Plans are now under way to create a new Chartered College of Teaching and much effort is presently being directed towards this educational reform. The history of this college is rooted in Victorian England when it was founded 170 years ago as the College of Preceptors, the word ‘preceptor’ then widely used to mean ‘teacher’.

Forty years before the foundation of the College of Preceptors, religious societies catered to the demands for working-class education. The first annual grants to public education were made by the Whig government in 1833. Parliament voted a grant of £20,000 directed towards the construction of school buildings. The sum was by no means substantial, but it set a precedent for further state aid in education.

The limited funds available were given to the working classes. As to private education, there was no question that the government should meddle with the teaching of children whose families were middle class. It was this gap in the market that led to a group of teachers in Brighton, Sussex, in the 1840s, to band together to form a college of schoolmasters or preceptors. Private teachers practising in academies throughout Britain were pivotal to these reforms, as this group became the target clientele. A Provisional Committee, headed by John Parker, a founding member who lived and taught in Sussex, advertised an inaugural day (20 June 1846) in The Times to formally introduce the College of Preceptors.

On that date 300 prospective members assembled in Bloomsbury, London to set up the college. It was geared to promote sound learning and the interests of the middle classes, by educating and testing teachers in private schools. The early founders established an administrative HQ and offices were opened in Great Queen Street, London.

The early members set about organising a register listing the names of persons qualified to teach. The preceptors also provided for examinations for teachers, an educational journal, a network of local boards throughout Britain, a branch for governesses, an insurance scheme for members, and a benevolent fund for needy members.

Women’s membership, a Royal Charter and School Examinations
Women’s membership began in 1847. At the heart of the ‘ladies’ department’ was the idea that it would train, certify and register schoolmistresses and governesses. The principal goal here was to provide a class of trained female tutors for families.

Attention soon turned towards the granting of a Royal Charter of Incorporation. It was hoped that the charter would assure the college an established position and a fixed authority in the teaching profession. The founders set about this task with much enthusiasm, even though the cost in legal fees was over £500. The charter was valuable in that it not only set out the legal framework in which the college was to function in the years ahead but also gave the preceptors the essential authority to carry out their main role: to examine teachers and award diplomas.

A departure from the focus on teachers occurred in the early 1850s, when the college initiated a scheme of examinations for young children. A worsening financial position caused the preceptors to look towards other ways to raise funds and exams were taken in 1850 at Standard Hill academy, a school located in Nottingham… on Christmas Day ! The modern GCSE and A-level exams owe their origins to this innovation masterminded by the college. The annual number of entrants for these exams steadily increased. A Mr Creak, a headmaster of a private school in Sussex and examiner for the college commented that the examinations “on the whole, have surprised me; the answers are generally of superior order, extremely well written, fairly spelt, and fairly put together”.

Diplomas for teachers were at the same time not neglected yet the interest here was not that great. In February 1862 the College Council regretted that the intake for the diplomas had not increased, and at a meeting in 1866 the preceptors were only able to announce that between January and June of that year only two diplomas had been awarded. A major reason for the lack of demand was that, in the absence of compulsory examinations, teachers had little incentive to sit for them. In addition to the hurdle of raising income to fund such a project, assistant masters would have faced the problem of finding the time and energy to attend classes.

A Teachers’ Council
Gradually the college members saw the progress made in other professions, especially among doctors who had set up the General Medical Council in 1858. The preceptors campaigned for a teachers’ council, but fell short of including the elementary teachers, many of whom were sponsored by the state. Clashes between the college representing private teachers and the National Union of Teachers (founded in 1870) taking on the cause for working-class interests took place in Parliament.

During the 1870s the college appointed Joseph Payne as professor of education and this appointment was the first of its kind in England. HG Wells and Sir John Adams were both associated with the work of the College as was Sir Philip Magnus. Wells was a former editor of the preceptors’ journal The Educational Times and passed the fellowship examination offered by the college. More permanent accommodation was found in Bloomsbury Square where in March 1887 the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) opened the new college premises.

On the international scene, significant progress was being made, particularly in Canada. In the period 1908-1917, the college administered exams taken by children in Newfoundland. There was an interruption of work during the First World War but the scheme was in full operation again by 1922. By June 1924, the examination of school pupils in Newfoundland was held at 212 centres and attended by 1313 candidates.

The preceptors’ records pay scant attention to events in the Second World War. This lack of data may partly be explained in terms of the relative inactivity in college business. Despite the falling off of candidates for exams, the period from 1939 to 1945 saw the college buildings unscathed from wartime hostilities and enemy action: as Vincent Chapman, the educationist commented, “Bombs fell around the College but not on it.”

In the 20th century the preceptors continued to examine teachers and pupils and during the 1950s the college was the pioneer of management courses for teachers.

In the absence of government funding, in the 1970s the college again struggled financially. The archives do not always indicate the true reasons for the preceptors to generate profit yet external influences partly explain the problems: the college was often affected by the economic vagaries of commercial markets at home and overseas – as it operated in the private sector it was therefore not guaranteed a source of income from central or local government. In 2009 the College of Preceptors became known as the College of Teachers. The change was seen as a means to update the College’s image and to prepare it for the future.

The Chartered College of Teaching
After meetings between 30 individuals established in the field of education, in 2012 the Prince’s Teaching Institute explored the prospect of a new member-driven College of Teaching. After some intense activity, mainly dominated by teachers, in 2014 a number of members from the educational community met to form a group known as the ‘Claim Your College’ coalition. With a membership of over 450 organisations and individuals, as in the case of the preceptors, the hope is for the College of Teaching to function as an independent, professional body run by teachers. The college will aim to advance their interests and aid pupils and students. The intention is to raise the status and standing of the teaching profession.

The College of Teaching aims to be an independent and voluntary professional body for the teaching profession, despite government support of up to £5 million. The government’s position has changed significantly since Lord John Russell declined to help the preceptors’ founding members in the 1840s.

It was to the founding members in Brighton in 1846 that credit must be given for the first attempt in the UK to set up a professional organisation of teachers on a national scale. From these humble beginnings the college went on to promote the basic tenets of teacher training and so occupy a unique position in the development of education.