Section J. 

 MENTAL SCIENCE AND EDUCATION. 



1.— THE TRAINING OF SECONDARY TEACHERS. 



By r. AN SELL HOB IN, M.A. 



In view of the increased interest taken by the more prominent 

 teachers in the theory and the intelligent practice of their profes- 

 sion, it needs no apology to press npon their attention what is the 

 greatest problem in secondary education — a problem whose suc- 

 cessful solution will involve the most far-reaching reforms in our 

 present systems. The Teachers' Guild, in England, has for years 

 recognised as one of the chief principles underlying its activities 

 that some sort of special professional training is necessary- for 

 teachers of every grade. It is devoutly to be wished that each of 

 our Australian guilds would make this a central plank in its plat- 

 form, and would concentrate its energies upon the work of training 

 our secondary teachers. 



It is easier to carry conviction in the case of an abstract 

 proposition than to suggest an acceptable scheme for remedying 

 acknowledged faults. The difficulties that stand in the way should, 

 perhaps, first be briefly stated. (1) A workable scheme must be 

 adopted by at least a large majority of headmasters, and as each 

 school is absolutely autonomous, and almost independent of public 

 opinion, it may be very difficult to secure the co-operation of an 

 influential majority. (2) The aid of the vmiversities is absolutely 

 necessary for any adequate system of training secondary teachers, 

 and the necessity for devising a ^^lan that will commend itself to 

 these academic bodies also introduces another element of complexity. 

 (3) Even wdien, by the concurrence of the professor and the school- 

 master, provision shall have been made for preparing candidates 

 for educational w^ork, some sanction will be necessary in order to 

 prevent the scheme becoming a dead letter. Either there must be 

 loyal unanimity of all who control our teaching institutions, or the 

 system will have to be safeguarded by legal enactment. The latter 

 of these alternatives would require the education of public opinion 

 to act for this end through its Parliamentary representatives, and 

 this perhaps would be the hardest task of all. Recognising there- 

 fore the obstacles that beset the path of reform, let us ask Avhether 

 a practical scheme could be formulated without unduly interfering 

 with the existing conditions of our schools. ^V'e may dismiss 

 altogether from our thoughts the idea of having training colleges 

 for secondary teachers. If training necessarily involved the herding 



