Scotland in the nineteenth century

5. Education

Section 5.7: Teacher training

"to advise upon certain points regarding Scotch education."

The Committee recommended that the Scotch Code should be altered to facilitate the admission of Gaelic-speaking students as Queen's Scholars so that there would be enough trained Gaelic-speaking teachers for the Highlands. In the Code of 1887, therefore, provision was made in the entrance examination to the training colleges for a paper to be set in Gaelic for a pupil teacher from the Highlands.

"to make inquiries and recommendations in regard to certain questions to education in Scotland."

The Committee turned their attention to the question of teacher training. Teachers could either obtain their qualifications by taking a two-year course at a training college or by undergoing three months' professional training after leaving university. The Church of Scotland and the Free Church had invested large sums in founding and improving the training colleges.

The Committee did not think it feasible to train teachers entirely at universities as they did not provide a moral or religious education, and many of the candidates were not qualified to attend university classes. They recommended, therefore, that professional training in colleges and university education for teachers should be allowed to co-exist. They thought those qualified to attend university classes should be free to choose any university in Scotland and the period of professional training of university students should be reduced. They decided that college trained teachers were superior and, therefore, grants in aid to colleges should be continued and students' fees should not be, increased.

The report for the year 1889 by John Kerr, one of Her Majesty's Chief Inspectors, concerned the Church of Scotland and Free Church training colleges in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow and the Episcopal Church College in Edinburgh. It included details of the number of students, accommodation, syllabus and teaching practice in each of the colleges and the reports submitted to Mr. Kerr by the district inspectors on the standard of answers in each of the subjects in the entrance and Christmas examinations and the number of students attending university classes.

Special reports followed on each of the colleges, giving details of the staff, health of the students, the number holding scholarships, accommodation, teaching practice, exam results and the number attending university classes.

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"ordered that the Teachers (Registration and Organisation) Bill be read a second time, and committed to a Select Committee."

Most witnesses were in favour of the principle of the registration of teachers. There were, however, conflicting opinions over the question whether registration should be compulsory or not. The qualifications for registration should include evidence of intellectual attainments and teaching ability. The Committee thought the registration of teachers should be in the hands of an educational council, composed of representatives of the State, the universities and the teaching profession. It was suggested that, after a certain period, no unregistered person should be allowed to teach in an endowed school or a secondary school assisted by public money, but teachers of music and other specialist subjects need not be placed on the register.

There was some disagreement among the witnesses as to whether Scotland and Ireland should be included in the Teachers (Registration and Organisation) Bill. Dorothea Beale, Principal of the Ladies' College at Cheltenham, thought that the Bill should not apply to Scotland and Ireland unless separate councils for these countries were set up.

Professor S.S. Laurie, Professor of Education in the University of Edinburgh (pp. 80-102), gave evidence on the system of teacher training in Scotland. He held the first chair of education in Great Britain and hoped that similar chairs would be established in other Scottish universities. There were two teacher training colleges in Edinburgh, two in Glasgow and one in Aberdeen. One-seventh of the teachers in Scotland were graduates, with most involved in secondary education, although in Scotland the distinction between primary and secondary education was not so marked as in England. Most of the secondary education in Scotland was, therefore, supported by public funds, whereas in England it was mainly in private hands. Professor Laurie thought it important that the training of secondary teachers in Scotland should he made compulsory. Graduates could obtain teaching diplomas from Edinburgh university but he thought additional facilities for training graduates were necessary. He suggested that they should be able to obtain six months' practical training in the training colleges, possibly before they finished their degrees. He also hoped that more universities would offer teacher training and that voluntary institutions would arise.

Laying great stress on the professional training of teachers, Professor Laurie thought that any register should give an indication of this. He said: "the main object in Scotland of having registration is to ensure that every man who goes into a secondary or any school from the universities shall have had professional training in the principle methods and practice of education".