The
Training of Teachers and Youth
To say that the McNair Report lives up to expectation is high praise, for it is the most heralded educational document of our time. After thirty years of interesting reports with high lights " " " The and on The Teaching of English in England Education of the Adolescent we have at last tackled the real problem?the training of the teachers themselves. The present crisis has jerked us out of our hopeful illogicality?the belief that the right organization and the right methods would work without the right people. It is not proposed, in this late review, to comment upon the whole Report, except to thank the McNair Committee for its excellent work. Instead, one or two matters of psychological interest will be discussed. The task of the Committee was to show how to attract suitable candidates for the teaching profession, and how to make the best of them. The Report is based " system ", revealing upon a clear analysis of the present anomalies which bewilder the public (the source of supply) and make unity of purpose within the profession nearly " What is impossible. The trenchant comment that Colleges is chiefly wrong with the majority of Training " sets the tone of their poverty and all that flows from it the whole Report; it is both courageous and practical. The first group of recommendations is designed to get " three things done which must be done if the number and quality of teachers are to be obtained "? (1) the widening of the field of recruitment, (2) the improvement of teaching conditions, (3) the raising of the standing of education. Of these, the last seems pivotal, and some comment may be offered upon the Committee's analysis. We are quite rightly warned not to regard teachers as Yet we a race apart, which can exist on ideals only. must recognize that certain conditions, inherent in the practice of teaching, do tend to make teachers different from other people. First, they are the only members of the community whose contact with immature minds and personalities is intense and prolonged. For this .
.
.
Leaders
reason alone, contacts with those in other walks ?f is essential, both during training and after. teachers deal with human beings in the mass, at[? success in this undertaking, while it may inCfe,a.r efficiency, does not increase one's humanity. a teaching is a great profession whose objectives imperfectly understood. Interviews with ordinary Pa ' ents and ordinary children about secondary educate for instance, still suggest with disquieting uniform1 > that education, if you are lucky, is the means to a bett ^ job; if you are unlucky, it is a period of life t? enjoyed or endured. Perhaps this is why the of cheapness in State education has been allowed a persist, while paradoxically it has not been regarded cheap at the price, either in money or time. g With good reason, therefore, one welcomes in the Report designed to secure a higher public rega' for education, which includes a more discerning aPPr> ciation of teachers. The salary schemes with a bas 1 scale for all qualified teachers, are a first step in right direction. ts The setting up of a Central Training Council another urgent need. Of the alternative schemes } Area Organization, the University Schools of Educati^ seem to offer a sounder and more ambitious refor1?' though the Joint Board plan is the more argued. "The supporters of the first scheme justly cla'1 that they are not looking a few years but 25 years aheav and such an opportunity for fundamental reform as n?,, presents itself may not recur within that perio'H J They take the view that the Universities have an obliga'1 towards the whole educational system. -nt The most persuasive argument in favour of the J?l Board is that intending teachers would flood the Ufl versities. This is a formidable prospect, yet it is of V; g importance that these students, whose work will deprl them of daily contact with able adults, should The fear that these segregated during training. " " sub-students is already ^ might be regarded as
* Report of the Committee appointed by the Board of Education teachers and youth leaders. H.M. Stationery Office, 2s.
!jv
Secondly
Third';^
tradit'^ .
everything
persuasiv^ ,
?
stu"^et
to
consider the supply, recruitment and training
^
MENTAL HEALTH
by
the fact
thot
+
the fact that the
c
11
?
profession
now strong
as
organized
is a
inspection,
ana
patience
irom
tne
student.
Young
teachers of spirit are anxious to get on their own, even objection?that after The second a two-years course, although they would all like sub-profession academic, more e Universities will make the schools to be placed in schools which approve of the ideals and as the method But dry-as-dust 01 practice in which they have been trained. Perhaps when ^ againto persuasive. the passing on is the concern of the whole profession, when all the examination end, is not training debasing the tl?ns be schools welcome probationary teachers, the formality tradition though it may in .university values 1 it. The popular regard for commercialthe root-rot of the probationary year may become unnecessary. Little comment is offered here on the section of the the mass production conditions,all helped to rvf"i?*i?n' the Special Place examination, have alone Report devoted to Youth Leaders, because the recom1 learning oscure education's true aim. Sound and seek to regularize rather and make him mendations are tentative ar> give a teacher humility and confidence than to revolutionize. The analysis of the qualities and training, His professional eel part of a is excellent as a whole, but para. 345 (c) is great tradition. and knowledge qualifications " is based on observation of children Some undereither incomplete or misleading. surely academic " will make the debased the psychology of young people is apparently standing of j-development, tr Edition look both stupid and uninteresting. is t the to be gained in relation to everything but their earlier tn its recognition that Teacher Training invites development. This is the common fallacy among " the Committee earnest Youth Leaders, anxious for whatever help growing point of education of training and, content and the planning Thesepsychology can give. Indeed, a tendency to treat at^.rimen.t principles. establish to seeks only "Youth" without reference to its life experience at to three years, in 1 j P?int, elude the overdue extension of training home and at school has been the weakness of the Service more opportunaccommodation, staffing and singleof Youth. it*CClUate y 'or research. Perhaps the most important which should We hope steps are being taken by all responsible P lnciple formulated is that of secondment, bodies to see that this stimulating and important docuisolationism) 01is ? n^uch to break the isolation (and only read widely and discussed seriously. t recognition of provisional Srers* The granting ?t for imagination ? the end of the Training Course calls IN. L. responsible lor others un the and schools, part of the
.y .
Training of Teachers and Youth
To say that the McNair Report lives up to expectation is high praise, for it is the most heralded educational document of our time. After thirty years of interesting reports with high lights " " " The and on The Teaching of English in England Education of the Adolescent we have at last tackled the real problem?the training of the teachers themselves. The present crisis has jerked us out of our hopeful illogicality?the belief that the right organization and the right methods would work without the right people. It is not proposed, in this late review, to comment upon the whole Report, except to thank the McNair Committee for its excellent work. Instead, one or two matters of psychological interest will be discussed. The task of the Committee was to show how to attract suitable candidates for the teaching profession, and how to make the best of them. The Report is based " system ", revealing upon a clear analysis of the present anomalies which bewilder the public (the source of supply) and make unity of purpose within the profession nearly " What is impossible. The trenchant comment that Colleges is chiefly wrong with the majority of Training " sets the tone of their poverty and all that flows from it the whole Report; it is both courageous and practical. The first group of recommendations is designed to get " three things done which must be done if the number and quality of teachers are to be obtained "? (1) the widening of the field of recruitment, (2) the improvement of teaching conditions, (3) the raising of the standing of education. Of these, the last seems pivotal, and some comment may be offered upon the Committee's analysis. We are quite rightly warned not to regard teachers as Yet we a race apart, which can exist on ideals only. must recognize that certain conditions, inherent in the practice of teaching, do tend to make teachers different from other people. First, they are the only members of the community whose contact with immature minds and personalities is intense and prolonged. For this .
.
.
Leaders
reason alone, contacts with those in other walks ?f is essential, both during training and after. teachers deal with human beings in the mass, at[? success in this undertaking, while it may inCfe,a.r efficiency, does not increase one's humanity. a teaching is a great profession whose objectives imperfectly understood. Interviews with ordinary Pa ' ents and ordinary children about secondary educate for instance, still suggest with disquieting uniform1 > that education, if you are lucky, is the means to a bett ^ job; if you are unlucky, it is a period of life t? enjoyed or endured. Perhaps this is why the of cheapness in State education has been allowed a persist, while paradoxically it has not been regarded cheap at the price, either in money or time. g With good reason, therefore, one welcomes in the Report designed to secure a higher public rega' for education, which includes a more discerning aPPr> ciation of teachers. The salary schemes with a bas 1 scale for all qualified teachers, are a first step in right direction. ts The setting up of a Central Training Council another urgent need. Of the alternative schemes } Area Organization, the University Schools of Educati^ seem to offer a sounder and more ambitious refor1?' though the Joint Board plan is the more argued. "The supporters of the first scheme justly cla'1 that they are not looking a few years but 25 years aheav and such an opportunity for fundamental reform as n?,, presents itself may not recur within that perio'H J They take the view that the Universities have an obliga'1 towards the whole educational system. -nt The most persuasive argument in favour of the J?l Board is that intending teachers would flood the Ufl versities. This is a formidable prospect, yet it is of V; g importance that these students, whose work will deprl them of daily contact with able adults, should The fear that these segregated during training. " " sub-students is already ^ might be regarded as
* Report of the Committee appointed by the Board of Education teachers and youth leaders. H.M. Stationery Office, 2s.
!jv
Secondly
Third';^
tradit'^ .
everything
persuasiv^ ,
?
stu"^et
to
consider the supply, recruitment and training
^
MENTAL HEALTH
by
the fact
thot
+
the fact that the
c
11
?
profession
now strong
as
organized
is a
inspection,
ana
patience
irom
tne
student.
Young
teachers of spirit are anxious to get on their own, even objection?that after The second a two-years course, although they would all like sub-profession academic, more e Universities will make the schools to be placed in schools which approve of the ideals and as the method But dry-as-dust 01 practice in which they have been trained. Perhaps when ^ againto persuasive. the passing on is the concern of the whole profession, when all the examination end, is not training debasing the tl?ns be schools welcome probationary teachers, the formality tradition though it may in .university values 1 it. The popular regard for commercialthe root-rot of the probationary year may become unnecessary. Little comment is offered here on the section of the the mass production conditions,all helped to rvf"i?*i?n' the Special Place examination, have alone Report devoted to Youth Leaders, because the recom1 learning oscure education's true aim. Sound and seek to regularize rather and make him mendations are tentative ar> give a teacher humility and confidence than to revolutionize. The analysis of the qualities and training, His professional eel part of a is excellent as a whole, but para. 345 (c) is great tradition. and knowledge qualifications " is based on observation of children Some undereither incomplete or misleading. surely academic " will make the debased the psychology of young people is apparently standing of j-development, tr Edition look both stupid and uninteresting. is t the to be gained in relation to everything but their earlier tn its recognition that Teacher Training invites development. This is the common fallacy among " the Committee earnest Youth Leaders, anxious for whatever help growing point of education of training and, content and the planning Thesepsychology can give. Indeed, a tendency to treat at^.rimen.t principles. establish to seeks only "Youth" without reference to its life experience at to three years, in 1 j P?int, elude the overdue extension of training home and at school has been the weakness of the Service more opportunaccommodation, staffing and singleof Youth. it*CClUate y 'or research. Perhaps the most important which should We hope steps are being taken by all responsible P lnciple formulated is that of secondment, bodies to see that this stimulating and important docuisolationism) 01is ? n^uch to break the isolation (and only read widely and discussed seriously. t recognition of provisional Srers* The granting ?t for imagination ? the end of the Training Course calls IN. L. responsible lor others un the and schools, part of the
.y .
