The Teaching Profession

THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADAHEAD OFFICE, MONTREAL

October, 19~,7

E IGHTY representatives of 31 countries attend-ed a conference at Paris this summer to studymeans of education for international under-

standing; thirty-five students from 14 countriesgathered at a Connecticut resort to promote betterinternational relations; hundreds of teachers areexchanging classrooms between countries. Takentogether, these meetings and exchanges should havea profound influence on the role that education isto play in the world.

But just what is being done about education inCanadian classrooms ? Are young people comingforward to be trained to fill the teaching gaps ? Areteachers being paid what their services are worth ?Are they teaching the things Canadians want taueht ?Is the system for each prov-ince and the system wi~thineach classroom the best that can be devised ?

The schools of this country, judging by reports,are in a serious plight, though it is not so bad as thatin other countries. Many of them lack the numberand quality of teachers they should have, othershave been forced to increase class sizes beyond thelimit of good teaching and beyond the bounds ofhealthful conditions.

If education problems have gotten out of hand,it is not due to any one cause, but to the piling upof many causes, and the beginning was not recently.Education is designed, in its best sense, to enablemen to live as good members of their family, of theircommunity, of their nation and of the whole humansociety. Education for all of these starts in the home,in the kindergarten and in the Sunday school. Notone source has been unaffected by the economic,cultural, sociological and political innovations andupheavals of the past forty years. Everyone whotakes an impartial view will say that the teachingprofession has measured up at least as well as othersresponsible for the training of youth.

Canada’sEducationSystem

When Canada became a nation in 1867 a cons-titution was drawn up reserving con-trol over education to the authorityof the provinces. As a consequence,Canada has ten separate educational

systems, (Quebec in effect has two systems) a sit-uation which makes it difficult for provinces to acttogether in the building of educational ideals.

In spite of the generally-accepted idea that childrenin remote villages or on farms are entitled to thesame educational opportunity as children in cities,and that the economic depression of a provinceshould not deprive children of the educational ad-vantages enjoyed by those in more prosperousprovinces, the realities just don’t work out that way.Teachers are not attracted to country schools whenthey realize that a local crop failure may reducetheir salary drastically. Provinces which pay thelowest rates are not getting the high quality teachersenjoyed by the provinces which pay two or threetimes as much.

Rural schools present a special problem. Thechildren they serve are entitled to as mature, welltrained and experienced teachers as city children.On the other hand, the teachers are entitled to goodliving conditions, decent salaries, and the properworking surroundings and equipment. Dr. S. R.Laycock, Dean of the School of Education at theUniversity of Saskatchewan put the matter squarelyup to the people when he said: "If the public wantsable instead of mediocre or poor teachers it will haveto provide better living conditions, especially in therural areas where teachers often live in unheatedbedrooms or lack privacy. There is no use saying:’The teacher has to put up with what we ourselveshave to put up with.’ Quite frankly, many of ourbest young people don’t have fo do so and don’tpropose to do so."

At the same time as new physical needs are be-coming manifest, there are increasingly diversedemands being made for new forms and subjects ofeducation. Industry is no longer satisfied with thesimple hand training of youths through minor voca-tional exercises. The student of today has to be morethoroughly prepared for his work. He must have,too, a wider appreciation of what life is all about.There are industrial facts of life as well as physicaland spiritual facts which must be taught if the stu-dent is to graduate as a well-rounded personality.

Evidence seems to show that education is anessential instrument" in the expansion of commerce,industry and agriculture; that money spent for educa-tion is an investment that can be afforded in increas-ing measure when related to the improvement of

local economic conditions, and that if the high stand-ard of living provided under private initiative economyis to be maintained, then sound and immediatemeasures to improve schools are necessary. This isone more reason for the greater participation ofindustrialists, agriculturists, and financial men ineducation plans.

CanadianEducationAssociation

There is one splendid co-ordinating organizationin Canada, to which credit for muchof the success of educational effortsmust be given. It is the CanadianEducation Association, called for some

years the Canada-Newfoundland Education Asso-ciation. This organization is maintained by theDepartments of Education of the nine provinces ofCanada and of Newfoundland, its budget beingprovided by annual contributions in proportion topopulation from each of the provincial governments.It represents the constitutional authorities overeducation and has unique advantages for conductingnation-wide educational research. Much of thefactual and statistical information in this article waskindly supplied by the C.E.A.

Shortageof Teachers

Schools, plans and curricula are necessary partsof education, but behind all, makingthem effective, is the teaching pro-fession.

Canada has large numbers of highly skilled andcapable teachers, but there are not enough to fill allthe needs. The 1941 census recorded 88,000 schoolteachers, two-thirds of them women.

An appraisal by the Canadian Education Asso-ciation in January revealed the following facts aboutcombined elementary and secondary teaching posi-tions:

(Note: The third column rep.resents the ap.proximate enrolmentnecessary to make good existing shortages m three years whileproviding for ordinary replacements; the second column indicatesthat the actual enrolment at the beginning of the year was 2,600short.)

It is evident, then, that primary and secondaryschools have a rough road ahead of them, with con-ditions getting worse before they can be called good.The condition is not confined to Canada, if that isany consolation. One out of every seven teachersin the United States is serving on an emergency orsubstandard certificate and 70,000 teaching posi-tions were unfilled this spring.

What’s WrongWith Teaching?

Why do these conditions exist in Canada and theUnited States ? Why do students notconsider the teaching profession agood risk ? Basically, say those who

have investigated most closely, young people turnaway from teaching because of the poor salariespaid. The factory worker with little or no educationmaking things for our current use receives greatercompensation on the average than teachers who aretraining our children to be the citizens of the future.

Let us admit to begin with that it is impossibleto make an accurate comparison of teachers’ salariesacross Canada. There are too many variations inthe type and cost of housing, board, and transporta-tion, and one school demands more hours of workthan another.

Probably the best way to get an idea of the rangeis to take the lowest and highest minimum and thelowest and highest maximum for three grades ofteacher in Canadian cities. The following are compiledfrom a list supplied by the Canadian EducationAssociation, made up of data secured in August 1946:

It should be noted that provincial minima do notprevent the individual municipalities from adoptingtheir own salary schedules, provided, they exceedthe minimum. This accounts for the fact that in the50,000 to 100,000 population class, for instance, theminimum ranges from $800 in one city to $1,600 inanother.

While average yearly earnings in manufacturingindustries were going up from $975 in 1939 to $1,564in 1944, an increase of 60.4 per cent, teachers’ salariesincreased from $854 to $1,098, or 28.6 per cent. Thisparallels closely the situation in the United Statesduring the same period, where employed personsoutside the field of education received 79 per centmore on the average, while teachers received only31 per cent more. The 1944 figures for Canada,issued by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, are thelatest available to us, but we are informed thatteachers’ salaries have increased in Canada muchmore since 1944 than in the preceding five years.

CommunityRecognition

Next to salary, probably the greatest need of the pro-fession is for a sane and sensible communi-ty recognition of the teachers. The Earlof Birkenhead, writing learned essays. -

on famous court cases, said disparagingly "an elderlyunknown assistant-master would hardly be chosenas an equal companion." It is sad to think that thelate 19th-Century snobbishness is still reflected inthe community’s regard for teachers. Young people

are discouraged by the idea that teaching is thoughtof by the public as a routine task. Teachers themselvesregard it as a first-class job of social engineering,building for the future and imparting influences thatwill continue generation after generation.

Lamentably enough, too many interpret theirobligation to "take an interest in education" as aninvitation to pry into and govern the teacher’sprivate life. Teachers are human beings, subject tothe same impulses and entitled to the same personalfreedom and respect as are other professional workers."The private life of a teacher," said Dr. Laycock inan address to the Alberta School Trustees’ Associa-tion two years ago, "should be subject to the samecriticism as that of any other citizen --no more andno less. He should take his share in communityleadership, as is expected of all other citizens --nomore and no less. He is not the chore boy of the com-munity. Nor should he be shut off from communityactivity any more than the business men or otherprofessional men are cut off."

LivingConditions

Unsatisfactory living conditions loom large in theminds of young people, especially wo-men, who are considering enteringthe teaching profession.

Many teachers, attracted by the creative opport-unities and personal satisfactions they believe existin the profession, have become disenchanted whenintroduced to their living quarters in a crowdedhome. Others find teacherages which are poorlyequipped, poorly furnished, and isolated.

A survey in one province in 1941-42 revealed thatonly one teacherage of 15 could be rated very good.Others had no cellar, no insulation, and only the bareessentials in furnishings. Most teachers (10 of the15 were women) had to chop or split their firewood;one teacher used melted snow in winter and meltedice from an icehouse in summer to supply water,while three carried water half a mile. Supplies werehard to obtain. One teacher walked six miles to townevery Saturday, taking a chance on catching a rideback with her week’s supplies.

There were 25 teachers who boarded at rates from$16 to $28 a month. Only five of the houses hadfurnaces, bedrooms were too cold and so they hadto do their work and studying in the kitchens withthe rest of the family, often to the accompanimentof radios or noisy children. Only three of the homeshad running water, indoor toilets and electric light.

It cannot be said that such conditions attractyoung people into the profession. Superintendentsfind it extremely difficult to get good teachers forrural schools, and then to keep them. Teachers aremuch more readily convertible to other occupationsthan are other workers to teaching. After a period,sometimes only part of a year, in conditions whichverge on the pioneering age, they move to new occu-pations or to urban schools. It will surprise manyto learn that the average professional life of maleteachers is only 7.5 years, and of female teachers 5.9years, according to the findings of a subcommittee

of the Alberta Post War Reconstruction Committeein 1945. Compared with any other profession, thisreflects serious instability and unduly high replace-ment costs.

Material improvements in schools, living condi-tions and so on will contribute to the "stability of themost important person in education, the teacher. Agood teacher is the result not only of natural ability,study and sound training, but of contentment. Theteacher must have health, vitality, and intelligence.The best teachers have good personalities, the); aresincere, well-rounded individuals, vitally interestedin their work and able to transmit their knowledgeto students. As A. S. Mowat, Professor of Educationat Dalhousie University remarked in Public Affairs:"You need not expect to get this paragon for twodollars a day. As in other walks of life to get qualityyou must pay for it."

The TeachingProfeulon

The teaching profession is at once a great art andto a considerable extent a science.There are bookish blockheads in it asin every other profession, and you

come upon teachers who are faded in a noticeablemeasure from the sharp and strong pattern so muchdesired; but these are not typical. Teachers on thewhole radiate interest and enthusiasm to their stu-dents in a blend of personality and skill. They have arare courage: the courage to repeat day after daythe same lessons in a way to keep them always in-teresting and arresting. They have large stores ofcommon sense. They are builders of character, themost important element in the progress of our chil-dren. Such a profession deserves respect; its practi-tioners are entitled to just and adequate materialrewards and should be given a social standing inkeeping with the work they do.

They should be allowed, too, to keep their ideals.Let no one try to take away the spiritual and philo-sophical values of the teaching profession. "Practical"people may scoff, but if it were not for values outsideand beyond dollars and cents there would be fewgood people teaching.

The SchoolCurriculum

It is a weakness of many schools today that teachingdiffuses itself over a multiplicity ofenormous problems, leaving only timeand opoortunitv for a passinz zlance.

Utopian dreams interject themselves into theselarge views, and the fact is lost sight of that thosewho seek Utopian living should be capable, by know-ledge and skill, of operating a Utopia.

Anyone who mentions "curriculum" is practicallycertain to start an argument. There are so manypossibilities, so many temptations to try this andthat, we are confused.

In these days, education must prosper by economy.This means that the teacher must pick a careful waythrough cartloads of rubbish to choose the vitalfactors in education; and then the teacher must makethe selected subjects attractive, but not with thekind of attractiveness that consists only in easiness.

The acute reader will have noticed that this prin-ciple leads back to something of an old-fashionedsort ’from which the world has been rapidly fleeing.It is a return that is recommending itself to manysocieties and communities. For example, WilliamH. Conant, New York businessman, said in Maythat a committee of which he was chairman hadprepared a plea for the revival of traditional educa-tion in fundamental subjects. "We have had toomuch progressive education," he declared. "We havefound there is no easy short-cut to knowledge. Ourpupils have been high in arithmetic only becauseprogressive education could find no way to fiddle

.... le "w~th the multiplication tab .

It is fashionable in some circles to look down uponthe education of a generation ago. It had its defects,but it was based upon the solid notion that in orderto learn to think one must first acquire the tools ofthought. Teachers in those days believed that to g.eta mountain-top view you had to climb the mountain.Techniques of study change, quite properly, and newcurricula must be prepared to accommodate the newthings in the world, but the more important anddeeper things do not alter and should not be brushedaside. In the sense of providing a solid base uponwhich to erect a life of satisfaction and usefulness,Shakespeare, Plato and Montaigne are modern,while many who masquerade under the banner ofmodernism are as ancient and as useless as the im-pressive creatures which dominated the landscapewhen mankind was a mere blob on a warm mudbank.

Not inSchool Alone

Much of our education takes place outside ofschool walls. Other agencies are thefamily, books, work, newspapers, mo-vies, and daily contacts with people,

the great mass of "public opinion." Chief amongthe influences educating for living fully is religion.In pioneer days in Canada religion was as much apart of school life as it was of home life. The Biblewas a textbook, and extracts from it were used in theschool readers.

Today, religious instruction is making its way backinto the school. It is realized that in a time whentransient fears threaten the intellectual and moralstandards of the world there is needed something togive life to the eternals in belief and conduct.

AcademicFreedom

The rights of the student demand that instruction,whether in religion or economics orsocial studies, shall not be a reflectionof a onesided view by the teacher.

The teacher is not entitled to take advantage of hisposition to impose beliefs dogmatically upon studentsor to convert them to a doctrine. One of his greatsuccesses is when he trains his students effectivelyto reach their conclusions through critical reflectionupon carefully ascertained facts.

Teachers .generally are aware of their grave res-ponsibility in discussing debatable political, socialand religious ideas and movements. Their role isanalysis, discussion and teaching. In some" aspectstheir job is like that of a judge: they must have opin-ions that are competent and at the same time disin-terested. The judge is not an advocate, and he mustavoid the very appearance of pleading a special cause,of being under subjection to groups or cells, or oftheorizing without sound factual knowledge.

The teacher, too, needs to beware of falling underthe influence of "movements" whose slogans andcatchwords are all too likely to be accepted by theunthinking as statements of profound truth. Thiswarning is cogently expressed by the Harvard Com-mittee of 1945 which remarked that a course dealingwith social life which emphasizes classes and "scarcelymentions the humanitarian movements of the lasthundred years, with the common premise of thedignity and worth of all human aspirations and theirmagnificent, if unfinished, list of achievements, islikely to foster either cynicism or romantic zeal fora quick remedy, which may turn into disillusion atthe first contact with the difficulties and complexitiesinherent in the attainment of true reforms."

Education WeekIs a Chance

for Review

Special meetings of Home and School Associationsand other organizations interested in"education to be held throughout Ca-nada during Education Week in Nov-ember offer a splendid opportunity

for discussion of teaching problems touched upon mthis Monthly Letter. The purpose of the week, whichhas been an annual event since 1935, is to draw publicattention to all phases of education and increaseunderstanding of its problems. This Education Weekshould enable Canada to sweep up the bits and piecesand attain something more of an overall plan forCanadian education.

In doing so, let’s not forget the ideals. Teach thepupils all about the Vanity Fair in which they haveto live and make their living, but, as Sir RichardLivingstone urged, don’t forget to show them theDelectable Mountains. The whole purpose of educa-tion cannot be to train men and women to make a lotof money quickly. This is an age when leisure is moreplentiful for more people than ever in history, andyet some "practical" people seize upon this time tourge the turning of education into nothing but train-ing for work!

The teaching profession of our ideal would be madeup of men and women inspired by a warm, sensibleand kindly humanism. They would be in favour ofdemocracy, in favour of the future, and in favour ofyouth. They would convey knowledge, but they wouldalso show their pupils the way to a flowering of theTrue, the Good and the Beautiful in their own livesand in Canada and in civilization.

PRINTED IN CANADAby The Royal Bank of Canada

Educetionelist$’ CommentsIn an attempt to give readers a cross-Canada view of certain aspectsof education, we invited all Provincial Departments of Educationto provide information and we asked each to write a brief articledealing with some important provincial educational matter. Theyhave been most helpful, as will be seen in these forward-looking

contributions:

ALBERTA

What teaching has to offer youngpeople.

Teaching is outstanding among the pro-fessions as one which provides numerousnon-monetary rewards. For example, itprovides almost unequalled opportunities forgrowth through servme.

1. As a teacher you will have unexcelledopportunities to work with people as yourstock in trade . . . The experience gainedwhile helping to guide and stimulate thegrowing and maturing of others will not leaveyou unaffected. You, too, cannot help butgrow.

2. As a teacher you will learn how toorganize your thinking and working; fromthe great mass of knowledge you must learnto choose that which will be significant foreach group of learners.

3. As a teacher you will never cease to bea student. You will never feel that you knowenough to do your pupils justice. You willrealize that if you do not keep up with theworld, it will march away from you inseven-league boots.

4. From the outset of your career you willbe your own boss in a very large measure.There will be problems of curriculum, guid-ance and administration the solution ofwhich will set the tone of your school anddetermine your success or failure as ateacher. Furthermore such decisions mayaffect very literally the future of many ofyour pupils.

5. You will find that the human science ofteaching offers intriguing possibilities fororiginal research and investigation. Thehuman race is beginning to realize that thesadly neglected field of the social sciencesmust be expanded rapidly if mankind is todevelop the social conscience that will allowhim to use aright the awe-inspiring powerconferred upon him by the physical sciences.

6. Finally, as a teacher you will be one ofa fraternity engaged in making an essentialcontribution to human living. It is not,perhaps, making too great a claim to assertthat the pattern of the world for the nexthalf-century is being decided in the class-rooms of the world tais very year.

Hon. R. E. Ansley,

Minister of Education, in his booklet:"Should I Teach ?"

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Help each child to grow towardsocial harmony.

The Department of Education of BritishColumbia believes in constant improvementof the curriculum for the schools...

Of particular interest is the revision nowunder way in the field of the Social Studies.An experimental programme for Grades Ito VI was issued last fall and is now beingfollowed in the schools. Its general aim is toprovide children with those rich experiences

in group activities of a co-operative naturethat will help each child to grow towards aself-realization in harmony with society. Toput it in another way, British Columbiaschools seek to help children to develop thoseunderstandings, attitudes, habits, and skillsthat will enable each one to become a well-integrated and socially responsible citizen.

A committee is now engaged in the revisionof the Social Studies for the SecondarySchool grades. The basic concept underlyingthis revision is the training for EffectiveCanadian Citizenship. During the fall of1946 the Honourable the Minister of Educa-tion called two ~p.ublic. conferences, inVancouver and in victoria, for a discussionof the present courses of study in the SocialStudies. To these conferences were invitednot only leading provincial educators, butalso citizens representing all groups in thecommunity. The purposes of the Conferenceswere outlined as follows in the agenda sentto those participating:

"The decay of democracy abroad has ledmany thoughtful persons to conclude that,if democratic institutions are to be preserved,much more systematic understanding, train-ing and experience in the duties and respon-sibilities of effective citizenship are necessary.

"The purpose of this Conference is to seekadvice for the guidance of professional com-mittees, who will be charged with the task ofproducing a curriculum which will trainyoung people more adequately for effectivecitizenship in a democratic society . . .

The revision committee which is now atwork preparing a course in the Social Studiesfor the Junior and Senior High School gradesexpects to complete its work during thewinter of 1947-48, and it is anticipated thatthe programme will be in effect in the schoolsof British Columbia in the fall of 1948.

From: "Education in British Columbia",A Report prepared by the Depart-

ment of Education, June 1947.

MANITOBA

Spiritual farce finds expressionthrough teacher.

(This is the concluding chapter of the Reportof the Special Committee of the ManitobaLegislative Assembly on Education).

The Special Select Committee of theManitoba Legislative Assembly has endeav-oured to form and to present a realistic

picture of the educational system of theprovince as it is today, and to formulatedefinite and specific proposals for suchmodification as it deems necessary to meetthe challenge of tomorrow. It recognizes thatthese proposals cannot be implemented with-out the approval and sanction of the people,and recommends that every effort be madeto secure such endorsation.

The Committee realizes that we are pass-ing through one of the great transitionperiods of history. Once more, in the wordsof Jan Smuts, mankind has struck its tentsand once more is on the march. Greatsociological experiments have been made,still greater may be foreseen as the drama ofthat greatest adventure of the human mindthat we call civilization steadily unfolds. Itrealizes, too, that one of the leading roles inthat drama must be played, and will beplayed, by the teacher.

For in the last analysis, it is not so muchthe system of administration, or the carefuladjustment of financial support, or even thescientific synthesis of curricula, that deter-mines the quality of education--it is theseriousness of purpose with the power ofinspiration of the teacher that infuses vigour,provokes activity, and evokes the stirringsof new life in the hearts of our youngpeople. Material conditions may be im-proved-and it is the sincere desire of theCommittee that this Report may acceleratethat improvement--but in the end, it is thespiritual force behind our educational effortthat will determine, not only the quality ofour citizenship, but also the course of ourcivilization. And that spiritual force mustfind its outward expression through theteacher.

NEW BRUNSWICK

Future of teachers never sa brightas at present.

Since the war, unfortunately, we have beencompelled because of scarcity of teachers toemploy a large number of High Schoolgraduates on temporary certificates. Everyeffort is being made to reduce the number,and we do not expect to issue temporarycertificates after 1948 in any considerablenumbers.

Our aim is to have two years of profes-sional training for all High School graduatesentering the teaching profession, whichwould result in all our teachers possessing

first class or higher licenses. There is a goodchance of attaining this objective within thenext five years.

The introduction of the plan of financingrural schools as county units in 1943 hasvery greatly changed the prospects for ruralteachers in New Brunswick. County FinanceBoards now have schedules for teachers’salaries comparable to the city boards, andthe future of the teaching profession in thisprovince never was so bright as at present.

Fletcher Peacock,

Director and Chief Superintendent

NOVA SCOTIA

Keep standards but widen scopeof education.

During recent years several importantchanges have come about in Nova Scotia’sschool system. Through the establishmentof the municipal school unit a modern,practical financial system has been formedwhereby the cost of education is beinglevelled out and borne equitably throughoutall parts of the province; this system affordsthe guarantee of a minimum educationallevel in every school within the municipality,and the minimum generally is considerablyhigher than the average under the formersystem-of sectional control. A second im-provement has been the setting up of aprovincial minimum teachers’ salary scaleand very considerable increases m thegovernment’s grants towards teachers’ sala-ries. These have been necessary preliminariesto and important first steps towards furtherimprovement. Plans have been made for thesetting up over a period of years of a largenumber of rural high school areas, by con-solidation in rural and urban centres. Thisconsolidation has already begun. Work hascommenced, too, on the establishment ofstrategically placed vocational high schoolsin a smaller number of centres. Substantialprogress has been made in the newer media ofeducation, radio education, visual education,educational and vocational guidance and ina broad programme of adult education.

Now that administrative reform has beeneffected, attention is being concentrated onimprovement of the educative process itself.Kinds of schools, subjects ot instruction,teacher training and the quality of theguidance and teaching of pupils are some ofthe problems for further development in thecontinuing reform in education.

The feeling of the people--educator andlayman alike as to the primary needs ofeducation in Nova Scotia has for some timebeen crystallized. Without detriment toacademic standards or to academic educa-tion for those who will profit thereby, wideravenues of practical education of a useful,functional sort are needed; and the gettingof the right kind of education needs to bemade equally possible to all childrentincity and rural school alike. Educationappropriate to the individual and equalityof opportunity to get it--these are thewatchwords.

R. A. Simpson,

Secretary, Department of Education.

ONTARIO

Today’s education is civilization

of tomorrow.

"Own your own business, run your ownbusiness, mind your own business." Theteaching profession defaults this maximthree ways: it does not own its own business--the municipalities and provinces own it;it does not run its own business--schoolboards and provincial departments of educa-tion run it; it does not mind its own business--it minds the growing-up business of otherpeople’s children.

This may sound negative and satirical.But there is a positive and constructiveside, immensely important though verysimple. The teaching profession has a jobto do and an aim in doing it, like anyoneelse whose living and thinking are worthwhile. Life is .simple when faced frankly.Farmers produce from soil, clouds send rain,citizens vote and object to taxes, womenbear children--and teachers educate them.

The teaching profession visualizes a

~eneration in advance; for today’s educationcomes tomorrow’s civilization. Education

and catastrophe are running a close race.To avert catastrophe, barbarism must beeducated out of the worldtand quickly.The cost of one merry little war--like thislast one-would educate the world forcenturies. Get good educators--it would bethe best investment the world could make.

J. B. Wallace,

EditorOntario Educational Association Year Book

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Composite High School, better-paid teachers to serve rural P.E.I.

Prince Edward Island being almost ex-clusively rural is served for the most part byschools of one and two rooms. These schoolsin addition to the work of the eight elemen-tary grades attempt the work of Grades IXand X, as well. Obviously this is an impos-sible task in the light of educational require-ments for present conditions. The HighSchool work done in these one-roomed ruralschools must, of necessity, be confined to anarrow course leading to Prince of WalesCollege, a Junior Institution, which com-pletes the work of the High School grades,as well as doing the first two years of collegework.

Having in mind the present situation, asindicated above, the Department’s plans forthe future include a system of RegionalComposite High Schools for the Province,sufficient in number to serve all the pupilsof High School age, and sufficiently broadin their offerings to care for the varied needs,interests and aptitudes of these pupils.Legislation has already been passed givingthe Minister of Education authority toestablish such High School areas.

In preparation for this, the immediatetask is the improvement of the present ruralschools in the matter of school property,equipment and the teaching service. To thisend, teachers’ salaries have been increasedfor the present school year by approximatelythirty per cent, and grants have been madeavailable to districts to encourage and assistthem in improving present school property,and in the construction of new buildings.

L. W. Shaw,

Deputy Minister and Director of Education

QUEBEC

New Normal Schools: Increasedsalaries: Raised qualifications.

Saying modestly that the objective ofQuebec is to raise the qualifications ofteachers as circumstances permit, J. P.Labarre, superintendent, the Department ofEducation, goes on to tell of some ways inwhich this result is being sought.

More Normal Schools are being establishedand higher salaries are being paid, twoimportant factors in increasing the numberof teachers. The proportion of population ofhigh school age actually attending highschool has increased from 21 per cent in 1922to over 37 per cent at the last census, andthe demand for teachers has risen pro-portionately.

Mr. Labarre adds: "A new course of studymore in line with modern educationaltheories has been adopted for Catholicschools."

SASKATCHEWAN

Apprenticeship is basis of practiteteaching.

The revised programme of teacher trainingfor Saskatchewan makes provision for afour-year course leading to a Bachelor ofEducation degree and an Interim HighSchool or Interim Elementary School specia-list certificate, according to the optionchosen. A limited amount of specializationis possible in several fields of subject matter.Students graduating from the one yearNormal Schools receive Interim First Classcertificates and credit for the work of thefirst year of the four-year programme. Nocertificate is issued on the conclusion of thework of the first year, if it is done in theCollege of Education. At the end of thesecond year an Interim Junior High Schoolcertificate is issued, which is valid for teach-ing grades above six.

Practice teaching is on an apprenticeshipbasis. Normal School students serve asassistant teachers for a period of six weeksin special schools under selected teachers,and the whole programme is closely super-vised by Normal School instructors. Aspecial feature of the practice teaching pro-gramme is the provision of multiple gradeclassrooms in the cities in which the NormalSchools are located.

In-service education has been organized ona province-wide basis and has been closelyintegrated with the supervisory programme.Also, a considerable amount of co-ordinationhas been effected between the pre-servicetraining in the Normal Schools and the fieldservices of the Superintendents.

A. B. Ross,

Deputy Minister, Department of Education