Prince Albert Historical Society
On Saturday, October 16th 1920, the following article appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald:
“Owning to the abnormal shortage of teachers in the province the department of education has decided to issue a number of provisional teaching certificates and has decided to hold special normal schools at various centres of which Prince Albert is one, from January 3 to February 25, providing that 25 students can be assembled at each point.”
This was not the first time that the Department of Education had made such a decision. I have been able to determine that such classes were held in Prince Albert several times before the 1921 school, and again at least annually until the spring of 1927.
Normal schools, popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, were specialized institutions designed to train teachers in educational principles, techniques, and standard practices, with the goal of normalizing teaching methods across school systems. Often two-year programs, in Saskatchewan they were later replaced by teachers’ colleges or universities.
The Saskatchewan Normal School was a publicly funded provincial post-secondary institution for the training of teachers. Such training began in Regina as early as 1890 with short courses for men and women who had completed Grade 8 and who sought certification to teach elementary school subjects, often in One-room Schools in rural Saskatchewan. The term “normal school” is derived from the French école Normale, an institution that provided instruction in the “norms” of school instruction. As well as the school in Regina, permanent normal schools were built in Saskatoon and Moose Jaw in the 1920s.
However, until the final two schools were opened, normal school classes were provided in various centres throughout the province. In Prince Albert, such classes were provided as early as 1908/09. The location of these classes is unknown. It has been suggested that they may have been taught in the classrooms of Emmanuel College, although another location might have been utilised, possibly empty space in Central School or one of the church halls.
It is possible, but not likely, that the Prince Albert Normal School of 1908/09 might have been able to grant permanent teaching certificates, but the students who attended the classes in Prince Albert between 1913 and the spring of 1927 were only granted temporary certificates. These allowed the holders of the temporary certificates the right to teach for one year. After that, if they wished to receive a permanent certificate, they would have to attend a second set of classes at one of the permanent schools in Regina, Saskatoon, or Moose Jaw. As a result, many of the teachers would obtain a temporary certificate, teach for a year, and then with any savings they might have accumulated, they would be able to register at one of the permanent schools.
Usually, the normal school classes held in Prince Albert would occur in the winter months. The instructors for these classes were often school inspectors, individuals with the knowledge and experience to know what these temporary teachers would need to know. As the winter roads were often impassable, it made sense to utilise these individuals to teach such classes, as they would not be able to travel to the schools which they were expected to inspect.
Some of the instructors for the local programme were J.A. Snell and J.F. Hutchinson in 1908/09, H.A. Everts and J. O’Brien, and D.M. Davidson at Connaught. The physical education instructor was C.F. Mephan. Inspector Harrison assisted in the instruction at Queen Mary School.
However, the best-known instructor for the Prince Albert classes was J.T. Tomlinson. He was in charge for the last twelve years of the school’s presence in Prince Albert. Jay Talmage Sylvester Tomlinson had been born in Ontario on December 29, 1882. He was a school superintendent from 1916 to 1947. A member of the Rotary Club, he was active in all Prince Albert Masonic work, and was the founder of the city’s DeMolay organisation for boys. Tomlinson died on October 27 1970, and was buried in the Prince Albert Memorial Gardens.
It was anticipated that Prince Albert would grow substantially once the La Colle Falls project came into operation. As a result, three large schools, Connaught, King George, and Queen Mary, were built and opened in 1913. When the project did not materialise, each of the schools was left with considerable unoccupied space. This left room for the normal school classes to be held, in 1913, in Connaught School, and then, when attendance increased there, in 1914 in King George School. Normal school classes were held in King George until 1919, after which classes were moved to Queen Mary School. The last such classes in Prince Albert were held at Queen Mary in the spring of 1927.
Those attending the normal school classes did not simply attend classroom lectures. They became friends, almost like family. The members of the classes would participate in out-of-hours activities including athletic events, literary clubs, and musical entertainments. These activities were often open to members of the community at large. Art Loucks wrote about how, as a Grade 12 student, he was invited by a normal school student to attend a dance at Queen Mary School in the spring of 1927.
Graduates of the normal schools appear to have been equal in ability to those who attended colleges of education. At one time, when Prince Albert had only five schools, at least four of the principals were normal school graduates. Art Loucks, a well-known educator in Prince Albert, had attended normal school in Saskatoon. Many will remember him as the principal of Queen Mary School.
As a student in the elementary, and even secondary, grades in Prince Albert, I never gave much thought to the academic standards of those who taught me. Until I reached Grade Seven, my teachers were all older women, mostly single or widowed, although some were married. It wasn’t until I came across the history of normal schools in the City of Prince Albert that I began to wonder just how many of them had actually had a university education.
fgpayton@sasktel.net
