View report page

53
Formerly the desks were supplied with foot-rests, but the medical officer many
years ago recommended that the supply of foot rests to desks should be discontinued.
As a result the new pattern desks do not have foot-rests, and where head teachers
have requested it, foot-rests have been removed from old pattern desks. It is also
usual when second-hand desks are reissued from the supplies department to remove
the foot rests.
At the instance of certain head teachers, during the past year, the question
has been reconsidered. Dr. Nairn Dobbie, who undertook to examine anew the
problem of foot-rests, wrote the following review, and, as a result, it was decided to
adhere to the policy of dispensing with the rests.
"Following requests from the head teachers of Blackfriars (B.) and Pritchard'sroad
(I.) schools, that foot-rests should be replaced on all desks, these schools were
visited, the head teachers interviewed, and the classrooms and children inspected.
"Arguments advanced by the head teachers fall under five headings. (1) Footrests
give an alternative physiological position for the feet. (2) The feet while on
foot-rests are off the floor giving freer circulation of air and consequent quicker drying
of damp footwear. (3) The feet being oil the floor there is less noise. (4) Foot-rests
ensure a better position of the children for writing, etc. (5) Foot-rests strengthen
the desks.
"With regard to: (1) The distance between the front of the seat and the floor
being the same as that between the front of the seat and the foot-rest does give an
alternative position for the feet, but even in the absence of foot-rests many alternative
positions for the feet can be obtained by flexion and extension at the ankle joint
without much relative change in the sitting position, and this actually takes place in
all children in virtue of the physiological demand for movement, and even when
foot-rests are in position the children only use them for a few consecutive minutes.
Where the desk actually fits the child the foot-rest as such has no disadvantage from
this single aspect, but many observations in different schools show that only in a
minority of cases are the desks suited to the children. When the seat is too high,
the child supports the legs by flexing them under the seat and resting on the toes,
or slipping forward on his seat he rests his heels or feet on the floor; in either case
the foot-rests are useless. When the seat is too low the foot-rest prevents the child
from stretching his legs so that his knees come in contact with the locker of the desk;
the foot-rest in this case is a distinct disadvantage. The practical difficulties of
suiting the desks to the children are, that in the boys' department at Pritchard'sroad
school, the average difference in height between the shortest and the tallest
boys in each of the classrooms was 12 inches, and although the desks may be
arranged to fit individual children at the beginning of each term, absences and the
necessity for placing exceptional children, e.g., dull of hearing, near-sighted, etc., in
certain positions in the classroom, coupled with the practical difficulty of shifting
heavy dual desks, has the effect of largely negativing the original arrangement of
desks for the children.
"(2) Theoretically the feet being raised from the floor by foot-rests ensures a
freer circulation of air and quicker drying, but even where foot-rests are, the feet
are seldom on the rests for more than a few consecutive minutes, and in the absence
of foot-rests the feet rest alternatively on the toes, soles and heels, and keep in no
one position for long, so that the presence of rests does not necessarily quicken
the drying of damp footwear.
"(3) Children shift the position of their feet every few minutes and appear
to have an instinctive tendency to kick anything and everything above the floor level
so that foot-rests would seem to be a possible factor in noise production. The
very scarcity of complaints from teachers of increased noise by removal of rests
indicates that this aspect is not of serious moment.
"(4) During the act of writing the body bends forward and balance and comfort
are maintained by bringing the legs and feet under the seat, more particularly is this
The question
of foot-rests.