TRAINING OF TEACHERS IN FRANCE 179 



gogy, and lastly by discussions on teaching, held in his school dis- 

 trict, which he is expected to attend. These discussions, the subjects 

 for which are prearranged by mutual agreement, are held under the 

 direction of an inspector and treat of practical questions in regard 

 to teaching. Often, too, in schools in which there are several 

 teachers, the principal calls a meeting of his assistants every month 

 or fortnight, and discusses with them questions arising from the life 

 and routine work of the school. 



To teach in the higher grade primary and normal schools a special 

 certificate is requisite, calling for substantial literary or scientific 

 attainments. The professional part consists of a thesis on some 

 questions of ethics or psychology as applied to education; as a matter 

 of fact, this is not always satisfactory. 1 The oral tests, consist- 

 ing of the correction of a task, assignment of lessons, comments 

 upon a text, and preparation of material, may be of a very pro- 

 fessional nature, but that depends on the views of the examining 

 board, and the candidate does not submit to these tests in a class 

 before his pupils. 



Professors for our normal schools, as you know, are especially pre- 

 pared for the discharge of their duties and for gaining this certificate, 

 in the advanced normal schools for primary teachers at St. Cloud 

 and Fontenay. These are genuine professional schools, intended ex- 

 pressly to train men and women teachers. As a matter of fact their 

 training is excellent; and, speaking only of the past, the inspiring 

 personality of M. Pecaut at Fontenay and that of M. Jacoulet at 

 St. Cloud are reproduced in the character and earnest zeal of those 

 who have been their pupils. However, pedagogy, in the proper 

 sense of that term, occupies only a subordinate place as compared 

 with general instruction or culture. Both of these schools require 

 a thesis as a part of their entrance examination, and there are one or 

 two discussions a week on ethics and psychology, not, however, es- 

 pecially pedagogic. The course of study is, then, not at all professional 

 in its scope, and the special training of the pupils for their future 

 work is dependent on such private conferences as they can have with 

 the director or the professors. Moreover, the latter, who come either 

 from the university or the high schools of Paris, are not always inter- 

 ested or well posted in pedagogy, nor are they anxious to teach it. 

 However, since 1898, each of the pupils from Fontenay serves a 

 fortnight apprenticeship as teacher in a primary school, where she re- 

 ceives some instruction in school matters and herself conducts a few 

 recitations. 



All certificates of fitness for the various special branches (singing, 

 drawing, sewing, bookkeeping, etc.) require a test of ability to teach 



1 More professional perhaps is the thesis required for a certificate of fitness 

 to teach modern languages, involving the question of methods of teaching. 



