RESUME OF LECTURES ON EDUCATION, BY C. C. HOWARD, ESQ., F.R.G.S

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 111, 10 August 1877, Page 2

RESUME OF LECTURES ON EDUCATION, BY C. C. HOWARD, ESQ., F.R.G.S

PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. Lecture lll.—Subject—Application of nature's principles to education in infant schools. Methods of Pestalozzi, Wilderspin, Mayo, Stow and Frobel. Importance of securing highest talent for teachers of infant schools. Inherent defects of pupil teacher system; How best to turn pupil teachers to account in mental culture of children. " The lecturercommenced by stating that the term Infant School is a misnomer: The only kind of infant school in existence is what is known as baby schools. The word infant, derived from in and fans means properly, one who cannot speak, and is equivalent to Ger dumf, dumb, dead to sound. Infant schools have greatly improved during late years, but are yet very far from what ought tS be. Mr. Howard strongly condemned the practice of requiring very young children in schools to conform to the quiet, orderly routine of older children. They are no£ intended by nature to sit still, and should be placed under different discipline in which more motion and freedom are allowed, and the teaching should be chiefly confined to exercising the faculties of observation and reflection, as much as possible by means of objects. He briefly reviewed the lives and labours of the best teachers and educatists of modern times. Pestalozzi and Frobel among the Germans; and Wilderspin, Mr. and Miss Mayo, and Stow among the English. Pestalozzi having failed in his effort to reform society, attempted to carry reform into the schools. His theories are considered to have been good, but his practice was thoroughly bad. He was described as a blundering experimenter, always varying his plans and continually condemning what " he had previously applauded. In his re- X form he abolished every means then in use and endeavoured to begin anew, instead of retaining the good and rejecting the useless His system allowed'no whatever, but he attempted to teach byexternal application only.' The system limited the studies of children chiefly to number, form, and language. Mr. and Miss Mayo saw what was good in the mejfchod of Pestalozzi, and at their school, at Cheaine, in Surrey, improved it, and adapted it to the infant school system. From their work arose the " Home and Colonial School Society." Joseph Wilderspin established an infant school syste-m at Spitalfields, in London, in 1820, and his first efforts were directed to the education, of the street arabs and neglected children in the neighbourhood. He introduced the use of fun into his system, .and obtained the first * silence and attention -by exhibiting his wife's cap, placed at the end of an elevated stick. He signally failed in his endeavours to train others into his ways and method. f| He could teach, but could not train teachers. David Stow may justly be considered

the father of the training system. Pestalozzi enly aimed at intellectual training, while Stow, at Glasgow, made, religious and moral culture his aim. He made the play ground his field of study, and gave great attention to object lessons. Frobel was the greatest of all founders of methods of education, and was the founder of the " Jcindergarten" (children's garden) system. He recognised the "child's nature" and framed bis system accordingly. His motto was, " Come, let us. live with our children." Frobel spent two years in wandering from place to place, studying the habits, manners, and nature of children, always taking up his lodgings in houses where children were numerous, and quietly studying their characters. He found the imaginative and construcfioe faculties in children large about the age of six years. Before that age children are seldom anxious for learning, but after six, the desire for instruction becomes great. Teachers must aim to make all their, teaching natural and interesting, and among infants or very young children, attention to individuals should be practiced as much as possible. Classes in infant schools should bo small, and on no account exceed fifteen children to each teacher. The very best talent is necessary for infant schools, which should not be confided to inexperienced, incapable, or to pupil teachers. Individual faculties, such as thought, observation. &c, should be cultivated, and all school work should be graduated. Infant school teachers, as well as others, should be constant students. Pupil teachers should be allowed time during school work, to observe the methods followed by the principal teachers, and interchange of work aud classes is very desirable. Notes of lessons should be carefully prepared, and teachers should criticise each other's work. Care should be taken that children take nothing for granted, but are made to understand thoroughly the subject which forms the lesson.

(To be Continued.')