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161
pective of whether what they are teaching is recognised as health
education.
Perhaps the most encouraging recent development in secondary
schools is the work of teachers trained in what is sometimes
referred to as education in personal relationships. Such men and
women are trained to listen, not to preach. It is slowly being
realised that someone in every school should accept responsibility
for co-ordinating health education, and should be encouraged to
identify the needs of each age group, to see how these can be
met within the framework of the curriculum, to initiate discussions
with colleagues and parents to form an effective link
with school medical officers and health education officers. This
is very different from inserting yet another "subject" into the
curriculum. It offers a demanding job but the time is now ripe for
more teachers to undertake it. A beginning has been made and
both an awakening of public interest and a growth of in-service
training are clearly discernible.
The Education Division of the Health Education Council is
now established. The Schools Council has a working party to
assess the need for, and feasibility of, curriculum development
work in health education. Many local authorities have set up
study groups of teachers, school medical officers, and health
education officers to devise programmes of health education for
schools. Several have recently published many interesting suggestions
and schemes, including the London Borough of Bromley.
This scheme has been compiled to aid teachers in the work
of helping pupils to prepare themselves for entering into our
present complex society where personal relationships are so
important and where social health is of such paramount concern
to us all. That our young people should cherish standards which
conduce to the building of our general well-being, that they
should conduct themselves with an appropriate measure of responsibility
which they have grown in and for themselves, as well
as with due tolerance and understanding for the views and actions
of others, is the very essence of this whole matter.
This scheme of work illustrates the individual, relational and
environmental influences which have a considerable bearing on
the person's health. It provides opportunities for the study of
factual knowledge as well as for the examination of human
behaviour, problems and attitudes in present-day society.
Physical Education
Mr. D. R. Barraclough, Chief Education Officer, has submitted
the following report:—
In the more orthodox education field there has been much