INSTRUCTION. term applied to a system of school organization and instruction popular during the first half of the nineteenth century in (4eat Britain. to n less degree in some Con tinental countries and in Ameriea. it was em ployed in 1795 by Dr. Andrew Bell, superin tendent of the Orphan Asylum at Sladrns, who made use of the more advanced boys in the school to instruct the younger pupils. In 1797 the idea was introduced into England, and in the follow• ing year it was taken up by Joseph Lancaster (q.v.), who improved nnd popularized the meth od. Denee the system is often called the Bell or the Laneastrian system of instruction.
The monitorial system was at once effectual and economical. By the employment of clever boys under the direction of the master, both for the purpose of keeping order and for giving in struction. the school might be made self-opera tive, and several lomdred boys. taught With the employment of only one adult superintendent. The pedagogical idea upon which the system was based was that the school life of the child is divided into two periods: in the first the (Mild should receive all the aid that the teacher can give him consistent with the development of self-helpfulness; in the second he should be taught to apply what he has aequired to the study of other branches, and to the teaching of others, when lie should be thrown as much as pos sible upon his own resources, The original or ganization of such schools was: ( I) the master.
who was the ultimate and absolute authority; (2) the usher, who was a sort of superintendent of management and discipline; (3) the subushers, who had charge of school-room materials: (41 the leachers, who had general oversight of two or three classes or groups; (5) the assistants. who had elmrge of each group or class: ( 6 ) the tutors. who assisted each child in the preparation of his lesson. In general. all these officials under the master were pupils, the pupils of one class becoming in turn the tutors of the one below. Lam.aster's improvement upon the general scheme was the division of classes into small groups, and the formulation of detailed methods of instruc tion in the elementary branches.
Consult: Gill, Systems of Edura lion (Boston, 1889) ; Sharpless, English Education (New York, 1892) : Meiklejohn, An Old Ednertamml Re fornwr (London, 1881 ) : La nen st er, :nen ts in Education (London, 1805) ; Bell, Ele ments of Tuition (London. 1805). See LAN CASTER.