SECONDARY EDUCATION. 833 



way a bogus education is better than none at all. But surely 

 at our present stage of national development it is an anomaly 

 .that any individual who has been a failure in everything else 

 can open a school, as yesterday he opened a shop, without 

 anyone to say him nay. In Prussia it has for many years 

 been illegal for anyone to open a school who has not spent a 

 year of pi-obation in some recognised school, and passed a 

 State-examination in the principles and methods of his art. 

 The regulations (I again use the authority of Professor 

 Laurie, the Glasgow Professor of Education) have now been 

 made even more stringent, — two years of probation being 

 enforced in a " Gymnasium" selected for this purpose. Canada, 

 too, makes preliminary demands upon intending teachers. 

 The Province of Ontario imposes a course of the "History, 

 Psychology, and Methods of Education," as well as a period 

 of practical woi-k in some training college. The imposition 

 of snch a test of fitness renders it possible to keep a register 

 of qualified teachers, and affords to the public an assurance 

 that its educators are competent for their important work. 



(e.) Lastly, the Australasian Association itself may help 

 the cause by elevating education to an independent ]iosition 

 as a distinct section. At present it comes in on sufferance, 

 chaperoned by " Literature and the Fine Arts." In the 

 preliminary list of papers to be read before this Association 

 there are included seven bearing on strictly educational topics. 

 If, therefore, this bi'anch of ajiplied science were thus en- 

 couraged, without doubt the philosophical, historical, and 

 practical aspects of education would receive greater attention 

 from the whole body of thinking men and women in Aus- 

 tralia. An annual Presidential Address would be a distinct 

 boon, as affording a review of past work and a stimulus to 

 further effort. 



In conclusion, let us co-ordinate these reforms and see 

 what would be their joint effect. A young man or woman 

 who wished to become a secondary teacher would attend for 

 a year a course of university lectures on psychology, ethics, 

 physiology, and the history and theory of education, receiving 

 at the end, if successful in passing the examinations, a 

 Teacher's University Certificate. During the following 

 year the probationer would practise the art of teaching (in- 

 cluding form management) in one of several selected schools, 

 where his efforts would be both scrutinised and assisted by the 

 Principal, who would, in the name of the State, grant a cer- 

 tificate of competency if the year's work were satisfactory. 



