PHYSICAL TRAINING IN SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1710, 29 March 1913, Page 8

PHYSICAL TRAINING IN SCHOOLS.

PROGRESS OF THE SCHEME. INTERVIEW WITH MR. T. ROYDGARLICK. Mr. T. Koyd Garlic's, Director of Physical Training in Schools, returned to Wellington in the early part of (lie week after visiting Auckland an<l Wangaiiui. Jn a previous trip lie had visiftd luvorcargill, TJunt-din, anil Christchurch, nnd lie intern!;, shortly to visit -Napier. At all the centres mentioned Mr. lioyd Clarlick niade preliminary arrangements in connection with tile scheme of physical eilncation in the public schools, which he has been appointed to carry out.

To a Dominion reporter who interviewed him yesterday, Mr. l{oyd Garlick intimaicd that nothing very definite could yet be said about thu progress of the scheme,' because it is being developed gradually. Four men and one lady were recently appointed as assistant' instructors. They will assemble in Wellington 011 Thursday to attend a staff school. That is to say, Mr. Kgiyd Garlick will put his assistants, through a course of instruction in the methods of training they are to pursue. The course will last for about a month. Early in May the assistant-instructors will take up the work of training teachers in the four-chief centres. The lady assistant (Miss Dorothy Heritage) will divide her time between the four eentrcs. Arrangements ha've been made by Mr. lioyd Garlick with Hid education* boards ill the different districts under which teachers will be released in successive groups to attend instruction classes. The instruction of each group will occupy a fortnight, and some months will bo spent by the instructors in training the teachers, who can conveniently assemble in the cities. It is anticipated that by th< end of July, if all goes well, the physical education of children will be- progressing in over one hundred schools in the Dominion. Eventually additional instructors will be employed, and the benefits of the scheme will be extended to country schools. Physical education will also be established in Native schools. Apart from their duty .of training teachers, the instructors will be employed, as inspectors to visit schools and. see that the details of the scheme are being carried out efficiently.

Mr." iioyd Garlick is confident that the scheme of physical education will develop smoothly. The training of teachers, he remarked, could be made to attractive that those undergoiiig .it would find tlia experience pleasant. 0110 of his experiences during his recent visit to Australia was to attend an instruction class for teachers at a place 011 the jflutli coast -of New South Wales. The clus. contained thirty teachers, of whom two were over 5B years of age. The others ranged down to 24 years of age. The part) 1 went through tlio course of training with the thermometer at from 9U to Da degrees. At the end of a fortliiglit's training every member of the. party was in excellent fettle. All had derived benefit, ami all displayed iui enthusiastic interest in tlio subject of physical education. Un visiting Melbourne, Sydney, and other places, Mr. lioyd Garlick found that good progress had been.' made. Particularly in Victoria, where a system of physical training of children was inaugurated - three years ago, very material benefits have already resulted. The training of teachers-is being very effectively carried out on liues similar to l7io.su about to Ire instituted in New Zealand. Training of teachers by periodical lemons, at intervals, had been iound unsatisfactory, and a system of continuous courses of instruction, lasting for a fortnight, had been adopted instead, with beneficial results. , - '

Mr. Jioyd 'Uurlick states that ho was very favourably impressed with the physique, bearing, and ' deportment of children in the Melbourne schools. In those respects there was a very marked improvement as compared with the state of. affairs when he visited Australia' three, years ago. , Asked how it was arranged to give a fortnight's continuous instruction to the teachers attached, to scattered country schools in Victoria, Mr. Kovd Garlick replied that the Education Department, which directly controls the schools in that State (there, being no boards or school committees),, simply closes down a group of schools for a fortnight, so as to release a suflicieut number of teachers to form a class. When one sot of teachers lias been instructed, another group of country schools is dosctl down, and so on, until all the teachers, are" qualified t.o undertake the physical education of the children under their care.