulated, generally in har mony with those proposed by the National Union of Teachers. The relations between the Union and the Local Education Author ities are now on a very friendly basis, the change in attitude dating from the establishment of national committees to settle the question of scales of salaries for teachers.
(F. W. G.)