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182
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1913.
(10) Attention should be paid to the carriage of the body during the walks and to the
condition of the children's feet. An attitude with a slight forward inclination of the trunk
should be encouraged as it is the normal and best attitude, while stiff and exaggerated
upright positions should be condemned. During the periodical rests on the march the
children should be encouraged to relax their muscles by assuming horizontal positions,
when possible, on the ground for a few minutes.
(11) Chest measurements should in all cases be recorded before and after an excursion
so as to give some indication of the amount of improvement of chest expansion obtained.
(12) The advantages offered by the trip should be used as a means of inducing the parents,
or the children themselves, to obtain medical treatment for defects found, and children not
treated should be excluded unless satisfactory reasons are given for the delay in obtaining
treatment.
(13) Fatigue, both bodily and mental, is more common in children who suffer from
temporary and for the most part avoidable defects engendered by the changed conditions
of the trip, and may be noted in such children even when the amount of physical or mental
effort has been relatively small. It should be guarded against as mentioned in paragraph 4,
and not by avoiding all teaching or instruction on the journey or by unduly limiting the
amount of physical exercise. At the same time the latter should be graded, commencing with
short excursions and long resting periods and ending by longer marches with briefer halts.
It is advisable that on the last day the amount of work done should be relatively small.
Instruction in Hygiene.
Elementary
Schools—
Instruction
in Hygiene
of Upper
Standards.
In connection with the report of the departmental committee on tuberculosis the Public
Health Committee of the Council suggested the desirability of making instruction in all simple facts
of hygiene compulsory, at least as regards the elder children attending the schools. Prior to this
suggestion of the Public Health Committee the Education Committee of the Council had taken steps
with a view to instruction being given in hygiene, and the temperance syllabus issued by the Board
of Education in 1909 was sent to every senior department as a suggestive guide to teachers. At the
present time some of the teachers who have been impressed with the importance of the question
make it a practice to introduce instruction in hygiene incidentally during the course of instruction in
other subjects. This is entirely voluntary on the part of the teachers. A certain amount of instruction
in hygiene is included in the Council's syllabus of instruction in domestic subjects. This is the
only way in which instruction in the subject is compulsory and it only applies to girls. In the
introduction of the Code for Elementary Schools, 1912, the Board of Education state—" The school
must at the same time encourage to the utmost the children's natural activities of hand and eye by
suitable forms of practical work and manual instruction; and afford them every opportunity for the
healthy development of their bodies, not only by training them in appropriate physical exercises and
encouraging them in organised games, but also by instructing them in the working of some of the
simpler laws of health."
In section 2 of the Code "Hygiene and Physical Training" are included amongst the subjects
which may be taught in schools for older scholars, and the subject of hygiene is defined as "instruction
adapted to the ages and sexes of the scholars in the elementary rules of personal health,
particularly in respect of food, drink (including alcohol), clothing, cleanliness and fresh air; and
careful cultivation of a correct posture at writing and other lessons. Apart altogether from the
question of tuberculosis it would be advantageous that instruction in the elementary laws of health
should be part of the routine instruction given to every elementary school child. Hygiene is now a
compulsory subject at all training colleges for teachers, and all teachers in the Council's service hold
a certificate for the teaching of physical exercises which ensures the possession of a certain amount
of acquaintance with the laws of health. There are also lectures and classes for teachers in the
Council's evening schools in health, home nursing, and infant care, and a special course of lectures on
the prevention of consumption for teachers in elementary schools. The school doctor pays visits in each
term to every department for the purpose of medical inspection of the scholars, and although the
time at his disposal is limited in view of the statutory duties he has to perform under the Education
(Administrative Provisions) Act, yet his advice and co-operation is of great advantage in this respect
to the head teachers of the schools in his district. The advice given at this time to parents and, to
some extent, to the elder children has an important educational effect from the practical side. The
question of the possibility of making instruction in hygiene more general in the upper standards of
the elementary schools is still under consideration.
Teaching of Infant Care.
A conference consisting of members of the teaching staff, the inspectorate, domestic economy
instructresses and representatives of the Board of Education and the Public Health Department was
convened in the latter part of the year to consider the question of the teaching of Infant Care and
Management in Public Elementary Schools. General agreement was found with regard to the desirableness
of incorporating the subject in the curriculum. Attention was chiefly directed in the discussion
to two questions, viz., (1) whether such teaching should be given in the ordinary schools by the class
teachers on the one hand, or in the domestic economy centres on the other hand ; and (2) whether special
apparatus should be provided for demonstration purposes and if so of what nature. After considerable
discussion it was agreed that it was preferable that the subject should form part of the curriculum for
elder girls in the ordinary schools. With regard to apparatus, the discussion turned chiefly upon the
question of the provision of a washable doll. Some of the members of the conference thought it necessary
that a doll of a certain weight and specific gravity should be provided, but it was pointed out from