Concern At Policy Of Education Dept.

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30274, 29 October 1963, Page 7

Concern At Policy Of Education Dept.

Concern at the Education Department policy of reducing the number of physical education officers it employs was expressed by delegates at the annual conference of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association in Christchurch yesterday. The conference decided to protest to the department. It .was a very retrograde step as far as teaching swimming was concerned, said Mr G. S. Bruce (Nelson-Marl-borough). The main problem was in country schools, where there might be only one or two teachers, who might not be interested in swimming. Teachers were taught to teach swimming, but they could be rather lax, he said.

Mr H. V. Morrison (Otago) said that the association would be banging its head against a brick wall. The whole policy of the department appeared to have changed. Physical education specialists in future would only instruct teachers. They would not give any demonstrations.

The amount of money the department was allowing for physical education was not being changed, said Mr J. H. Johnson (Canterbury). Any decreases in the number of specialists would be made up by the greater capabilities of those remaining. They would have the status of a headmaster of a large school, he said. “This does mean a valuable loss of liaison.” said Mr A. J. Donaldson (South Canterbury). “We need help in the schools to encourage them to make swimming one of their major activities. I hope that the drastic change will not detract from the combined effort we are making." Games Categories

Athletes to the British Empire and Olympic Games should not be divided into A

and B categories as ait present, it was agreed. A decision was reached to recommend to the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association that its complete teams be announced and that individual sporting associations be advised privately of the amount of finance required.

It was pointed out that A category athletes were paid for by the Olympic and British Empire Games Association and thait finance had to be found by the various sporting organisations for the B category athlete. Mr F. Adam (Wellington) said that to be designated a B category athlete or swimmer was somewhat derogatory to the person selected. All athletes chosen, whether they were A or B category, were all representatives of New Zealand, he said. Professional Rights

A move by Mr Bruce to have a representative of the Professional Coaches’ Association admitted as a delegate to the annual conference with full authority to speak but no power to vote, was deferred for further consideration. The committee to deal with the accreditation of the professional coaches had not been set up yet. “I think we are rushing our fences,” said Mr C. Rex Moore (a life member) when the proposal was put forward. Poo] Sixes It had been the policy Of the association for some years that 55yd pools should be built in all large towns throughout the country, the retiring president (Mr R. Shakespeare) said. He was replying to an inquiry from a Southland delegate (Mr W. F. Johnson) on the size of pool recommended for Invercargill. The Southland centre has proposed to the Invercargill City Council that it build a covered, heated pool ait an estimated cost of £lOO,OOO.