THE TRAIXING OF TEACHERS. 



717 



spend two or three months in an approved school. Here his time 

 would .be spent in observing classroom methods and organisation, 

 in occasional teaching under direction, and in a study of a simple 

 text book on teaching methods. 



This period would allow of the formation of an opinion by the 

 head master of the candidate's temperamental fitness for teaching. 

 Thus the entrance qualification to the college would be-v-(«) the 

 Leaving Certificate in a prescribed group of subjects; (6) evidence of 

 temperamental fitness and capacity to profit by a course of pro- 

 fessional training. Such an arrangement would have the further 

 advantage of drawing •su])plies of teachefs from sources wliich hitherto 

 have hardly been available. 



It will be noticed that I suggest a smaller amount of time for 

 pi'ofessional work during this stage than is at present generally 

 demanded. But I am convinced that" it is the influence of the older 

 system which has led to the retention of so much professional study 

 at w^hat I reg'ard as too early an age. The yoimg student is not 

 fit for technical study, and the time given it lowers the level of 

 general education attainable. And surely the general education of 

 the teacher of whatever grade should be at least as good as that 

 required for other professions. Any half-time arrangement is to 

 be deprecated as unsatisfactory in the interests of the student and of 

 his future efficiency as a teacher. 



After the completion of a general education up to 17 or 18 

 the professional or college stage of training is entered upon. 

 The characteristic of the college course is that it is mainly, though 

 perhaps not exclusively, professional. In giving an account of the 

 work falling to be done at this stage I propose to outline the 

 organisation 'either actually in operation or veiy shortly to be 

 introduced at the College for Teachers in Sydney. 



The aim of the college course should without doubt be professional 

 training. In the first period the general education of the student was 

 the primary aim, the professional a subordinate one. Now the relative 

 importance of the two elements is reversed. It is here that the 

 task of the Teachers' College differs from that of the normal schools, 

 which on the wdiole took for granted that the student knew how to 

 teach as the result of his pupil-teacher training, and devoted their 

 main energies to the improvement ol the student's general education. 



In my opinion the general culture of the student at this stage 

 is best promoted by a simple introduction to philosophical and social 

 science, and any further study of the primary scliool subjects which 

 may be necessary is best made in a strictly professional interest. 



These philosophical and social subjects may be studied through- 

 out the course, and will give the young student a broader conception 

 of society, and of the place of the teacher in society. Further, such 

 studies have a cultural effect at this period which no ling-uistic or 

 mathematical drill can now have. 



