Canon Steward's Address 257 



that they are teaching or educating in the best pos- 

 sible way. It is a matter of words, not things; of 

 listening, not of observation. No burden of investi- 

 gation is cast upon the boys. They are not trained 

 to inform themselves through their own sense impres- 

 sions." 



To come more directly to the training of teachers 

 in colleges. As in the primary school, so here I would 

 see specialization in science deferred for a third year. 

 The aim of the college training must be directly 

 devoted to the pedagogic aspect of the different 

 subjects, and to a full and thorough knowledge of 

 the subjects falling within the curriculum of the 

 primary school. In saying this I must not be 

 understood as wishing to narrow the training of the 

 primary-school teacher. As long as the pupil-teacher 

 is what he is, the two-year college course is already 

 all too short for a thorough grounding in the neces- 

 sary subjects and their educational treatment. To 

 meet the needs of those who wish to specialize, I 

 should like to see the new educational authorities 

 empowered to open, for certain king's scholars, central 

 colleges for a third-year course, to prepare them for the 

 advanced work demanded of them in science schools, 

 pupil-teacher centres, training-college lectureships, and 

 schools of a higher or technical kind. 



With regard to the college training of teachers in 

 Nature-study, we are confronted with the difficulty of 

 finding time for the individual research and investi- 

 gation which is at the root of the whole study. 



To do this we must resort to two methods: (i) We 

 endeavour to bring within easy reach of observation 

 the various forms of plant and animal life which are 



R 



