CONVENT
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CONVENT
teachers and pupils, no less than to the high teaching
- ihihty of the nuns themselves. The fact that educa-
I inn in its truest sense means something more than lucre book-learning is nowhere more fully realized tliuu in the convent school, and results all tend to |:rii\-e that the religious and moral training imparted ill such establishments has in no way acted as a hin- .Inmce to the more technical side of educational work.
I I has somet imes been said that the standard of -I holarship attained is not so high in Catholic as in non-Catholic schools of the same class, but however 1 rue this may have been in the past, the general level- ling up that has taken place during the last ten or 1 1\ enty years has rendered the reproach an idle one n>nv. The public examination lists of recent years
- i!Ti>rd ample proof that the leading convent schools
arc equal in efficiency to all others.
I'lie range of studies pursued in convent secondarj- schools is a wide one. It includes religious knowl- ' ' i.^e, English in all its branches, French, Latin, math- ematics, science, drawing, needlework, class-singing, .iiiil drilling, while such subjects as music, singing, I lancing, Greek, German, Italian, elocution, short- hand, book-keeping, dressmaking, cooking, etc., are e. nerally taught as optional extras. Pupils are en- ti red for the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examina- nuis, the Higher Locals, the Higher and Lower I crtificates of the Oxford and Cambridge Joint Ex- aaiination Board, the Matriculation Examinations of !lic London and Liverpool L'niversities, as well as for liaise of the College of Preceptors, the Incorporated Society of Musicians, the Royal Academy of Music, and the South Kensington .School of Art. School li lildings and accommodations are of the most up-to- ilate pattern — one of the nece.ssary conditions for I ':< >vernment recognition. Physical development is liriividcd for by means of hockey, croquet, tennis, cycling, swimming, and gymnastics, according to the particular circumstances of each school.
.Ml the leading educational communities make a s|iicial point of having their teachers properly trained ami fully qualified. This again is a sine qud non for oilicial recognition, and the Order in Council of 1902, < iiu'erning the registration of secondary teachers, c fresh impetus to the work of training teachers convent schools. The jirincipal teaching orders 111 their subjects usually to one or other of (he two iliolic training colleges for secondary teachers (St. ly's Hall, Liverpool, and Cavendish Square, Lon- !i), or else have them qualify by obtaining one or re of the following: the teaching diploma of the I abridge Teachers' Training Syndicate, the Oxford I'loma for teachers, Women's Honours in Modern Languages (Oxford), the Women's diploma for the I ixford B. A. degree, the LL..4. diploma of St. An- I rew's University, the Licentiateship of the College of ecptors, the Higher Certificate of the O.xford and abridge Joint Board, the Higher Local Certificate ' l.xford or Cambridge, or a degree at one of the
- \ersitics that grant degrees to women, e. g. Lon-
a, Liverpool, or Dublin. Foreign languages are in est cases taught by natives, and in the teaching of many of the special siibjcct.s the religious are assisted by extern professors holding the highest qualifications. From the.se few facts it will be evident that the con- vent schools of England are adequately keeping pace with the times and that in point of efficiency they are in no way behind non-Catholic schools of the same class, while the facilities that have been recently brought into existence for the advanced education of Catholic women, religious as well as secular, at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge point to a still higher degree of efficiency for the future.
There are at the present over two hundred Catholic secondarj- schools in England under the care of repre- sentatives of about sixty different religious orders. Chief among these may be mentioned the English
Institute of the B. V. M., with six such schools, the
Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus (eight schools), the
Faithful Companions of Jesus (fourteen), the Sisters of
Notre Dame of Namur (eighteen), the Religious of St.
Andrew (one), the Religious of the Sacred Heart
(eight), the Sisters of Mercy (eleven), the Servites
(three), and the Crsulines of different; congregations
(twenty-three). Some of the best known and most
successful of these schools are those at York and
Cambridge (Inst, of B. V. M.); Mayfield, St. Leon-
ard's, Preston, Harrogate, and Cavendish Square,
London (Si.stcrs of the Holy Child Je.sus); Isleworth,
Liverjiool, Birkenhead, and Clarendon Square, Lon-
don (Faithful Companions) ; Liverpool (Mount Pleas-
ant), Northampton, and Norwich (Notre Dame);
Streatham (St. Andrew's); Stamford Hill (Servites);
and St. Ursula's, Oxford. Many of these secondary
schools have attached to them pupil teachers' cen-
tres, where valuable preliminary work in the training
of elementarj' schoolmistresses is done, and many of
them serve also as "practising schools" in which the
students of Catholic and other training colleges giv!
their model lessons in the presence of their instructors
and the Government inspectors. The pass and hon-
ours lists of the various [lublic examinations in recent
years show a very high percentage of candidates from
the convent schools and prove conclusively that as far
as results go they are fully equal to the best secondary
schools under non-Catholic management.
Tr.\ining Colleges. — The training colleges are of two kinds — those for the training of primary or ele- mentary schoolmistresses, and those for teachers in secondary schools. Both kinds are under the care of the religious orders. All the Catholic training col- leges are recognized by Government, and in those for primary teachers the students whose expenses are assisted by a Government grant are known as " King's Scholars", their selection as such being dependent upon a competitive examination under Govermnent auspices. There are si.x recognized training colleges for [primary teachers. Mount Pleasant, Liverpool (un- der the Sisters of Notre Dame) ; St. Charles' Square, London, and Newcastle-on-Tjme (Religious of the Sacred Heart); Southampton (Nuns of La Sainte Union); Salford (Faithful Companions); and Hull (Sisters of Mercy). In all of these the Government syllabus is followed and the Board of Education certi- ficate is granted after two years' successful teaching in one school, subsequent to the completion of the course at the college. An important part of the training consists in the "criticism lessons", which are given by the students in some secondary school con- nectetl with the training college under the direction of the "Mistress of Method", and which are criticized then and there by her as well as by the other students in turn. The best known and largest of these training colleges, which was also the first to be estalilished, is that of Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, under the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur. It was opened in 1S.56 with twenty-one students and now numbers one hundred and sixty King's Scholars. It has been (190.5) officially affiliated to the Liverpool University and a limited number of its students are allowed to follow the arts or science degree course of the university afterthe u.sual two years' Government covirse has been completed. The whole of the jireliniinary and certain subjects of the intermediate coiirse can be done at Moinit Plea.sant under the sisters, which reduces the time of residence required for obtaining the degree. .Vlthough this Ls quite an innovation, it speaks well for the college that five out of the first six sent in obtained the B. A. degree in the minimum period of time.
The training colleges for secondary teachers are St. Mary's Hall, Liverpool, attached to Notre Dame, Mount Pleasant, and established in 189S; and Caven- dish Square, London, under the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, opened in 1805. Both of these are recog-
