TEACHERS, TRAINING OF. The training of teachers dates, in England, from the beginning of the 19th century, when the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Church of England and its Nonconform ist rival, the British and Foreign School Society, first attacked the problem of elementary education on a national scale. Both these societies adopted the "monitorial system," the principle of which was that picked older scholars should learn their lessons from the adult teacher in charge of the school and hand them on to the younger children. Some training of the instruments of this sys tem was found to be necessary and training schools were accord ingly set up to give it. One of these developed into the Borough Road training college which is still in existence. About 1840 James Kay (afterwards Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth), a far-seeing offi cial to whom, more than to any other single man, the English educational system is due, began the movement which replaced the monitors by "pupil-teachers," i.e., boys and girls who were regularly apprenticed for a period of five years from the age of 13, and both learnt the art of teaching and continued their edu cation under the head teacher of an elementary school. Kay's scheme also involved training colleges where the professional and academic education of at least the best pupil-teachers could be carried to a higher stage after their apprenticeship was completed. He himself founded the college which, as St. John's College, Bat tersea, London, was taken over by the National Society and fur nished a model widely imitated. Within a few years the Church had training colleges in a large proportion of its dioceses and there was a smaller number of others founded by Nonconformist bodies. As the result of Kay-Shuttleworth's efforts these colleges came into a definite relation with the Government ; they received financial assistance towards the cost both of building and of maintenance, a competitive examination was instituted upon the results of which "Queen's Scholarships" were awarded to ex-pupil teachers who came to them for a period of training, and contribu tions were made to the salaries of the teachers they turned out. As a condition of this financial aid to the colleges and their stu dents, the Government laid down the courses to be followed, con ducted the examinations on the results of which it awarded to successful candidates its Elementary School Teacher's certificate and required the colleges to submit to inspection.
The "voluntary" colleges which developed upon this basis be came and are still a very important factor in the elementary school system. They now number nearly so and supply about one-half of the trained teachers who enter the elementary school service. At the beginning of the present century the length of their course became standardized at two years; they are, accordingly, known officially as two year colleges.
The monopoly of training enjoyed by the colleges was broken in 1893, when new regulations made it possible for the universi ties to open grant-aided departments for the training of teachers for elementary schools. All the universities and university colleges, to the number of 22, have taken advantage of these regulations. The Education Act of 1902 made it possible also for local educa tional authorities to found and maintain training colleges. There are now about zo of these "council" training colleges and their annual output of teachers is more than half that of the "volun tary" colleges. They differ from the latter type of colleges in the absence of any religious affiliation and in the circumstance that they are often "day" as distinguished from "residential" colleges. The act of 1902 produced a much more important modification of the existing system in that it led to drastic changes in the education of pupil-teachers. Under the act the local authorities
were given powers in connection with secondary as well as ele mentary education and could establish secondary schools. It thus became possible for the Board of Education to insist that en trants to training colleges should normally have taken a four year course in a secondary school. The effect of this reform upon the culture and outlook of the elementary school teacher—who had hitherto spent his life, as a rule, within the confines of the ele mentary system—has without doubt been beneficial in a very high degree. It has also led to the gradual disappearance of the pupil-teacher system, now only in vogue in some country areas; for as the customary standards of secondary education have risen it has proved impossible for the young intending teacher to comply with them, and at the same time to receive the old thorough training in teaching. In recent years pupil-teachers have, accord ingly, tended to give place to "student-teachers," who have had an uninterrupted general education until the age of 17, and at that age enter upon a year of preliminary training in an ele mentary school chequered by continued attendance at their secondary school. But the departmental committee on the train ing of teachers for elementary schools reported in 1925 against the perpetuation even of this remnant of the old system ; and although many of the provincial authorities still cling to a belief in its efficacy there is a growing tendency to follow the recom mendations of the report and to allow intending teachers to com plete the full secondary course terminating at the age of 18, and to enter college without passing through any considerable period of professional probation or initiation. The advantages looked for are a still wider and deeper culture in the teachers and the preservation of a power of growth which the older system, it is alleged, often destroyed ; it is, on the other hand, only fair to note that the strain upon the disciplinary powers of the young teacher —which only the drastic training of the old system could enable him to meet—has largely disappeared under modern conditions. The curriculum in the two year colleges has always included academic and professional elements side by side, though with the improvement in the educational standard of the entrants and the attenuation of their preliminary training there is a growing tend ency to emphasize the professional side of the work. The aca demic studies are practically confined to subjects which enter into the curriculum of elementary (including central) schools; the professional work comprises instruction in the theory of educa tion, methods of teaching, hygiene, practical subjects such as music, drawing and needlework, and teaching practice under super vision in schools. Hitherto the curricula have been laid down by the Board of Education and the board has, as a rule, conducted the final examination with a view to the award of the Elementary School Teacher's certificate. A change which must have far reaching consequences is, however, now in progress. The board's examination is to be discontinued, the training colleges have been classified into groups around the several regional universities, and the universities will, with varying degrees of fullness of responsibility, step into the place which the board has vacated. Boards or delegacies, either appointed by the universities or largely filled by their representatives will conduct the final exami nation and, as an inevitable corollary, will prescribe the syllabuses of instruction. The Board of Education will, however, retain the right of judgment of the efficiency of the practical training given by the colleges. It is hoped in some quarters that intimate and fruitful relations between the colleges and the universities may develop from their association in the work of examination.