James Allan Masterton, M.A. (1880-1962)
Headmaster
James Allan Masterton, teacher and headmaster, was born in Wemyss, Fife, and had a distinguished career in teaching, including headmaster of Foulford School and Kelty School. He was the author of at least two teaching books: Primary Silent Reading and For Silent Reading published in the 1920s.
Genealogy
James Allan Masterton was the second son and fourth child of George Masterton, schoolmaster in Wemyss, and his wife Janet Allan. George Masterton was the second of eight children (seven of them boys) born to John Masterton, linen weaver, and Janet Bennett White, who had married in 1844 in Largo. James Allan Masterton therefore belongs to the large group of Mastertons that flourished in the Largo area. He married Mary Duncan Reid in 1908 in Edinburgh. Fuller details of his extended family can be found at this link.
The Scotsman
Fife Education Committee yesterday approved the following preliminary leet for the post of head teacher of Leven Higher Grade School:- David Anderson, M.A., B.Sc., chief technical assistant, Kirkcaldy High School, and headmaster, Kirkcaldy Technical School; John E. Arkieson, M.A., principal teacher of English, Dunfermline High School; James B. Guthrie, M.A., B.Sc., principal teacher of mathematics and science, Buckhaven High School; Norman M. Johnson, B.Sc., headmaster, McLean School, Dunfermline; George B. Mackie, M.A., vice-principal and principal teacher of English, Kirkcaldy High School; and James A. Masterton, M.A., headmaster, Foulford School, Cowdenbeath.
The Scotsman
14th May, 1935
Mr James A. Masterton, M.A., headmaster of Foulford Public School, was appointed headmaster of Kelty Public School, at a meeting of Fife Education Committee at Kirkcaldy yesterday. Mr Masterton is 58 years of age, and has held his present post for 15 years.
The Scotsman
12th July, 1938
New Aim Broader in Conception and Purpose
DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY
THERE was a large attendance of teachers at Ayr on Saturday afternoon, when a conference on "The New Curriculum" was held under the auspices of the Scottish section of the New Education Fellowship. The principal speakers were Mr John L. Hardie, Deputy Director of Education, Edinburgh, and Mr Ronald M. Munro, Aberhill, Methil, ex-vice president of the Educational Institute of Scotland. Mr J. A. Masterton, headmaster of Foulford School, Fife, presided.
Mr Hardie said it was generally agreed that the curriculum for the extra year of school life now provided for could not be considered in isolation, but must be regarded in its relation to the whole course of instruction for post-primary pupils from 12 to 15. If the greatest and most profitable use was to be made of the extended school life, the whole of the curriculum for these three years must necessarily be brought under review. fortunately, perhaps, there was no need in Scotland of an entire reconstruction of the curriculum, for established practice during recent years had largely set the direction both of the content of the course and of the teaching technique. It is true also tht while a great measure of latitude and flexibility was allowed under the Revised Day Schools Code, now in draft, they were not free to do precisely as they like with the curriculum.
The Scotsman
17th October, 1938