Learning In the One-Room School by Carol Small, Middlesex Centre Archives Teachers influence learning in the classroom. In the early years, it seemed anyone with some education was qualified to teach. In 1847, teacher education began with the establishment of the Provincial Normal School in Upper Canada. Gradually, the Normal Schools were established in various urban centres such as London (1900) and Stratford (1908). The requirements for teacher education varied from as low as Grade 12 and six- week summer school in the 1950s, to Grade 13 and a year at Normal School in the 1920s.
of stories and poems. Some who attended these schools can still recite poems that they had to learn for weekly memory work. Arithmetic, Social Studies and Science texts from Ministry-authorised textbooks gave similar information to all students. Often natural science was learned through first- hand observations in the schoolyard or on the walk home. Art and Music were enhanced if the teacher was gifted in these subjects. The hectograph-jelly method of making worksheets compares to today’s photocopies but they were a lot more complicated and a lot more work to produce a very limited number of copies. The chalkboards were filled each day with exercises to be copied and completed. Often touted, these one-room schools are said to have fostered self-reliance and character building. True, but so did their environment and culture at home. Older students helped younger students. Students listened to lessons taught to older students and became advanced for their age. Likewise, students could review skills as they listened to lessons taught to younger students. Multiple grades were combined for easier curriculum delivery. “Rote learning” was the primary means of learning. Textbooks and curricula had little application to rural students’ lives. With so many students and grades, teachers had little time or opportunity to help students who struggled with learning. Despite the challenges, the one-room school produced some of Canada’s foremost leaders and successful businesspeople. For others, it was less than adequate for the students it served. However, it was what was available at the time and history cannot accurately judge these schools based on today’s values.
To advertise here, please contact Tami@villagerpublications.com The reading series in rural schools were much the same as in urban schools … Dick and Jane and Alice and Jerry for beginning readers. The Canadian Reading Series – Up and Away, Wide Open Windows, All Sails Set – were anthologies Former Superintendent of Schools for the Middlesex County Board of Education, Don McIntosh, in his essay The Transformation of Rural Education, commented that the 1930s were the golden years of education in the one-room schools. Teachers who had graduated from Normal Schools in the 1920s and 1930s had great difficulty obtaining positions in the Depression years. Teachers, who otherwise would have migrated to urban schools with only one or two grades to teach, were glad to have employment even if it was a multi-grade one-room rural school. Consequently, the quality of education in rural schools improved. In his essay, McIntosh commented that it was the married woman who returned to teaching who saved rural education. They were strong, well-trained teachers who became mentors to the young, inexperienced and less qualified teachers. Until the 1940s, rural education was dominated by the High School Entrance Exam. These were introduced in 1873 to improve the work of secondary schools by keeping students with learning issues or poorer marks out. ‘The Entrance Exam’ was a major school-leaving point and obtaining that certificate was coveted. Often students who were deemed unable to pass the exam were not allowed to take it. Teachers and schools were judged on their ability to produce successful students and the marks appeared in the local newspaper for all to see… and to judge. Weeks before the exam, candidates attended before and after-school classes for extra coaching. Although officially discontinued in 1939, in some schools the Entrance Exam persisted into the 1950s. London Normal School under construction at the corner of Wortley Road and Elmwood, 1899.
Ilderton and Area Villager September 2024 • Page 5 Komoka School, SS# 1 Lobo, 1912. Built in 1895, it was used as a school until 1965. Image from the Ron Davis Collection, MCA.
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