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This act marked a watershed in Scottish education.
For the first time elementary education was made compulsory for all
children aged between 5 and 13. The existing parish and burgh schools
were taken over by the state and managed by locally elected School
Boards.
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The new system was co-ordinated nationally by the Scotch Education Department
with the curriculum emphasising the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic
(the three ‘Rs’). The churches made a crucial contribution to
the new system by handing over their schools without charge to the School
Boards. At this time the Free Church supported 548 schools across Scotland
together with 584 teachers.
Whilst the Act did not deal directly with teacher training, it had an immediate
effect. The new School Boards had confidence in the existing Training Colleges
such as Moray House, but there was an urgent need for more trained, certificated
teachers. By 1876 the Training Colleges (now their official title rather
than that of Normal Schools) had responded by increasing the number of students
to over 1000. At Moray House a new Training Department facility was opened
in session 1878/9. The main floor of this building had four classrooms and
the upper floor included a large Hall. There were later additions for Art
and Science including a model kitchen for practicing cookery lessons. At
the Church of Scotland Training College a new building was opened for men
students in Chambers Street, Edinburgh, with the women students based at
Johnston Terrace.
The curriculum of the training colleges was extended and remained exceptionally
demanding. ‘Criticism’ lessons were a central feature with each
student giving several such lessons in the session commented on by the Rector
and other members of staff. Students developed a greater community and social
spirit at this time. In 1877/8 former students founded the Moray
House Club “to
testify their regard for their Normal School” and to provide an opportunity
to meet with former friends. The Club also established a library and collected
funds to support the awarding of prizes. At the Church of Scotland Training
College in Edinburgh a Currie Club was established, named after the Rector,
James Currie. A Currie prize is still awarded at Moray House to this day.
By 1901/2 the Training Colleges had achieved greater autonomy from the government,
being able to organise their own syllabuses and examinations, although the
approval of the Scotch Education Department (SED) was still required and
individual students were still inspected.
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on to Part 5
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