TRAINING OF TEACHERS IN FRANCE 177 



of nursery for the propagation of normal schools; for its 1400 pupils 

 taken from the provinces, were to return, after four months 

 of study, to their respective districts and establish in them similar 

 schools. This institution lasted only four months and came to an 

 untimely end in the political turmoil. Moreover, under this form, 

 it seemed hardly suited to its purpose. But the idea, together with 

 the name of normal school, survived, and in 1808 the school was 

 reestablished, or established on a different basis, for the training 

 of teachers of secondary instruction. So far, however, as primary 

 teaching is concerned, we owe it to private, or at least local, initiative 

 that the idea of a normal school was again taken up and realized under 

 a decidedly practical form. Normal schools were established first 

 in the eastern departments of France; then in other localities, with 

 ever-increasing success. There were thirty of them in 1833 when 

 Minister Guizot incorporated in the famous enactment which bears 

 his name a clause compelling " each department to support, either 

 by itself or in conjunction with other departments, a normal school 

 for primary teachers." This provision was not carried out strictly; 

 but if the institution could be jeopardized it could no longer be 

 destroyed. As a matter of fact it was in peril when the normal 

 schools, apparently dangerous on account of their liberal views, were 

 attacked, threatened, almost wiped out. But they soon regained 

 their popularity, and, thanks to the efforts of Minister Duruy, to- 

 ward the end of the Second Empire continued to flourish. In 1870 

 nearly every department had a normal school for male teachers, but 

 nineteen only had one for female teachers, while the normal courses 

 annexed in the others to the primary schools were quite inadequate. 

 Since 1879, owing to the efforts of Jules Ferry, the provisions of 

 the law have been actually enforced in all the departments, and we 

 now have eighty-seven normal schools for male teachers, eighty- 

 five for female teachers, with a total of 7736 pupils, maintained, 

 according to the statistics of 1900, at a cost of 8,000,000 francs. 



Admission to the normal schools is by competitive examination. 

 As a rule candidates come from the higher primary schools and must 

 pass written and oral examinations, the scope of which, however, em- 

 braces nothing of a purely professional nature. In the school itself 

 the professional training is as follows : 



(1) There is, to begin with, instruction in the theory of teaching. 

 This is given by the principal and deals with the application of 

 psychology to education, the practice or history of pedagogy, and 

 school administration. The instruction in science and literature is, 

 as a rule, excellent; but the professors do not touch the question of 

 pedagogy, or at least are not obliged to do so. Some few, however, 

 test their pupils' ability actually to conduct a recitation, supple- 

 menting such efforts with criticism and advice. 



