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mA ^ i? ^ O f\A 1,0KJL&W v ^ ' U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR CHILDREN'S BUREAU JU LIA C . L A T H R O P , Chief APm ì 6 ’ CHILDREN’S YEAR A|f | 6 THE VISITING TEACHER C H IL D R E N 'S Y E A R L E A F L E T N O . 11 Bureau Publication No. 55 Prepared in Collaboration with the Child Conservation Section of the Field Division Council of National Defense WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1919 % for5 FRASER 5 Digitized https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis U. *9 A P R IL 6 19.18 CHILDREN’S YEAR A P R IL 6 1919 THE VISITING TEACHER. In talking with working children about the reason for their having left school for employment, frequently the reply is : “ I didn’t like school and I wanted to work.” Usually the reasons are found to be economic or educational maladjustments o f the individual child. It is obvious that i f we are to succeed in keeping children in school until they have had a chance for an education some means must be provided o f finding out, understanding, and remedying the individ ual child’s difficulties. His problems must be discovered before they have loomed so large in his limited experience as to determine an un wise course, or before they have become such serious difficulties as to handicap him permanently. It has been found advisable in a number o f communities to secure the services o f visiting teachers not to get the child “ back to school ” but to prevent the unfortunate, unconscious drive out from school which results when the school fails to see and understand and remedy each child’s individual problem. The aim o f the visiting teacher is to adjust the conditions, in the lives o f individual children, that re tard development and school progress and that are responsible for school conduct, scholarship, or attendance. The visiting teacher must not be confused with an attendance officer or a probation officer. Her work is entirely preventive and she gets in touch with the child when the first symptoms appear which, if not heeded, develop frequently into truancy, retardation, or delinquency. It has become recognized that for the true education of the child the home and the school must work together. The visiting teacher stands between the home and the school. She interprets the school to the parents and enlists their cooperation. She passes on to the teacher the results o f her observation of the child in his home sur roundings, noting his interests and his handicaps, and so helps the teacher to understand the child. There are boys and girls who have fallen below standard in schol arship but who are not subnormal; there are children who have grown restless and whom school fails to interest because it seems so remote from thè life they lead outside its walls; there are retarded children who are undernourished and who seem to have reached the end o f their mental development; there are the girls who have an extra burden o f home duties placed on their shoulders and who are loom 0—19 3 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 3 131 4 THE VISITING. TEACHER. unable to keep up with their studies; there are the children whose home conditions are so adverse that they need special guidance and supervision; there are those boys and girls who have fallen below standard in conduct and who are not yet, delinquent but are showing serious tendencies; there are children who need medical care and who can not progress in their studies. A ll these children will doubtless leave school as soon as the law allows and enter industry to drift into the ranks o f the unskilled workers. These are the boys and girls for whom the help o f the visiting teacher should be enlisted. The visiting teacher goes into the home and establishes friendly relations with the parents. She attempts to discover the cause of the child’s trouble by finding out the home conditions, the attitude o f the parents toward school, the child’s special difficulties and griev ances ; his point o f view, his habits, his tastes, and interests, and how far these interests and aptitudes are made a part o f his school life ; how the school requirements may be modified to adjust the child’s special difficulty and help him to get the full value out o f his school course; how he spends his time outside o f school hours; and how he is regarded by his family and his mates. When the cause o f the child’s trouble is discovered, then the visit ing teacher, with the cooperation o f the parents and the school, at tempts to make a plan o f correction or adjustment and tries to secure a point o f contact from which to work out a new interest. She studies the neighborhood where the school is located to deter mine what part it plays in the child’s life. She finds out th© nationality o f the neighborhood, the standard o f living and educa tion in general, the play opportunities for children, the parks and play grounds, the churches and settlements; the educational facilities outside the school; the agencies available for relief, correction^ or medical assistance. In brief she acquaints herself with all the con ditions that are working for and against the child and with all the social agencies at work in the neighborhood. To assist in the solution o f the child’s problem the visiting teacher may enlist the interest o f a playground director, a Big Brother, a librarian or club leader, a district nurse, the associated charities, or a tutor; employment may be found for a father or an older brother; the other children in the family may be aided in various ways, or the child may be transferred to another school or another room, all to the end that he may make more profitable school progress. Much is accomplished by merely showing the family how they may cooperate with the school and by releasing the child’s energy through awakened interest or a changed attitude. In one city the visiting teacher has formed clubs and classes which meet outside o f school hours as a means o f working out specific prob lems with individual children. W ith the cooperation o f the princi https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis THE VISITING TEACHER. 5 pals, housekeeping classes for girls in the lower grades have been form ed; special diet has been arranged for mal-nourished children; meetings have been held for parents and an effort made to form school and neighborhood associations. VALUE OF THE VISITING TEACHER TO THE SCHOOL. The visiting teacher’s work has been found to be not only o f value to the child but o f immense value to the school. The visiting teacher, reaching out beyond the school, seeing the child’s home life with its lacks and its ambitions, realizing the deficiencies, the dangers and trend o f the neighborhood and the demands that are therefore made on the school for industrial and manual training, is able to assist the school in getting a clearer vision o f the educational needs o f the child. One school in an eastern city, realizing through its visiting teacher that an unwholesome and undemocratic attitude toward housework was developing in a district, added to its curriculum a special course in housekeeping and for some time put special emphasis on the dignity o f housework and home helping both for boys and girls. The visit ing teacher has been found to be o f service to the school in estimating for the school the value o f certain types o f school work as tested out in the home. A visiting teacher was called upon by a domestic science teacher for advice on the best method o f interesting a group o f foreign children in cooking and applying in their homes the lessons taught at school. It may be thought that the class teacher should do the work o f the visiting teacher. ' In time the schools may become socialized and the work so arranged that the teachers may give more time to the in dividual child, but at present in most o f the communities the teachers are already overtaxed by the large classes assigned to them. The work o f the visiting teacher often involves many visits to a home in order to adjust the difficulty in the case o f one child. This means an expenditure o f more time and energy than the teachers are able or have a right to spare from their teaching. The visiting teacher as sists the class teacher in giving to each child the full opportunities o f education. HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT. The work o f the visiting teacher began informally in 1906 in two eastern cities as a settlement activity because the residents found that frequently children were problems to the school because the school had inadequate information regarding home conditions or be cause the home failed to understand the school’s demands. Since then the work has extended to large and small cities, east and west, and to suburban and rural sections. In some cities the work has been imitated by parents’ associations, women’s clubs or a group o f clubs. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 6 THE VISITING TEACHER. public education associations or child-welfare organizations, and later has been taken over by the school board after the need for and value o f the work has been demonstrated ; the work has been done in the schools while the salaries o f the visiting teachers have been paid by private organizations. In other cities the school board has com ducted the work from the beginning. A t present in about 75 per cent o f the towns maintaining this type o f work it is carried on by the departments o f education. SUGGESTIONS FOR THOSE STARTING THE WORK. In starting the visiting teacher work it has seemed desirable in most communities to secure the services o f a person who has not only the training and experience of a teacher, so* that she may be equipped to see the school problem, but also that of a social worker, so that she may be equipped to deal with the intimate and larger social questions involved in education and have a technique o f “ case work,” which means a thorough understanding and specialized treat ment o f each individual case. She should have an understanding of children and o f human nature, as well as tact and vision. She should, have the ability to draw constructive conclusions, both educational and social, from her Work with individuals. Occupying the position o f go-between she should have the double viewpoint from first-hand experience. RELATION TO THE SCHOOL. It has been found advisable in most places to appoint the visiting teacher as an integral part o f the school where she is regarded as a consultant on problematical children and on social educational prob lems. The principal refers to her children who become problems to the school because they aré but half seen and half understood or those with whose situation the school finds itself unable to cope. In cities where the .schools are large it has been found advisable for a visiting teacher to work in one school only. In other places the visiting teacher has been assigned to more. The following principle, however, holds true: That the visiting teacher should be assigned to a field small enough for her to be identified with it, so that she may be the school representative in the neighborhood and the representa tive o f the neighborhood in the school. The visiting teacher’s office should, o f coursé, be in the school and so arranged that she may see the parents and children alone. In most places regular office hours have been found a convenience for the teáchers as well as for the parents who wish to consult the visit ing teacher. The hours o f the visiting teacher are usually equivalent to the hours required by the school-teachers, but they are not so definite, for https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis THÉ VISITING TEACHES. 7 ,frequently a visiting teacher calls on Saturdays or in the evening to see the father or a mother who works during the day. It has been found desirable to keep accurate records o f significant facts relating to the children referred to the visiting teacher. A printed record form, is a simple time-saving device. Experience has shown that it should include, among other items, thé follow ing: Name and position o f person referring the child to the visiting teacher. Reason child was referred. Important facts about the environment and home conditions. Special characteristics and tendencies o f the child. The action taken by the visiting teacher : With the child. In the home. In the school. Through outside agencies (in relation to health, financial assistance, correction, opportunity for study, recreation, ' etc.) The final outcome and fundamental difficulties. Such a record serves a double purpose : It is valuable to the visiting teacher while she is planning for the child, and it summarizes the significant facts so that the school may see the child and his needs in the light o f his social experience and may therefore be better able to provide for him the type of schooling which he needs to fit him for success in life. The Children’s Bureau will be glad to refer committees who plan to include in their activities for the lessening o f child labor the pre ventive work of a visiting teacher, and who wish further details, to those who are carrying on the work in various cities and towns. 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