The functions of the Council are thus seen to extend beyond the mere compilation of a Register of Teachers and to include constant co-operation with those engaged in educational administration.  In view of the desire which is now generally expressed for a closer union between the directive and executive elements in all branches of industry it is safe to assume that the Teachers’ Council will grow steadily in importance, especially if it is seen to have the support of all teachers.

Meanwhile it furnishes the framework of a possible teaching profession and gives promise of securing for the teacher a definite status by establishing a standard of attainment and qualification.  More than this will be required, however, if the work of teaching is to be placed on its proper level in public esteem.  Those who undertake the work must be led to look for something more than material gain.  The teacher needs a sense of vocation no less than the clergyman or doctor.  It has been said that “teaching is the noblest of professions but the sorriest of trades” and the absence of any real enthusiasm for the work inevitably produces an attitude of mind which is alien to the spirit of a real teacher.  The material reward of the teacher has accurately reflected the want of public esteem attaching to his work.  For the most part a meagre pittance has been all that he could anticipate and this has led to a steady decline in the number of recruits.  A profession should furnish a reasonable prospect of a career and a fair chance of gaining distinction.  Such opportunities have been far too few in teaching to attract able and ambitious young men in adequate number.  The remedy is to open every branch of educational work and administration to those who have proved themselves to be efficient teachers.  The national welfare demands that those who are to be charged with the task of training future citizens should be drawn from the most able of our young people, to whom teaching should offer a career not less attractive than other callings.  In particular the teacher should be regarded as a member of a profession and trusted to carry out his duties in a responsible manner.  Excessive supervision and inspection will tend to discourage and eventually destroy that quality of initiative which is indispensable in all teaching.  Freed from the monetary cares which now oppress him, definitely established as a member of a profession having some voice in its own concerns, encouraged to exercise his art under conditions of the greatest possible freedom, and provided with reasonable opportunity for advancement, the teacher will be able to take up his work in a new spirit.  We may then demand from new-comers a sense of vocation and expect with some justification that teachers will be able to avoid the professional groove which is hardly to be escaped and which is quite inevitable if the conditions of one’s work preclude opportunity for maintaining freshness of mind and a variety of personal interest.