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the greater part of the time of the organisers of physical education since its inception. It was considered
advisable to give a series of demonstrations for head masters prior to commencing the practical
courses for the assistants, and over 400 headmasters attended. The commencement of the first course
for assistant teachers took place on the 27th October, but prior to this the College staff gave demonstration
lessons to teachers (at 25 very small non-provided schools) who are not at present eligible
for attendance at practical courses.
Since the opening of the practical courses this work has been continued and about 60 other schools
have been visited. 151 teachers have attended the practical course, which has included (a) the Board of
Education (1919) syllabus, (b) organised games, (c) swimming, (d) dancing, (e) theory of physical education,
and (f) boxing—a voluntary subject.
In the course of medical inspection in the schools a large number of children are found by the
medical officer to be suffering from incipient deformities which can be corrected by special attention to
physical exercises. It is impossible for them to receive attention at hospitals because of their large
numbers, the frequency with which they should attend, the long period over which the exercises must
extend, and the necessity for reserving hospital accommodation for more serious cases. Indeed, the
problem, being merely that of giving special daily attention to particular children in the way of carrying
out the ordinary physical exercises used in the schools, is not one which could be coped with at hospitals,
nor should the children be sent to hospitals for the purpose. Faced with numbers of children on their
hands for whom special provision for physical exercises had been advised, many school care committees
became distressed because it seemed impossible to get the advice acted upon, and the incipient deformities
in many cases developed and became fixed. In consequence of this, the Elementary Education SubCommittee,
in November, 1911, decided to arrange, as an experiment, for a period of six months, for
special classes in physical exercises for weakly children to be held for 20 minutes daily at eight L.C.C.
schools. The experiment was placed under the joint supervision of the organisers of physical training
and the school doctors. The experiment proved that, by daily exercises of 20 minutes arranged in
small classes and carried out by assistant teachers who are competent to teach physical exercises, the
incipient deformities above referred to are entirely corrected and the physique of the particular children
wonderfully improved. The Elementary Education Sub-Committee, in November, 1912, agreed to the
extension of the scheme, and from time to time have considered reports upon the classes being held. .The
Elementary Education Sub-Committee, in May, 1914, decided that special classes should be formed only
in schools where it is possible to arrange for a teacher already on the staff to undertake the instruction,
that no special appratus should be supplied, and that the teacher should work in close co-operation with
the school medical officer and the organising teacher of physical exercises.
During the war, owing to shortage of staff, little extension of the scheme took place, but subsequently
notices were issued in the Council's Gazette drawing the attention of the head teachers to the
scheme, and, as a consequence, there are now about 25 special classes of the kind described being carried
on.
Meanwhile, in certain districts where no such classes were available, the school care committees
pressed for some arrangement which would meet the case, and the Education Committee, in November,
1919, included in the arrangements for medical treatment the provision of three remedial exercise treatment
centres. These centres should properly receive more advanced cases, such as are unsuitable for
daily classes in the schools, but owing to the lack of revision of the latter classes in the neighbourhood,
the majority of children attending these cent es are found to be of the early incipient type.
The Board of Education suggested, in a letter in October, 1920, that no further provision of such
centres should be made at present, but that the authority should extend the system of daily classes in
the schools.
The education officer and the school medical officer thought that an endeavour should be made
during the coming financial year to increase the number of daily classes to at least 100. It was not
suggested that any increase in teaching staff would be required, and until the number of classes has
increased to above 100 it is thought that they can be supervised by the present staff of organisers of
physical exercises. The provision of apparatus to the classes is generally to be deprecated, but it has
been found of great advantage in the experimental classes to have available a set of simple Swedish
forms which have undoubtedly contributed to the success of the classes. It was suggested that apparatus
should be Limited to the provision of four Swedish forms for each class.
The children in the classes need to be carefully examined at least once a term by the school doctor ;
each class, therefore, requires three visits of a school doctor per annum. It will be necessary to ask for
additional medical staff for the purpose, and it is suggested that authority should be obtained for a parttime
school doctor giving three sessions a week during the coming financial year. The proposal is at
present before the committees of the Council.
Special
classes in
elementary
schools
Very many most interesting experunents and schemes for furthering health and physical culture
have been introduced by the head teachers of various schools. One such experiment which has been
closely watched by Dr. E. J. Boome has been that at the Vauxhall-street School, where the head teacher,
Mr. J. J. Thompson, has endeavoured to found all the educational activities of the school upon a basis
of physical training. Mr. Thompson defines the aims and results of his experiment in the following
words:—
Aims: To raise the physical, moral and mental standard of the boys in a school situated
in a poor neighbourhood.
Physically—By means of health development as the dominating factor of life and labour;
by inculcating the love of cleanliness and clean living; and the abhorrence of dirt.
A school
whose "bias"
is that of
physical
training