The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1913. TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 October 1913, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1913. TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

A (iuui) deal has been heard of late about physical education and the ju'cil for perfecting , the public schools system of physical drill. An interesting synopsis of the Education Department a proposals is given in the annual report presented to Parliament this month by command of His Excellency the Governor. In this the official head of the department writes: Recognising that one oi the highest aims of State education is to lit the child for a useful and active life of citizenship with a well-balanced personality in which the physical, mental, and moral qiurifties are equally developen and disciplined, the Government decided to introduce a sound system of physical education more complete than had been in existence before. Accordingly, last .session it proposed and Parliament passed certain amendments in the Education Act, designed to carry out this purpose. The Junior Cadet organisation, though excellent in some respects, was not suited io provide the desired physical training; moreover, it afl'eetei! only some 20,000 boys, at a cost oi about £8,000 per annum, and did not provide any training for girls. The scheme oi: physical education which has been substituted for the .'Junior Cadel training is calculated to aft'eei beneficially all children attending the primary, Native, and special schools in the dominion, in all some 180.000 children of boil) sexes, al about ilie .same total cost. A Director of Physical Education was appointed in November, 1912, and he was instrucied to proceed 1o Australia to inquire into the efficiency and working of a similar syllabus of training recently established in (he Commonwealth. During the present yeal , (191-' i) ten instructors have been appointed, and they will also act as Inspectors of Physical Training under the Act. Tlie first important par! of the work lias been (he- training of teachers; classes of instruction have already been held with marked success in several education districts: and before long the great majority of teachers will have received some (iogree of training in the new system, which is based, with "some slight modifications, on the syllabic of physical exorcises for schools issued by the English Hoard of Education in 1909.

The report contains some further interesting mutter in referonce to medical inspection of schools. It stales that from the experience of older countries where systems of medical inspection have been in operation for some time it is not thought necessary to examine each child more than twice, or at the most three times, in the course of his primary school life, except in cases of suspected or proved abnormality. It was accordingly decided to begin by regular inspection of the children in class 82 -that is, of children averaging ten to eleven years of age. As a rule the medical inspector inspects children in any schoo] on the first day of his visit, and on the second day examines in special cases from other classes brouglTf under his notice by the head teacher or selected by himself. An important part of the inspectors' work is to train the teachers to do (heir share of medical inspection, for in those countries where the system is most successful the co-operation of the, teachers hns been found to be a most important factor. Ascordingly, the medical inspector is always accompanied by a teacher, who in this way learns much as to the aims and methods of medical inspection. The individual training is supplemented by courses of Saturday lectures given to the teachers residing in or "near each important centre visited. 1 More extensive courses of lectures are given to training-college students. TsTotif.es are sent to parents of children in. cases where the inspection shows that medical or dental treatment is required; no cases are, however, treated by the Inspectors; parents are recommended to take their children to their own "medical advisers. School

authorities and parents generally appear to welcome the new depflrture. In a large number of cases it has been found that children with notified defects have received treatment accordingly.

Owing to ("he facts that the Medical Inspectors had to work out a common standard for the assessment of various defects, that the teachers were new to the work, and that the natural tendency at the. outset was to bring only abnormal cases under the notice of the Inspectors, it would be misleading to publish even a summary of the reports of the work <>f the first few months. It is, however, already evident thai even with the limitation of two inspectors for each child ill the eight years for the ages six to fourteen, the number of officers employed at present is too small, and it is proposed to increase their number very shortly.