ABSTRACT
Education is more and more based upon using the natural purposes and interests of children to lead them on to valuable knowledge and achievement and, more important still, to foster their loving and creative attitude and to establish the confidence which will enable them to tackle difficulties and exercise mental energy and self control. The art of informal teaching is much more subtle and requires a greater imaginative sensitivity than does the art of purely formal teaching, but it also includes the need for all that was best in the art of the formal teacher. Some young teachers today, rightly aware that emotional attitudes, personality and character are more important than the acquisition of specific knowledge, are inclined to forget this. While all teachers undoubtedly exercise much influence on the students who practise in their schools, the Nursery School teacher probably has the most fundamental influence, because the work must necessarily be carried on so much in partnership.
