| (formerly) a school offering a two-year course and certification to high-school graduates preparing to be teachers, esp. elementary-school teachers. |
| normal school n. A school that trains teachers, chiefly for the elementary grades. [Translation of French école normale (so called because the first school so named was intended as a model) : école, school + normal, normal.] |
normal school
institution for the training of teachers. One of the first schools so named, the Ecole Normale Superieure ("Normal Superior School"), was established in Paris in 1794. Based on various German exemplars, the school was intended to serve as a model for other teacher-training schools. Later it became affiliated with the University of Paris.
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