From Normal School to College- and University-based Teacher Training

1. From Normal School to College- and University-based Teacher Training Fall, 2006 EDCI658

2. What Is A Normal School? • A normal school or teachers college is an educational institution for training teachers. • Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name. The term normal school is now archaic in all but a few countries. In New Zealand, for example, normal schools are affiliated with Teachers colleges.

3. What Is A Normal School? • According to the Oxford English Dictionary, normal schools in the United States and Canada trained primary school teachers, while in Europe, normal schools educated primary, secondary and tertiary-level teachers.

4. Terminology of Normal School • The term normal school originated in the early 19th century from the France. Because the graduates of these schools, that is, the teachers, were expected to uphold and teach norms, or rules, they were called normal schools. • The terminology is preserved in the official translations of such schools in People's Republic of China since the early 20th century. A Chinese normal university is usually controlled by the national or provincial government. A teacher’s college has lower entrance requirements.

5. Terminology of Normal School • The terminology is also preserved in Europe even if some of the original normal schools do not serve the purpose of teacher education anymore.

6. Origin of Normal School • Specific training for teachers was originated in France (1685) by St. John Baptist de la Salle. Teacher training spread rapidly in Europe as a result of the work of August Hermann Francke and Johann Pestalozzi and through the influence of the monitorial system. • Germany established the first curriculum for teacher training in the 18th cent. From Europe the monitorial training method spread to the United States

7. Normal Schools in the United States • The first normal schools in the United States were founded in Massachusetts beginning in the late 1830s, thanks largely to the efforts of education reformers such as Horace Mann and Henry Barnard. • In 1839, a school known simply as Normal School, the first of its kind in the United States, opened in Lexington, Massachusetts; it has since moved and is now known as Framingham State College.

8. Normal Schools in the United States • Influenced by similar academies in Prussia and elsewhere in Europe, they were intended to improve the quality of the burgeoning common school system by producing more qualified teachers. • Normal schools were established outside of the control/influence of universities and colleges

9. Early Normal Schools in the United States • First normal school west of the Appalachian Mountains in the United States: the Michigan State Normal School, now Eastern Michigan University. It was created by legislative action in 1849 and opened in 1853. • Oldest normal school west of Mississippi River was Harris-Stowe State University founded by the St. Louis public school system in 1857

10. Early Normal Schools in the United States • The first state-authorized normal college to open west of the Mississippi River was Winona State Normal School, now called Winona State University. Opening in 1858. • The first normal school in what is now considered the Southwest was opened in 1879 as Sam Houston Normal Institute (now Sam Houston State University)

11. Early Normal Schools in the United States Cont. • The first state-run normal school on the West Coast was the Minns' Evening Normal School, created in 1857 to train teachers for San Francisco's schools. It was taken over by the State of California in 1862 and became the California State Normal School (now San Jose State University).

12. The Transition • Two year normal schools transform into 4 year normal schools • Four year normal schools transform into 4 year teachers colleges or state universities • State Universities transform into Universities • 1879 Sam Houston Normal Institute • 1923 State Normal Schools change name to State Teacher Colleges (SHTC) • 1975 State Teacher Colleges change to State University (SHSU)

13. The Transition • Others leave state university system • North Texas State University becomes University of North Texas • East Texas State University becomes Texas A&M University - Commerce • West Texas State University becomes Texas A&M University - Canyon

14. The Transition • In the United States, the function of normal school has been taken up by undergraduate and graduate schools of education; the schools themselves were upgraded to universities focused on meeting the needs of the region in which they were located.

15. The Transition Cont. • Many famous universities, such as the University of California, Los Angeles were founded as normal schools. In Canada, such institutions are typically part of a university as the Faculty of Education offering a one- or two-year Bachelor of Education program. It requires at least three (usually four) years of prior undergraduate studies.

16. The Transition Cont. • The sole purpose of normal schools was professional instruction of elementary-school teachers, an especially strong emphasis was placed on the psychology of child development. • Preparation for secondary-school teaching, which demanded a larger academic component, was still left to liberal arts colleges.

17. The Transition Cont. • Nevertheless, by the turn of the century many normal schools had expanded into four-year degree-granting teachers colleges, and by the 1920s and 30s these teachers colleges, generally supported by the public, were training substantial numbers of the nation’s public-school teachers. • Training for secondary-school teachers remained primarily a function of liberal-arts colleges until after World War II.

18. Transition Cont. • The growing numbers of students and the growing need for technical skills in the nation’s workforce led to a demand for secondary education that traditional colleges could not meet. • Since 1945, consequently, most teachers colleges have expanded their educational missions and become liberal-arts colleges offering a broad general education in addition to specialized courses in pedagogy.

19. Transition Cont. • In the United States, the first graduate program in education was established at New York Univ. (1887). In the following year the teacher-training school that is presently known as Teachers College, Columbia Univ., was founded. Since the establishment of those two institutions, graduate study in education has expanded rapidly.

20. The Contribution of Normal Schools • Established teaching as a profession • Provide women with opportunities to continue their education and to advance in public career • Met the demand of economic and social changes such as the common school movement, industrialization, democratic citizenship

21. Sources • http://www.bartleby.com/65/te/teachert.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_school • http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/normal.html • http://www.primaryresearch.org/PRTHB/schoolhistory/synenki.pdf • http://escholarship.bc.edu/dissertations/AAI9217455/