874 REPORT— 1903. 



the proper supply of teachers, and even now the demand for men possessing 

 the highest teaching qualifications in science is greater than the supply. It may 

 be said, I think, that our science teachers from the college have one special qualifi- 

 cation, and that is, that besides the knovfledge of science, practical and theoretical, 

 that they have acquired, they have lived in an atmosphere of what is called 

 research, and which might be called original investigation. Professors, assistants, 

 and students alike are impregnated with it, and when the teacher so trained takes 

 up his duties in his school he still retains the ' reek ' of it. True instruction in 

 science should, as I have before said, be practical, and practical instruction should 

 certainly include original inquiry into matters old or new. The teacher who 

 retains the ' reek ' is the teacher who will prove most successful. It will 

 thus be seen that the State had the task before it, not only of introducing 

 instruction in science, but of training teachers to give such instruction. This 

 problem is the same as now exists in Ireland, and the experience gained in England 

 cannot but be of the greatest use to those at the head of Irish technical 

 education. 



Before concluding there is one subject that I must lightly touch upon, and 

 that is the supply of teachers other than science teachers. The Education Act of 

 1870 gave the power to elementary schools to train pupil teachers, who in the 

 process of time would become teachers, either by entering into a training college 

 by means of a King's Scholarship or, less satisfactorily, by examination. In 

 large towns the need of a proper training for pupil teachers has been felt, and 

 gradually pupil teacher centres were established, principally by School Boards, 

 where the training could be carried out more or less completely ; but in the rural 

 districts and smaller towns the pupil teacher has had to be more or less self- 

 taught, and except in rare cases * self-taught ' means badly taught. The Training 

 College authorities make no secret of the fact that one of the two years during 

 which the training of the teacher is carried out has to be devoted more or less 

 to instructing the pupils in subjects they ought to have been taught before they 

 entered the college. Thus all the essential and special instruction which is 

 given has to be practically shortened, and the teacher leaves the college with less 

 training than he should have. 



The new Education Act has put it in the power of the educational authorities 

 to rectify the defects in the training of pupil teachers. It is much to be hoped 

 that Councils will separately or in combination either form special centres for the 

 training of all pupil teachers or else give scholarships (perhaps aided by the State) 

 to them, to be held at some secondary school receiving the grant for science 

 and recognised by the Board of Education as efficient. The latter plan is 

 one which commends itself, as it ensures that the student shall associate with 

 others who are not preparing for the same calling in life, and will prevent 

 that narrowness of mind which is inevitable where years are spent in the one 

 atmosphere of pedagogy. The non-residential training college, where the training 

 of the teacher is carried on at some university college, is an attempt to give 

 breadth of view to him, but if attempted in the earliest years of a teacher's 

 career it will be even more successful. All teaching requires to be improved, 

 and the first step to take in this direction is to educate the pupil teacher from his 

 earliest day's appointment, for his influence in after years will not only be felt in 

 that elementary, but will also penetrate into secondary, education. In regard to 

 the additions which are required in elementary education, and which require the 

 proper training of the pupil teacher, I must refer you to a report which will be 

 presented to the Section. The task of training pupil teachers is one which requires 

 the earnest and undivided thought of the new Education Committees. 



In the earnest Address given hy my predecessor in this Chair he brought forward 

 the shortcomings of secondary education and of the requirements for a military 

 career in a trenchant manner and with an ability which I cannot emulate. With 

 much of what he said I agree heartily, but 1 cannot forget that, after all, the 

 details of education are to some extent matters of opinion, though the main features 

 are not. We must be content to see advances made in the directions on which the 

 majority of men and women educational experts are agreed. Great strides have 



