The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-02 00:00:00

TD ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLMASTERS
OF GREAT BRITAIN.

On Saturday forenoon a public meeting was held in
Shaftesbury-hall, Aldersgate-street, for the purpose of
organising an association, which is intended to em-
brace " all teachers who acknowledge the essential
doctrines of Christianity and the sufficiency of Holy
Scripture as the rule of faith and practice." The
circular convening the meeting stated the general object
of the proposed association to be " to advance and
systematise the profession of teaching, and thereby to
improve and extend elementary education. For the
attainment of this object, the association will seek
to establish a connection among the various local as-
sociations of schoolmasters throughout Great Britain,
and to give them unity of action. It will endea-
vour to concentrate the talent and experience of the
whole body of elementary instructors on the im-
provement of professional knowledge and the advance-
ment of educational literature. This will be done chiefly
by means of the reading of papers on subjects connected
with education, and by general discussions, at the annual
meetings. The professional knowledge and experience
thus elicited will afterwards be disseminated among
teachers generally. The association will also give ex-
pression to the collective opinion of its members on mat-
ters relating to their professional interests."
The meeting was attended by a large number of the
masters of public schools in the metropolis and in the
provinces ; and several schoolmistresses were also pre-
sent. In the absence of the Earl of Shaftesbury, Mr.
Alderman Challis occupied the chair. In opening the
proceedings,
The CHAIRMAN said that the object which had brought
them together was one that was demanded by the cir-
cumstances of the times in which they lived. Education
was now the great subject of consideration in the public
mind. Juvenile delinquency, and all the evils which
arose from ignorance, were now engaging the anxious
attention of those whose intelligence and experience
fitted them to discover a proper remedy, and all their
suggestions and propositions, more or less, pointed in
the direction of education ; for it was felt that without
a general system of education, adapted to the condition
of all classes of the multitudinous population by which
we were surrounded, the existing evils of our social state
could never be overtaken There were some parties con-
tending that the education given should be purely volun-
tary, and others advocating a State system; but it was
obvious to all, that by whatever means education was to
be imparted, it must be extended to all, and that it
was far cheaper to educate a child than to punish it.
But, however universal was the attention which had
been given to education, it was remarkable that little
had been said by its promoters about the schoolmas-
ters by whom their remedy must be applied, and on
whom the great work of grounding the rising genera-
tion in moral and religious principles, and making them
good members of society, mainly devolved. It was true,
training schools for schoolmasters existed, and it was
only by their agency that our system had not fallen into
utter contempt among other nations. But when a young
man left one of these training establishments with great
promise to undertake the duties of a school, he had often
to sustain a very disheartening and wearisome struggle,
unaided by his committee ; and therefore the object cf
that association would be, to point out to him that, un-
less he went on constantly adding to his knowledge,
his experience, and acquirements, his school must inevi-
tably retrograde. By means of combination they would
afford him facilities for mutual intercourse with his pro-
fessional brethren, and by the interchange of ideas that
would take place at the meetings of the association,
every schoolmaster would have the means of improving
himself, and increasing his fitness for his responsible
vocation. The country teacher would thereby be en-
couraged to take heart under the monotonous and de-
pressing circumstances of his position, and would have
the experience which others had acquired in larger
schools than his own placed at his disposal. A common
centre for united action, in all matters bearing upon the
character, position, and general interests of the class,
would also be provided by means of the association.
They therefore claimed, in the first place, the support of
the committee of every public school ; and further, they
ought to have the clergy and ministers of all denomina-
tions to co operate with them, because they sought no
separate or exclusive object ; and if any clergyman
should have any objection to offer to their views, they
would endeavour, as far as possible, to modify their rules
so as to meet his wishes. He congratulated the promo-
ters of the association on the success which had already
attended their exertions, and he had great pleasure in
presenting them 3 with a first donation of ten guineas.
(Hear, hear.)
The SECRETARY (Mr. Tilleard) then read a report
from the provisional committee, detailing the origin and
progress of the movement. The document having been
received and adopted,
Mr. DAINTREE, head master of Highbury Traininr,
College, moved the first resolution, viz.:—" That th:
importance which the subject of education has now as-
sumed in the public mind demands that teachers should
meet as a body for the promotion of professional ob-
jects."