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LETTER.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C., August 30, 1878.

SIR: American educators are turning their attention with increasing interest to the importance of securing well trained teachers; this Office is called upon to answer many questions respecting teaching in Germany.

With a view to answering such inquiries, I have had prepared the following brief summary of existing laws in relation to the training, examination, appointment, salary, and professional duties of teachers in several of the German states, together with the latest attainable statistics relating thereto.

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THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS IN GERMANY.

I. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.

PRUSSIA.

The Prussian Centralblatt für die gesammte Unterrichts- Verwaltung, Berlin, October, 1877, published under the auspices of the ministry of public instruction, gives the following account of institutions for the training of teachers of elementary schools during the period from December, 1870, to December, 1876. The reason for selecting these dates is that the yearly inspection reports show the state of these institutions down to December in each year. The starting point of the great improvement which has been effected was a resolution adopted by the national assembly (Landtag) December 22, 1870, at the very crisis of the Franco-German war, calling on the government "to endeavor to meet more rapidly than hitherto the pressing need for the erection of new training institutions and the enlargement of those already existing, and thus to put an end to the practice of filling up teachers' vacancies by appointing unqualified individuals."

The following table gives a summary of these institutions existing in Prussia and maintained out of public funds in December, 1876.1

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1 In Germany the institutions for the training of teachers are called "teachers' seminaries," which name will be used in the following pages, instead of “normal schools," the term usually applied to similar institutions in the United States.

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Therefore, in 1876, there were 2,079 more students in training than in 1870, and the yearly increase in the number of those who devote themselves to the profession of teaching in the elementary schools is about six hundred and fifty more each year now than it was then.

This result has been obtained, not by shortening the period of training, but by the reorganization" of establishments which had not been fully completed, by increasing the accommodations of existing institutions and by founding new ones. There were in 1870 some subordinate training schools in which the course of preparation was not complete in all branches. These have been either raised to a satisfactory grade or have been discontinued. During the twenty-five years from 1846 to 1870, only twenty new seminaries were founded, while during the following six years, 1870-1876, twenty-six were established. Of these, three were in the province of Prussia, two in Brandenburg, seven in Silesia, one in Saxony, one in Schleswig-Holstein, three in Hanover, one in Westphalia, one in Hesse-Nassau, and seven in the Rhine Province.

The following table shows the increase in the number of the population and of the students from 1870 to 1876, and also the relative increase during the same period.

Statistics relating to teachers' seminaries in the Kingdom of Prussia.

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It appears from the foregoing statistics that there is ample provision in Prussia for the professional training of teachers. The high standard of education in that country is largely due to the practice of the state which intrusts the instruction of the young only to thoroughly trained teachers, who have received their education in seminaries controlled and almost exclusively supported by the commonwealth. This action is based on the principle that the universal education of the people and the consequent growth of the state in wealth and power are impossible without the agency of the teacher's profession, and that such a profes sion is only possible through the adoption of measures calculated to make it at once honorable, secure, and independent.

The beneficial influence of the Prussian seminaries and the admirable results which they have brought about invite inquiry as to their gradual development, their organization and management, and the legal provi sions respecting them.

The following pages will give a brief account of the principal features of the Prussian training system, together with the laws and regulations. upon which it is based.

HISTORICAL SKETCH.

The first teachers' seminary in Prussia was established in the year 1697, by August Hermann Francke, professor in the University of Halle. It consisted at first of only one class, which was connected with an orphan school conducted by Francke in the same city. Francke had especially in view the training of trustworthy assistants for the institutions he was conducting, and it was only in 1704 that the former training class was transformed into a seminarium præceptorum, or teachers' seminary. The twelve pupils with whom Francke opened the seminary received, during two successive years, a thorough training in the principles and practice of teaching, and after they had left the school they imparted their experience to educators throughout the country. The Francke seminary soon became an object of admiration throughout Germany, and the demand for the study of the new methods of teaching became universal. In 1735 a similar institution was established in Stettin; in 1748 still another one in Berlin; and since the state began to enforce the training of teachers before allowing them to instruct the young, the number of seminaries has increased very rapidly. We find at present 106 of these institutions scattered throughout the kingdom. Each departmental district possesses at least one and nearly all have two of them. They are well endowed, partly by the state and partly by private benefactions. The instruction given in them is gratuitous, and at least one-half of the living expenses of the students is borne by the state or defrayed out of the funds of the seminary. Everything is provided which may contribute to the perfection of the intellectual and physical training of the students.

Of the 90 seminaries for male teachers, 44 are boarding and lodging

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