The children human. They had been brought under teaching of a quality to touch and interest them, and were being formed by it. The fault of the teaching in our popular schools at home is, as I have often said, that it is so little formative; it gives the children the power to read the newspapers, to write a letter, to cast accounts, and gives them a certain number of pieces of knowledge, but it does little to touch their nature for good and to mould them.“ It is very hard for an Englishman to hear from an English authority that there is something abroad which is better than in England. Voices have not been wanting expressing their displeasure. Mr. I. G. Fitch, Inspector of Training Colleges for Mistresses, who has also been abroad, says:„Mr. Arnold says that a German school child is much more human than an English one. If it means that the children in our English Schools do not live a free, vigorous, happy, intelligent life,“—(he does not mean that a tall)—„I do not agree with it; for my experience of English children is that in these respects they are very human indeed. I scarcely believe that Mr. Arnold intended those words to be taken seriously.“ Of course, Mr. Arnold means that seriously; a man of his stamp does not make a joke of that sort. Mr. Fitch has formed the very highest possible estimate of the value of the work that is now being done in English Elementary Schools, its influence on the behaviour, the character and the intelligence of English children. Mr. Arnold would, I am sure, like myself, endorse this opinion, but I have no hesitation in saying that the English Popular Schools are not yet on a level with the German. Mr. Fitch has not convinced me of the contrary to what Mr. Arnold said.
Mr. Arnold rightly gave as one of the main reasons for the superiority of German Popular Schools, the better German organization and the better training of teachers.„In general“, he said,„the students of Training Schools in Germany gave me the impression of being better and more fully educated than ours, under a better planned system and by better trained instructors.“ According to the statement of Mr. Cumin, Secretary of the Edu- cation Department, more than half the English teachers employed are wholly untrained; those are, however, largely employed in Voluntary Schools.““ The Returns for 1888 show 44,565 teachers; 24,183 of these were trained, 20,382 untrained. 17,908 were Certificated Teachers at School Board Schools, and of these 10,354 were trained, 7,554 untrained. The number of Certificated Teachers at Voluntary Schools was 26,657; hence the majority.
As to the year 1889, we find in the Report of the Committee of the Council on Education that of 18,250 masters 11,559(or 63.34 per cent) had been in training colleges for 2 years, and 909(or 4.98 per cent) for less than 2 years; While 5,782(or 31.68 per cent) were un- trained. Of 27,184 schoolmistresses— we see that unhappily the female teachers form the majority— 11,502(or 42.31 per cent) had been trained for 2 years; 893(or 3.28 per cent), for less than 2 years; and 14,789(or 54.41 per cent) were untrained. Thus, the majority of male teachers are trained, of female teachers untrained. Although the teachers called un- trained have not attended a training college, a great number of them are, of course, trained to some extent or other. The practice is for the Head Teacher to instruct the Pupil-Teachers before and after school hours. I need not say that trained teachers are undoubtedly better than untrained ones, although there may be some exceptions. Moreover, it is to be regretted that there exist only about 44 Training Colleges in England, having only 3,277 students in all. According to a calculation in„The Schoolmaster“, England annually needs 3,848 new teaching powers, whilst the existing training colleges only furnish 1,678(1,672 in the Report. dt 1339 90) Thus, there remains a deficit of 1,470 teachers, which gap must be otherwise
ed.
I must say, the Teachers of Oldfield Road School made a very good impression upon me. As to their methods and capabilities of teaching and their education, I cannot judge.
* Parliamentary Papers. 1887. Vol. 30. Page 612.
* Parliamentary Papers. Vol. 37. 1888. Page 14. See Pädagogischer Jahresbericht von Richter. 1888. Page 534.