Transcript From Normal School to College- and University

From Normal School to College- and
University-based Teacher Training
Fall, 2006
EDCI658
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What Is A Normal School?
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A normal school or teachers college is an
educational institution for training teachers.
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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.
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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.
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Terminology of Normal School
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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.
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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.
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Origin of Normal School
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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
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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.

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Normal Schools in the United States
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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
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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
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Early Normal Schools in the United States
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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)
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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).
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The Transition
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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)
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
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
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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.
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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.
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The Transition Cont.
The sole purpose of normal schools was
professional instruction of elementaryschool 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.

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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.

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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.
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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.
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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

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Sources
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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/schoolhis
tory/synenki.pdf
http://escholarship.bc.edu/dissertations/AAI92174
55/
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