TEACHERS COLLEGE.

The session of 1910-11 begins Wednesday, September 28, 1910.

GENERAL STATEMENT.

The purpose of the Teachers College is to provide (a) collegiate training for teachers, (b) instruction in education as a department of science.

While research in the field of educational science, and the provision of courses which may be taken mainly for their culture value, are important features of the work of any university department of education, the principal aim of the Teachers College is the practical and professional one of training teachers. In this large field the Teachers College will restrict itself for the present mainly to the preparation of teachers for the higher grades of instruction and administration. The many excellent normal schools and training colleges are preparing teachers for efficient service in the primary and grade schools; but the need of the broad and substantial training of a college course as a preparation for high school teaching, and for responsible administrative positions, is now very generally admitted. Up to the present time it has too often happened that the college graduate who wishes to teach has been without any knowledge of the theory and practice of his vocation. The George Washington University, in common with many leading institutins, has endeavored to remedy this defect in the college training of the teacher by establishing a department for the systematic study of education in all its theoretical and practical aspects.

The aims of the Teachers College may, accordingly, be summarized as follows:

(a) To promote the knowledge of educational science.

(b) To fit students for the higher positions in the public school service.

(c) To secure to teaching the rights and prerogatives of a profession.

(d) To aid in raising the standards of educational practice, and so to increase the efficiency of public education.

ORGANIZATION.

With a view to combining to the best advantage a general college education with adequate professional training for teaching, the work of the Teachers College rests upon a preparatory course of two years' duration in the College of Arts and Sciences. The prescribed studies of this course, given below, are stated as "Group IV" (see page 56) in

the announcement of the curricula of the first and second years. The two years of professional study in the Teachers College consists of a minimum of ten units of required technical courses in education and twenty units of electives, the major part of which should be devoted to the subjects which the student wishes to teach.

Inasmuch as a large number of teachers in service are without college degrees, and a still larger number desire to supplement their professional training by taking special courses, the courses of instruction have been arranged to meet the needs both of undergraduate students and of teachers in service. The required courses constituting the prescribed work in education are given both in the morning and in the late afternoon hours, and are, therefore, easily accessible to both students and teachers from the schools. The hours are also convenient for persons employed in the Departments of Government. The completion of the curriculum of Group IV in the College of Arts and Sciences, and of the prescribed and elective courses in the Teachers College, is recognized by the granting of a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Teacher's Diploma.

Opportunity is also offered to graduate students to pursue a major or minor in Education, leading to the granting of a Teacher's Diploma in conjunction with a Master's or a Doctor's degree. In this connection attention may be called to the exceptional facilities existing in Washington for graduate study, particularly in the history of education in the United States. The extensive collections of the Congressional Library and the library and archives of the United States Bureau of Education furnish unrivaled opportunities in this department.

ADMISSION.

Applicants for admission as regular students, i. e., as candidates for a degree, must present certificates showing that they have completed the first two years of the prescribed curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences, or an equivalent course in some other institution. Teachers in service, however, and graduates of Normal Schools, who are entitled to advanced standing, may be registered in Teachers College, and conditioned in the prescribed studies in which they may be deficient, until they shall have completed those courses. But persons desirous of taking one or more of the professional courses, without becoming candidates for a degree, may be admitted as special students on the presentation of satisfactory evidence that they are qualified to pursue the work to advantage. Students who have begun their college course in another group than that entitling them to admission to Teachers College may transfer their registration to Group IV, provided that they complete all the prescribed work of the latter group.

ADMISSION TO ADVANCED STANDING.

Students who have pursued courses of study in other colleges or universities of approved rank will receive advanced credit for such work on the presentation of certificates.

Graduates of approved Normal Schools, Training Colleges, or Technical Schools, and teachers of experience who have studied privately, will be admitted to such advanced standing as the courses they have pursued warrant.

THE TEACHERS COURSE.

The full college course for the training of teachers comprises therefore the following educational divisions, the first two made up of prescribed studies and of qualified electives, the third of free electives:

(a) A foundation of 22-24 hours of general culture studies, pursued in the College of Arts and Sciences, and prescribed in accordance with the view that a teacher's preparatory training should omit no one of the principal elements of culture, supplemented by 6 to 8 hours to be elected from the same subjects, in order to make the curriculum adaptable to the varying needs of individuals.

(b) A minimum of ten hours of professional training courses.

(c) Twenty free elective hours of special information courses and further training courses.

In recognition of the professional training and the high number of prescribed hours of study, graduates of the Teachers College will receive, in addition to the Bachelor of Arts degree, a Teacher's Diploma. Both are conferred by the University.

An "hour" of study represents one hour of recitation or lecture work per week for one academic year, or its equivalent.

GRADUATION.

To be recommended for a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Teacher's Diploma, the student must complete courses of study aggregating at least sixty hours. Thirty-two or thirty-four of these hours are in prescribed studies, and the remainder in electives. The prescribed studies are the following:

(For further definition of these requirements, see the introductory paragraph under "Education," page 105.)

The electives should be chosen with direct reference to the subjects which the student wishes to teach.

THE TEACHER'S DIPLOMA.

The Teacher's Diploma is granted in connection with the Bachelor of Arts degree upon the fulfillment of the following conditions: a. The student must have satisfactorily completed the courses of study defined in the preceding paragraph. b. He must, in the judgment of his instructors, also possess other qualifications essential to success in teaching.

The Diploma is also given in connection with higher degrees, provided a graduate student has taken a major or minor in Education, and has also satisfied the requirements a and b above, or in lieu of a has completed an equivalent amount of pedagogical and other work in another institution.

UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS.

Holders of the Kendall Scholarship and the University Scholarships may register in Teachers College on the same terms as in other departments of the University. For particulars see pages 60-61.

PRACTICE TEACHING.

Ample opportunity will be afforded for practice in teaching by (a) attendance upon observation classes conducted by experienced teachers, and (b) actual practice in teaching under the supervision and subject to the criticism of teacher critics.

EXPERIMENTAL WORK.

Teachers College maintains a psychological laboratory for introductory experimental work. The equipment is specially adapted to the investigation of problems of interest to students of education. The

advanced courses in experimental psychology are conducted at the Government Hospital for the Insane. These courses are modified each year to meet the requirements of the students electing them, and the facilities and equipment of this laboratory are in many respects unrivaled.

The school system of a large city, moreover, offers abundant opportunity for observation, and for the statistical study of methods and other practical educational problems.

TEACHERS COLLEGE LIBRARY.

The department library of Teachers College is supplied with the most important reference books and periodicals in Education, Psychology, and Philosophy, together with the principal Reports, etc. The reading room is open from 9 a. m. to 12 m. and from 1.30 p. m. to 6 p. m., each day of the University calendar year. In addition, books may be withdrawn over night and from Saturday to Monday. For a statement of other library facilities see "University Library," page 32.

TEACHERS APPOINTMENT BUREAU.

The Teachers College maintains a Teachers Appointment Bureau for the purpose of aiding students who are studying, or have studied, in the Teachers College, or in the College of Arts and Sciences, to secure positions as teachers. This service is performed gratuitously, in the interest both of students and of superintendents of schools and boards of education wishing to employ teachers. Communications should be addressed to the "Teachers Appointment Bureau," Teachers College, The George Washington University.