Olden Life: What were Preceptors? By Professor Richard Willis

What do H G Wells, David Puttnam and Trevor McDonald have in common? The answer is they all have links with the College of Preceptors. The College of what? The word preceptor in Victorian English means teacher. In a bygone age, for those teachers practising in schools in Britain, a lot centred round the College of Preceptors. A member of the preceptors belonged to a pioneering group of private teachers in Victorian England. H G Wells worked for the college, mainly as an editor on their newspaper the Educational Times. Before graduating from London University in 1890, Wells passed the preceptors’ exams in the theory and practice of education, maths and natural sciences. Trevor McDonald was made an honorary fellow of the college in 2001. Film producer David Puttnam was made honorary fellow of the college in 2002. The preceptors set out to regulate the teaching ‘profession’, as the General...

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