Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Abstract
In Britain, teachers' concern for children as more than "empty buckets to be filled with knowledge" is widely recognised as a professional obligation. It is also legally enshrined in the concept of the teacher in loco parentis. There is nothing particularly new about this. Arnold of Rugby placed academic achievement third behind the promotion of Christian values and "gentlemanly conduct" in the priorities he set for his staff, and in public boarding-schools the roles of house master and matron were considered important means by which pupils' personal, physical and (supposedly) moral well-being were protected. What is relatively new is the growth of this concern as an institutionalised feature of state-maintained day schools since the widespread reorganisation of secondary schools along comprehensive lines in the early'70s. This is particularly interesting because neither the physical entities ("houses") nor the custody of the child for 24 hours, waking and sleeping, are features of such schools. Yet pastoral care (as it is widely called) has flourished and diversified in its new environment, and has experienced considerable development and differentiation.
Recommended Citation
Best, R. (1990). Pastoral Care in Schools : Some Implications for Teacher Training. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.1990v15n1.2