V. Supplementary teachers usually receive, of course without board or lodging, a salary equal to the money-wage of an average domestic servant. They are commonly less well qualified than is she, for the work undertaken.
The chances of promotion to a headship are obviously so few, that the certificated teacher will probably remain an assistant all her life. Chances of head-teacherships are being still further reduced by the amalgamation of departments under a head master.
In the schools of many large urban education authorities, less than 1 per cent. of the assistant teachers obtain promotion in twelve months. The total number applying for the 163 places to be filled in the last promotion list that was formed by the London Education Authority, was 2,337, so that, as a direct result of the publication of that list, 2,174 teachers resumed their work after the summer vacation of 1911 with feelings of less hopefulness with regard to their future prospects. The issue of a promotion list is in itself a fact to be deplored, seeing that it acts as a check to mental alertness. For the 2,174 unsuccessful candidates for inclusion, their application has now either destroyed hope, or suspended any chances of its realisation for at least two years. There is a consciousness in the unsuccessful applicant of somehow being worth less than she was before, since she is now an assistant mistress without potentiality for head teachership. This feeling does not promote good work. The issue of a promotion list is from every point of view bad policy, and although its direct action is confined to London, its sphere of indirect influence is very far-reaching, since London County Council applicants for country posts are often asked whether they have been included in it.
The essential qualification in a mistress of an elementary school is ability to teach a great variety of subjects: she must be qualified for and prepared to teach all the subjects which make up the curriculum of her school. The diversity of these will be seen from the subjects taught in an average typical elementary school:—
Girls' Department.—Reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, literature, history, geography, nature study, hygiene, physical training, drawing (including brush-work), needlework (including cutting-out), knitting, scripture.
Infants' Department.—Reading, writing, number, kindergarten and other varied occupations, physical exercises (dancing and games), needlework and knitting, singing, drawing, painting, modelling, recitation, oral composition, dramatising stories, scripture.
The ordinary day is divided into two sessions: the morning session lasting from 9 A.M. to 12 noon, and the afternoon session from 2 P.M. to 4 P.M. (infants), 4.30 P.M. (girls).
The strain of a teacher's life in an elementary school, and the deadening influence of routine work will be realised when it is stated that, besides teaching all the subjects above-mentioned, she is in front of her class of sixty pupils during the whole of the two sessions each day, from Monday morning to Friday afternoon.
In addition to the purely teaching work the mistress has to take her share in the various activities which are now centring in the school—Care Committees, After-Care Committees, the feeding of necessitous children, the cleansing of children, medical inspection, and so forth. There are also such social activities as old girls' clubs, school journeys and school parties, in which she has to co-operate; finally, the strain is not lessened by the fact that she has to satisfy two sets of inspectors, viz., those of the Board of Education and those of the local authority who require her to keep special report books, varying in character and in the amount of detail required, according to the idiosyncrasies of the particular inspectors who may happen to be allocated to her district.
In spite of the building regulations of the Board of Education, many school premises are far from satisfactory with regard to lighting, ventilation, construction, and often even cleanliness; these defects naturally have their effect on the health of the teachers, so that notwithstanding medical inspection during training and the rejection of the unfit, an alarming number of cases of consumption has been reported to the Benevolent Fund of the National Union of Teachers. In addition to this, the strain (already referred to) under which teachers in the Metropolitan and larger urban districts work, is resulting in an increasing number of nervous breaksdown.