938 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 



{!/) In connection with the study of methods there should he a special school 

 at the Centre, where students may see methods and experiments which they are 

 not likely to see in the ordinary schools, (ft is a misfortune that onr City 

 schools are not used to some extent for experimental purposes. Some blind 

 experimentation goes on, but little conscious experiment towards a definite issue, 

 find no systematic examination and comparison of results. Joint-committees of 

 head-matters, school boards, training authoiities, and of the local inspectorate 

 could do valuable work in this direction.) Each student should be accustomed 

 to the idea of experiment in education, and each also should have to prepare a 

 thesis requiring observational, if not experimental, work. 



(c) An eflective system of training, besides providing for such school-work as 

 will give reality to the studies already mentioned, must allow for an adequate 

 amount of practice in teaching. A student may have an excellent knowledge of 

 methods and yet make a poor use of them. 



The period of training for non-university students should be three years, and 

 for university students four. The folh^wing is an outline of a suitable arrange- 

 ment of the professional work for the non-university students. 



First Tear. — I'sychnlogy, experimental pr-ychology and child-study - 100 hours ; 

 hygiene = 40 hours ; ethics = :^0 to .'iO houi's ; two hours per week in the schools, 

 chiefly for observational and e.xperimental work correlated with these subjects. 



Second Year. — History and science of education = 100 hours ; methods, 

 criticism, and demoustratrn lessons at the Centre = 60 hours; attendance at 

 schools two hours per wjek during the winter acd four during the summer 

 = 80 hours. At the beginning of the summer should be given out the subject 

 for a thesis, to be handed in at the end of the following winter. 



Third Year. — About six hours per week of teaching practice, and at least a 

 fortnight's continuous teaching = 1-50 to 200 hours; work on thesis and oral on 

 same ; special .study for kindergarten, housewifery, or rural cotirses = 200 hours. 



During the last two years great advance has been made in Scotland in the pro- 

 visions for the training of teachers. The country is divided into four provinces 

 with Centres at the four University towns. Tlie gathering of students into these 

 Centres where the}' can have the best educational facilities has been rendered 

 possible by the grant of use of the public .'chools for practice purposes, one of the 

 most valuable features of the nfw regime. There are courses of training for 

 elementary and for secondary school teachers, as well as for teachers of special 

 subjects (art, &c.). For the last two classes the period of training is one jear ; 

 for the first class, two years if they are not graduating and three if they are. 



The two-year course is, in practice, a fairly crowded one of 1,800 hours, one- 

 third of which are given up to professional work — education, psychology, hygiene, 

 logic, ethics, methods, and teaching; the other two-thirds are for 'culture- 

 subjects' — science, niathem.itics, &c. The regulations, however, permit of the 

 omission of any subject of general edui'ation from the curiiculum. Of the time 

 for professional work, about 250 hours are allowed for the study of methods 

 and practice in teaching. This period is devoted to lectures and discussions on 

 methods, to demonstration and criticism les.9ons, and to properly supervised 

 practice in the schools It will be seen that the provisions go a considerable way 

 towards meeting the requirements set forth above. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. 

 The following TJeporta and Papers were read : — 

 1, Eeport on the Curricula of Secondary Schools, — See Reports, p. 526. 



