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were impeccable. Few schools rose to that standard of clearness and intelligibility.
Few schools realised the full importance of first of all getting all the children to
be communicative and then of getting them to acquire habits which ultimately
lead to gracious speech.
Staffing.—The Board recognise three grades of nursery school teachers—(i)
superintendents, (ii) adult assistants, and nurses, (iii) probationers. It is rightly
contended that " the work of a superintendent of a nursery school necessarily
demands a high standard of capacity and a varied experience, both personal and
professional." The experience of the last decade has convinced all who are closely
concerned with nursery school work that the superintendent should possess a teacher's
certificate, and be specially trained for nursery school work; and that the adult
assistants should have at least the latter qualification. Some might be stronger
on the nursing side others stronger on the teaching side; but all should have an
ad hoc training.
It was obvious to us that the services of the superintendent of a small school
are exacting and nerve-racking. She is on duty all day. Even during the sleeping
hours she cannot afford to be off guard; there are always some children claiming
her attention. Her duties, carried out in a narrow environment, with a constant
round of tiresome ministration, demand a large fund of patience, cheerfulness and
good humour. And her health sometimes breaks down. One of us, who has kept
the nursery schools of London under observation for nine years, has had the constant
change of superintendent forced upon his notice. The period of her rule is generally
brief. The strain upon her nerves tends to produce the very attitude of mind which
is least desirable in a nursery school. She cannot stay away and rest, for the school
cannot go on without her. This is true of the small nursery school only. The
larger the nursery school the less obvious is the nervous strain.
The remedy seems to lie in the free interchange of teachers between nursery
schools and other schools. After a change of work the nursery school teachers
can come back refreshed and strengthened. When she arrives at the period of
life when attention to the needs of very young children is too exacting and burdensome,
she can pass on to more congenial work among older children.
We must, however, emphasise the need for special training for all who undertake
to serve in a nursery school. To be specially drawn to this work is agood beginning,
but it is not enough. The nursery school teacher must not only be a lover of
children, but a knower of children as well, and a knower of all the factors that make
for health, growth and happiness.
The training of nursery school teachers—We were everywhere met with the
complaint that it was difficult to secure good nursery school teachers. The ordinary
teachers lacked the necessary knowledge of nursing and child hygiene; the nurse
lacked the power to inculcate good social and intellectual habits.
In the early days of nursery schools the teachers nearly all came from the
Froebel Institute. They were excellent in their way, and, after a little experience,
made admirable superintendents. But the Institute, good as it is for kindergarten
teachers, does not pretend to train specially for nursery school teaching.
This source of supply has since been supplemented by three others: (1) certain
training colleges that undertake to give a special course in nursery school work,
(i) the Mather Training College in Manchester, (iii) the McMillan Training Centre
in London.
The first source has never been very plentiful and is apparently drying up.
Indeed, the training colleges seem to be making more and more provision for the
teaching of seniors and less and less provision for the teaching of juniors. The
Council's inspectors who select teachers for the List of First Appointments have no
difficulty whatever in securing girls' teachers. The supply is superabundant.
But the supply of infants' teachers, comparable in quality with the girls' teachers,