Normal school
A normal school or normal college trains teachers in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. Other names include teacher training colleges or teachers' colleges. In Argentina and Mexico, they continue to be called normal schools with student-teachers in the latter country being known as normalistas, where schools require a high school diploma for entry, and may be part of a comprehensive university. Normal schools in the United States, Canada, and Argentina trained primary teachers, while in Europe equivalent colleges trained teachers for primary and secondary schools.
In 1685, Jean-Baptiste de La Salle established the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and founded what is generally considered the first normal school, the École normale, in Reims, Champagne, France. The term "normal" in this context refers to the goal of these institutions to instil and reinforce particular norms within students. "Norms" included historical behavioral norms of the time, as well as norms that reinforced targeted societal values, ideologies and dominant narratives in the form of curriculum.
The first public normal school in the United States was founded in Concord, Vermont, by Samuel Read Hall in 1823 to train teachers. In 1839, the first state-supported normal school was established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the northeast corner of the historic Lexington Battle Green; it evolved into Framingham State University. The first modern teacher training school in China was established by educator Sheng Xuanhuai in 1895 as the normal school of the Nanyang Public School in Shanghai during the Qing dynasty.
Several comprehensive public or state-supported universities—such as UCLA in the United States and Beijing Normal University in China—began as normal schools and later expanded their faculties and programs to become research universities. Some of these universities, particularly in Asia, retain the word "Normal" in their name, highlighting their historical purpose. In Canada, most normal schools were eventually assimilated into a university as its faculty of education, offering a one or two-year Bachelor of Education degree. Such a degree requires at least three, but usually four, years of prior undergraduate study.
Etymology
The term normal school originated in the early 17th century from the French école normale. The French concept of an école normale was to provide a model school with model classrooms to teach model teaching practices to its student teachers, and thereby to set the norm for the profession of teaching.Europe
Educating teachers was of great importance in the newly industrialized European economies which needed a reliable, reproducible and uniform work force. The process of instilling such norms within students depended upon the creation of the first uniform, formalized national educational curriculum. Thus, normal schools, as the teacher training schools, were tasked with both developing this new curriculum and developing the techniques through which teachers would instill these ideas, behaviors and values in the minds of their students.Germany
In Germany, schools of education only exist in the state of Baden-Württemberg. These schools prepare teachers for Grundschule and secondary schools like Hauptschule and Realschule. Teachers for the Gymnasium are educated at universities. In the past there were Teachers' seminars,, and normal schools.Finland
In Finland, normal schools are under national university administration, whereas most schools are administered by the local municipality. Aspirant teachers do most of their compulsory trainee period in normal schools and teach while being supervised by a senior teacher.France
In France, a two-tier system developed after the Revolution: primary school teachers were educated at départemental écoles normales and high school teachers and university professors at the écoles normales supérieures. Nowadays all teachers are educated in an .Italy
In Italy, normal schools are now termed Liceo delle Scienze Umane. The Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa now focuses mainly on training researchers.Lithuania
In Lithuania, Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, former Vilnius Pedagogical University is the main teachers' training institution, established in 1935.Serbia
In Serbia, the first public normal school was founded in Sombor, Vojvodina, by Avram Mrazović in 1778 to train teachers.In 2018, the Faculty of Education in Sombor celebrated 240 years since the founding of the first school for the education of Serbian teachers called Norma. It was a teacher training college at the beginning called Norma college before it was closed in 1811, and another school was opened in its place in 1812 in Szentendre under the Declaratory Rescript of the Illyrian Nation. The new institution was named Regium Pedagogium Nationis Illiricae or Royal Pedagogium Of The Illyrian-Serbian Nation which eventually was relocated back to Sombor in 1816. The Normal school – Teachers College is generally considered the first normal school or École normale in Sombor. The term "normal" in this case refers to "the goal of the institution to instill and reinforce particular norms within students". Also, these "norms included historical behavioral norms of the time, as well as norms that reinforced targeted societal values, ideologies and dominant narratives in the form of curriculum". For the longest time, this was the only academy for teachers' training in Serbian. The first woman academician of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Isidora Sekulić, the poet Jovan Dučić, the composers Petar Konjović and Josif Marinković are just some of the alumni of ''Norma.''
Spain
In Spain, the first public normal school was the Escuela Normal de Madrid, founded in Madrid in 1839. It was gradually integrated into the Complutense University of Madrid's Faculty of Education between 1991 and 1995. Later normal schools were founded in Zamora, Segovia, Salamanca and Valladolid.United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, teacher training colleges were once named as such, and were independent institutions.Following the recommendation of the 1963 Robbins Report into higher education, teacher training colleges were renamed "Colleges of Education". Later in the 20th century some became a "College of Higher Education" or an "Institute of Higher Education". For information about academic divisions devoted to this field outside of the United States and Canada, see Postgraduate Training in Education.
The long-term restructuring of higher education in the UK, beginning in the 1990s, has resulted in establishments either taking the status of "university" or merging. The University of Chester, founded by the Anglican church, traces its roots back to 1839 as the earliest teacher training college in the United Kingdom. Others were also established by religious institutions, and most were single-sex until World War II. Since then, they have either become multi-discipline universities in their own right or merged with another university to become its faculty of education.
In Wales there were at least three institutions which included the word "Normal" in their name: Normal School, Brecon, subsequently relocated to become Normal College Swansea ; and Normal College, Bangor, which survived until 1996, when it became part of University of Wales Bangor. The latter was one of the last institutions in the UK to retain the word "Normal" in its name.
Asia
China
In Mainland China, the "normal school" terminology is still preserved in the official English names of former normal schools established in the late 19th and early 20th century. The Chinese term normal university refers to a modern comprehensive university established as a normal school in the early twentieth century. These "normal universities" are usually controlled by the national or provincial government.In 1895, Qing banking tycoon and educator Sheng Xuanhuai gained approval from the Guangxu Emperor to establish the Nanyang Public School in Shanghai, China. This comprehensive institution included the first normal school on the Chinese mainland.
In 1923, the Supreme Education School of Peking was renamed as National Beijing Normal University, the first Normal University in China.
Since 1949, many former normal schools in China developed into comprehensive research universities. As of 2025, Beijing Normal University and East China Normal University, both members of the national government's Project 985 program, were ranked the top two among the mainland Chinese universities that originated as normal schools.