AIR AND EDUCATION

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14475, 2 October 1912, Page 5

AIR AND EDUCATION

OUT OF DOOR SCHOOLS.

Tho timo has gone by when iho school was a dismal forbidding .kind of prison, a place to be entered with misgiving and lied from with rejoicing, a gloomy, dusty, and ill-ventilated house of detention. In tho scheme of modern education fresh air is recognised ■ as of oven moro importance than the "facts" so dear to tho heart of Mr Gradgrind, and tho educative influence of healthful and beautiful surroundings is no longer ignored, but is being taken into serious consideration moro and moro every day. Open-air schools =:"e not new, though they must, of course, bo reckoned among modern developments in education. As Mr C. H. Opio observed at tho last meeting of tho Education Board, they are quite a feature of tho Continental system. They are not uncommon in tho country districts of England. One of the features of tho West Ham "Whitehall place School is its roof-school, which is used during the greater part of the year. Open-air lessons nro given to-day im many Now Zealand schools. Tho question which is being asked at the present time is whether 'the system should not bo taken up, and open-air lessons converted into a regular institution. The Chief Inspector of Schools for North Canterbury, Mr "W. Brock, when asked by a representative of "The Press" for his opinion on the subject, said that while tho Education Department did not yet recognise open-air lessons as a regular feature of the school curriculum, many teachers had tried them on their own initiative, and haa lound them work in a very satisfactory way Quito recently several schools had erected shelter sheds, where tho children could play and eat their lunch in wet weather, and these sheds were largely used by teachers, for holding daises in, especially in crowded schools \t country schools, teachers frequently conducted lessons under tho trees when there were any conveniently situated. Playground lessons would, V wev ,^ r ' hardly prove so satisfactory in the fownVing to tho constant detraction afforded by passing vehicles, and so °"At the Tuahiwi school, near Kaiapoi" continued Mr Brock, "an experiment" has been made in the direction of open-air teaching which seems to be having excdUnt results. The Board as erected shelter sheds ther* which arc specially adapted for tho holding of classes. They are shut in on one side and on the other are provided with movable shutte.s. The reason for this provision-is the prevalence or -tuberculosis among the Maori children >vl-.o form a Jargo proportion of the pupils attending th-3 school. '•In other cases one side or tie school building can bo used as a protection from sun or wind. Of course, if several olassos were taken in the playground at tho same time, it would prove a difficult task to keep the afc tention of tho children on their lessons. In parts of Australia, I am told, rows of macroca/pa trees are often planted forming three sides of a square. "When the trees grow up the enclosure forms a sort, of open room, tho walls of which shut out the wind, and , serve the additional purpose of preventing tho children's attention from straying duiing their lessons. In my opinion the ideal open-air room would lie a sort of skeleton or 'framework fitted with shatters which could bo used on which ever sido was necessary. "Of co'.icse the whole question of extending the use of the shelter slkhls is ono 7 oF money. If tho Government were to take any steps in the matter the educational authorities would be sure to welcome every effort msi'lo in this direction. Still, if opon-air schools are to be widely used, it will be necessary to educate the children's parents up to them in many cases. It is the same with this as with the open window problem. A great many people still have the idea that a child will inevitably catch cold if it is exposed to fresh air."