The training of teachers in the United States of America — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The training of teachers in the United States of America
John Stuart Mill · en
I noticed a similar need for more practical work in the Philadelphia
Normal School. Here, as in the New York Normal College, much purely
academic work is done, and very little importance is given to actual
school-room practice. Students are divided into six sections, each
group containing about fifty. A whole division goes into the practising
school at one time, and stays there for two weeks only. The remaining
thirty-eight weeks of the last school year are entirely devoted to
the study of pedagogical subjects, psychological methods and drawing.
Kindergarten work is compulsory to all during the last year. The two
weeks which each student spends in the schools are chiefly employed
in hearing lessons, and observing children and teachers. Only two days
in the whole course are spent in actual teaching. This arrangement of
work and distribution of time in the Philadelphia Normal School is
seen by the city school authorities to be far from satisfactory, and
a scheme has been made out for a thorough revision of the course. The
present school, which is inadequate for purposes of training, is to be
made into a public High School for girls, and a new Normal School is to
be built, in which three years are to be devoted to academic, and two
years to professional work; but the two parts are to be kept entirely
distinct. The training course is to consist of elementary and advanced
sections, and much more time is to be given to actual teaching.
The examinations of the City Normal Schools are usually conducted by
the faculties of the schools, under the supervision of sub-committees
of the Board of Public Education of the city. In the Philadelphia
School, a certificate is awarded by a “Committee on the Qualification
of Teachers” for a general average of 85 per cent. on two examinations.
i. In academical subjects, at end of three years.
ii. In professional subjects, at the end of four years.
An average of 85 per cent. on the teaching in the school of practice is
also required. Two certificates are awarded for lower averages of marks
on work of the course, viz.:
An “Assistant’s Certificate” for average of 70 per cent., and a
“Trial Certificate” for less than an average of 70 per cent. on work
in the school of practice. Such a “Trial Certificate” is for one year
only. If, at the end of that time, the teaching shall be reported
as satisfactory by the Superintendent of the Schools, the “Trial
Certificate” may be exchanged for an “Assistant’s Certificate.”
CITY TRAINING SCHOOLS.