Certificated Schoolmasters

[BlueSavannah]

Hello All,

My great x 3 grandfather was a school master for approx 20 years. He claims on 2 censuses that he was certificated. I would like to try and find out more information about his time working as a school master and wondered if anyone knew of any lists etc that he may appear on if he was indeed certificated.

Many thanks in advance.

[Shona]

This is from the Institute of Education, University of London

History of teacher training in the UK
The first government qualifications were linked to the Pupil-Teacher Scheme which began in 1846. Previous to this there was no systematic training, and qualifications were not required, although some denominational colleges existed.

Pupil-teachers completed a five-year apprenticeship in teaching and learning within a school context, and were then allowed to sit the annual Queen’s Scholarships examination, which qualified the scholarship holders for places in recognised teacher training colleges. At this time a pupil-teacher who did not take the Queen’s Scholarship examination could still teach in a grant aided elementary school as an ‘Uncertificated Teacher’ (or ‘Assistant Teacher’). The Queen’s Scholarships were abolished in 1863 as a result of the Revised Code.

The College of Preceptors was founded in 1846, as the Society of Teachers, by a group of private schoolmasters from Brighton. Three years later it was incorporated by Royal Charter as the College of Preceptors. The College pioneered a system for the formal examination and qualification of secondary school teachers (mainly in private schools) and many teachers have acquired the qualifications of the College: ACP (Associate); LCP (Licentiate); and FCP (Fellow). The college still exists and its name was changed to the College of Teachers by Supplemental Charter in 1998.

The Elementary Education Act of 1870 transformed teacher training. The Act meant that many more teachers were needed, yet the local School Boards did not have powers to train them. The Committee of Council restored the title ‘Queen’s Scholars’ and allowed colleges to pass out students after one year’s training. It gave HMI (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education) powers to recommend, without examination, serving teachers for the Certificate and it lowered the pass standard for the Certificate.

Between 1870 and 1880 the number of certificated teachers rose from 12,467 to 32,128 and the number of pupil-teachers more than doubled. The fastest growth was of ‘Assistant teachers’ – ex-pupil-teachers who did not have the Certificate.

[Shona]

It was in 1846 that Sir James P Kay-Shuttleworth, as Secretary for the Committee of the Privy Council, issued his famous minutes on the arrangements of Pupil Teachers.

Bright children of thirteen years and over stayed on at the elementary school to become assistant teachers. They were apprenticed to teachers who had to be approved by the HMIs and stayed until they were eighteen years old, during which time they received tuition of seven-and-a-half hours per week from the Master in order to improve their own knowledge. They taught the younger children each day to gain practise in teaching. HMIs were to report on their progress throughout their training. At the end of their apprenticeship, they were eligible for an exam which could lead to a Queen’s Scholarship which would finance their training at one of the new colleges. They could attend these colleges for one or two years, but most of the Pupil Teachers just carried on teaching and didn't receive any college training. The pay was £10 a year at the age of 13, increasing gradually to £20 a year when they reached 18. A college training meant that teachers could obtain a higher salary and this was dependent on the number of years actually spent at college.

However some years later, R L Morant felt that it was necessary to improve the quality of teachers in elementary schools, who had in fact, often been at the school all their life, having received no secondary education or college training.

Pupil Teacher centres were therefore set up in various towns and these went some way to meeting the higher standards of the nineteenth century.

Often prior to commencement as a Pupil Teacher, pupils became stipendiary monitors i.e. monitors who received pay.

[Shona]

We need to find out where Henry went to school and then see if the archives in that area have records of pupil teachers and those who went on to college.

[Sue from Southend]

FMP have Teachers Registration Council Registers 1914 - 1948. However they suggest that teachers who started their careers from 1870's onwards are recorded. Might be worth a look.

[Shona]

When was he a teacher and where?

[BlueSavannah]

Thanks you for all that info Shona.

Sue, I didnt know those records were on FMP but sadly my man had gone back to working as a silversmith by at least 1866. This makes me wonder if he was actually certificated or was lying (its one of my Jones' so he was probably telling huge porkies :rolleyes:)

All I know for sure if that Henry Jones was claiming to be a certified schoolmaster on the 1851 census in Warmsworth, Yorkshire. He was in Ravenfield, Yorkshire a year earlier when his son Louis Cutts Jones was born. I found a document online which detailed all the occupants who had lived at a particular address in Ravenfield and Henry Jones is on it from 1849-1850.

He then went to Stoney Middleton in Derbyshire (not sure if there is anywhere in between Warmsworth and SM). I've found him listed on numerous wills in SM as a witness, and he's a schoomaster. I've found him on a trade directory for 1857 in SM.

By 1861, he's in the village of Greenhill which is part of Norton near Sheffield (also called Norton Lees/Norton Woodseats). He's still claiming to be a certified schoolmaster on the census. Havnt managed to locate anything here online that lists Henry.

For some reason, he went back to being a silversmith by his son William's marriage in Sheffield in 1866. The only thing can think of is that he wasnt actually certified and he was caught out, but I am intrigued incase there was another reason to why he changed his occupation so drastically back to what he started his working life as.

[Shona]

When did his father die? Could he have taken over the business?

Looking at the 1851 census, he isn't the only one who's a teacher:

Henry Jones, 28, school master
Ann Jones, 28, school mistress
Henry Jones, 6, scholar at home
William Jones, 4
Louis Jone, 1
Eliza Jones, 18, sister, assistant teacher

[BlueSavannah]

His father is William Jones and he died in 1869, in Sheffield, aged 72.

William was a Silversmith/Brazier on all census I have him.

Eliza Jones, is Henry's sister and I have tried to find out what became of her; whether she remained an assistant teacher or she married and just had a family.

[Shona]

Henry, aged, 17, is working as a silversmith, like his father, in 1841. The pupil teacher route to becoming a certified teacher didn't commence until 1846, so he didn't become a certified teacher that way.

[Shona]

Another snippet on pre-1870 education (from Warwick University).

Educational provision was fragmented and patchy and ranged from the excellent to the rudimentary.

There were new initiatives in the foundation of schools and colleges for girls of the middle classes. Eg Abbey House school in Reading, attended by Jane Austen and Caroline Lamb which included French, Latin, Greek, Italian, History, literature and geography.

However, the majority of schools were small private establishments, often run as an 'extended family unit'.

Most took fewer than 30 pupils - me as few as 7 or 8. The School’s Inquiry Commission of the 1860s uncovered 500 such establishments.

Working-class children received education from trained and certified teachers and essentially a co-educational curriculum.

[BlueSavannah]

My gut instinct is that he wasnt actually certified at all. I am not sure how someone who is a trained silversmith can suddenly teach children?

[Shona]

1861 Newcastle Report

The Royal Commission on the state of popular education in England, under the chairmanship of the Duke of Newcastle, was appointed in 1858: 'To inquire into the state of public education in England and to consider and report what measures, if any, are required for the extension of sound and cheap elementary instruction to all classes of the people.'

The Commission published its six volume report in 1861. The following extracts are from The Royal Commission on the state of popular education in England, Parliamentary Papers, 1861, XXI. p. 293-328.

The Commission noted that:

We have seen overwhelming evidence from Her Majesty's Inspectors, to the effect that not more than one fourth of the children receive a good education. So great a failure in the teaching demanded the closest investigation; and as the result of it we have been obliged to come to the conclusion that the instruction given is commonly both too ambitious and too superficial in its character, that (except in the very best schools) it has been too exclusively adapted to the elder scholars to the neglect of the younger ones, and that it often omits to secure a thorough grounding in the simplest but most essential parts of instruction. We have shown that the present system has never completely met this serious difficulty in elementary teaching; that inspection looks chiefly to the upper classes and to the general condition of the school, and cannot profess to examine carefully individual scholars; and that a main object of the schools is defeated in respect of every child who, having attended for a considerable time, leaves without the power of reading, writing, and cyphering in an intelligent manner.

Thus Henry left teaching following The Newcastle Report and before the changes recommended in 1870.

Also, looking at the 1851 census where Henty, his wife and his sister are all teachers, it fits in with what Warwick University describe as: 'Small private establishments, often run as an extended family unit.'

Henry may, therefore, have gone to work with his father to re-learn silversmithing, before taking over when his father died.

Proof would be needed to back this up. Did Henry's father leave a will?

[Shona]

In 1861, Henry, Ann and their children lived next door to a Wesleyan Chapel. It may be that he taught at a Wesleyan School linked to the church.

[BlueSavannah]

Thats interesting reading Shona. It would all fit perfectly but its the proof, I am not sure how I will get proof either way. His father didnt leave a will which I am really disapointed about.

I hadnt looked at what/who was next door on the 61 census and again, you could be right.

[Phoenix]

The C19th loved bits of paper. Don't you think that if he were a certificated teacher, pupils, parents and fellow teachers would expect to see said certificate framed and on the wall?

My guess would be that the silversmith's business would support one man, not two, but was a better option than teaching.

[Shona]

Greenhill Methodist Church, School Lane, Greenhill, Norton, is still in operation. You could drop them an email to ask if there was a school associated with the church at the time in question and if they know the name of the teachers.

Just had a bit of fun checking it out on Google Street View.

[BlueSavannah]

Phoenix, I would have thought too about people wanting to see the said cert.

I will drop the church an email to see if Henry did indeed teach there.

[Merry]

FMP have Teachers Registration Council Registers 1914 - 1948. However they suggest that teachers who started their careers from 1870's onwards are recorded. Might be worth a look.

I hadn't noticed thse records before, Sue. Thanks for mentioning it as there's an entry for my g-grandfather who was a school master 1875-1920. I knew where he taught from 1880, ut was a bit vague about before that. Now I know from the above register.

Off to look for my other teaching relatives.......thanks again!

[Durham Lady]

My OH's grandfather went from Newcastle upon Tyne to London to train as a teacher. He was living in the college accommodation age 20 with other students in 1881. The students seem to be from all over the UK

HUGHES, Thomas G
Address: 130, Training College,
St Margaret And St John The Evangelist Westminster
ST GEORGE HANOVER SQUARE, London, Middlesex
RG11 piece 113 folio 5 page 4

[BlueSavannah]

The methodist church has emailed me back already. They say there was an old school next door but its now a doctors surgery and they have no records :(

[Shona]

The methodist church has emailed me back already. They say there was an old school next door but its now a doctors surgery and they have no records :(

Never mind. At least they've confirmed that there was a school next door to the church.

[anne fraser]

I have a lot of teachers in my family. My great grandmother born in the 1840's. was orphaned young and sent to a boarding school by her uncle. She then left and became a governess. I don't know if she had any extra training but she set up a school for her own and her neighbours children. This was eventually taken over by my grandfather's sisters who had also trained and worked as governesses to wealthy families.

My grandmother born 1882 went to the village school and was trained as a pupil teacher by the school master. She did a correspondence couse to get a certificate and after the death of her mother travelled round the country teaching at village schools until her marriage. Afterwards she taught at a sunday school.

My mother born 1818 took her school certificate and went to a local training college for two years to obtain a teaching certificate. The college had a school attached where the students could pracice teaching.

I managed to escape and do something different.

[Shona]

I have a lot of teachers in my family. My great grandmother born in the 1840's. was orphaned young and sent to a boarding school by her uncle. She then left and became a governess. I don't know if she had any extra training but she set up a school for her own and her neighbours children. This was eventually taken over by my grandfather's sisters who had also trained and worked as governesses to wealthy families.

My grandmother born 1882 went to the village school and was trained as a pupil teacher by the school master. She did a correspondence couse to get a certificate and after the death of her mother travelled round the country teaching at village schools until her marriage. Afterwards she taught at a sunday school.

My mother born 1818 took her school certificate and went to a local training college for two years to obtain a teaching certificate. The college had a school attached where the students could pracice teaching.

I managed to escape and do something different.

I don't think that governesses had to have the same type of training in the mid-19th century. Generally, they would teach both the boys and girls of the household when they were young. Sons would be sent away to school when they got older, but the daughters would continue to be taught at home. The education for girls would focus on music, singing, drawing, neddlework and embroidery. Girls might also be taught some French. By the late 19th century, governesses would teach more academic subjects as well. It was considered 'suitable' for middle-class girls to become a governess.