‘The ” Jean Jacques Rousseau ” Institute and the Training of Teachers of Sub-normal Children
The following account of the way in which the Jean Jacques Rousseau Institute in Geneva is dealing with the problem of the training of teachers of defective children , is a translation of an article written by M. Pierre Bovet, and. published in pamphlet form. He expressly states that his object in drawing attention to the subject is that it may induce others to make still further efforts, so great is the need for experimental work. We therefore feel no justification is needed for bringing his pamphlet to the notice of our readers.?Editor .
When the Institute was founded in 1912 “dans le but d’orienter les per- sonnes se destinant aux carrieres pedagogiques sur l’ensemble des disciplines touchant a l’education” we deliberately avoided an exact definition as to what we meant by “les carrieres pedagogiques.” It is the students themselves, now numbering over two hundred, passing in a continual stream through our lecture rooms, who have helped us to fill in the details of our scheme?or ‘ ‘plans d ‘etudes.’ It was only in October 1917 that students first began to come to us with the definite intention of taking up this specialised career of teaching sub-normal children. Since then their numbers have so increased that we have had to work out a course of study, which although not as clear-cut as others which have been longer established (such as the one for teachers of young children, for instance), follows, in the main, quite well defined lines.
But before giving details as to this special course it will be well for me to indicate the guiding principles underlying all our courses of which, at the present moment, there are four, viz.: the education of young children, school method, child welfare and theory of education.
The Institute Jean Jacques Rousseau makes a practical knowledge of the child the foundation of all training for the teaching profession. M. Claparede, Professor of Psychology at Geneva University, has always been most emphatic about this point. The reform of our schools must begin “from the child itself.” The age of fruitless academic discussion on educational matters should and must be ended, now that child psychology has come into being; it is to experience that we must appeal to cut short these endless discussions which threaten to recur again and again in the same form. We therefore make certain lectures compul- sory for all our students, no matter what particular course they may be taking, and amongst these we have, since 1912, given first place to lectures on the subject of subnormal children in its medical, and?most important of all?its psychological and educational aspects,
For the educational lectures we have had the good fortune to secure the serv- vices of Mile. Alice Descoeudres, a teacher of the first rank. Her book “Educa- tion des Enfants Anormaux” published in the Educational Records (“Collection D’Actualite Pedagogiques”) of the Institute, reveals to some extent, her origin- ality and her range of knowledge, based on the experience of many years, and on detailed and brilliant experimental work. But only those who have had the privilege of being her colleagues know what enthusiasm and devotion go hand in hand with her remarkable intellectual capacity.
Mile. Descoeudres was the first person to introduce into Switzerland the methods of Dr. Decroly, who is the director of two institutions in Brussels, one for normal and one for sub-normal children. In each of these, the principles underlying the “spontaneous activity” school of thought have been applied with much originality and vigour. To extend the sphere of its influence, Mile. Descoeudres drew up in 1913 two series of “Educational Games” each consisting of fifteen games, graded in difficulty, dealing with sensory training, number and reading. These ‘ ‘games” were published under the auspices of the Institute Jean Jacques Rousseau, and a German edition together with an explanatory leaflet was straightway issued in order that it might be circulated throughout German Switzerland, but I do not yet think that she has gained the recognition she deserves. In Italian Switzerland and abroad however, as in French Switzerland, these educational games have met with a very favourable reception.* It is to Mile. Descoeudres also that we owe Dr. Decroly’s and his colleague’s Mile. Monchamp’s little book “L’Initiation a l’activite intellectuelle et motrice”f which she has persuaded him to contribute to our “Collection d’Actualites Pedagogiques.”
The reader may think that all this is a digression, but it is far from being the case, for the various publications we have just mentioned proclaimed and strengthened our conviction recorded above?that a knowledge of sub-normal children and the methods of dealing with them was of the utmost importance for all educationalists?a view that had already been voiced by many others, includ- ing Mme. Montessori.
Mile. Descoeudres’ teaching, therefore, has always had a first place in our syllabus.
This is doubtless the explanation of the fact that during the last three years, at each new session, students have been enrolled who have come purposely to be trained as teachers of sub-normal children, whilst others who originally had other aims in view, have, during their training with us, discovered their vocation in this branch of work. Their curriculum, although not yet completed in its final form, is based on the same principles as are the other courses, and includes both lectures and practical work.
The lectures in the Institute’s Syllabus which are of special interest to those specialising in sub-normal children can be classified under various heads. First of all those which are common to all courses of training:?
Psychology and knowledge of the normal child.
Knowledge of the sub-normal child.
Diseases of children and school hygiene.
Moral education (including Psycho-analysis).
Next come those which we have borrowed from our training courses for^the teaching of young children and child welfare work. From the former we have taken lectures on the teaching of young children, training in art and manual work, and physical training: from the latter?the study of social problems as they affect * To be obtained only from Maison Rappa, Geneva.
t ” An Introduction to Intellectual and Motor Activity.”
children, and elementary law. (The newly opened School of Social Science for Women at Geneva gives us most valuable help in this direction.) This syllabus is very wide and we do not profess to be able to do more than barely cover it in the two years which are required to obtain the Diploma of the Institute. We impress moreover upon our students that their time is not to be spent merely in taking notes. Twelve or fourteen hours should be the maximum amount of time given weekly to lectures.
The practical work which brings them in direct contact with their subject, and above all with the children, is considered by us to be essentially the most important. This, it is hardly necessary to say, includes a continuous period spent in a “Special Class” in Geneva,?the class of which Mile. Descoeudres is the Director (the Department of Education has from the first willingly granted our students every facility),?visits to the School for the Deaf and Dumb, and to our Nursery School (for children from three to seven years of age.) The stu- dents also study at first hand those branches of social work which deal with young children, attend medical examinations and the Psychological Laboratory, and take part in the work of the Committee for the Care of Backward Children, and in the investigations of the Central Office for Apprenticeship. All the above natur- ally involve home visits, and the making of enquiries, under guidance, into the circumstances of the children concerned.
Our Diploma as stated above can be gained after two years’ training. At the end of the first year however, those students whose work has been satisfactory are given a special certificate, and experience has shown that this certificate acts as a very definite incentive amounting to a real intellectual gain, the value of which cannot be underrated.
It is undoubtedly true that for the education of children deprived of their birthright?work demanding exceptional qualities?no one can ever be perfectly equipped. A recent enquiry has shown us that it really demands a fourfold training in education, medicine, economics and social work. Everyone cannot be expected to specialise in all these, but perhaps it may not be without value to emphasise the fact that the encyclopaedic knowledge given by a Training College to teachers of normal children is neither necessary nor suitable for teachers of the subnormal. We feel that Departments of Education would be wise to open the doors of these courses more widely to persons whose vocation is beyond dispute, and who possess special qualifications?superior to the purely academic ones of the average teacher. We have excellent students who will make exceptionally good teachers, but who do not hold their “Teachers’ Certificate.”
In conclusion, we should like to lay stress on the advantages that experience has shown result from training, in one and the same institution, teachers for Special Classes and those who are going to devote themselves to normal children, in Infants’ and Elementary Schools. The juxtaposition of those whose interests are scientific and those who are primarily concerned with moral and social ques- tions, tends inevitably to create and to strengthen the sense of vocation in both.
We believe that the establishment of a recognised Course of Training for Special School Teachers, as part of an Institution for Higher Education, with widely open doors, where practical and theoretical work could be harmoniously combined, is a solution to be seriously considered. We do not, however, claim that it is the only one.
Further information may be obtained from Professor Pierre Bovet, Directeur, Jnstitut Jean Jacques Rousseau, Taconnerie 5, Geneva.
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