The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1926. THE OPEN-AIR SCHOOL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 15 December 1927, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1926. THE OPEN-AIR SCHOOL.

Delivered every evening dy 5 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa. Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton. Hurieyville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara. Ohangat. Meremere. Fraser Road and Ararat a

The advocates of open-air schools are nothing if not enthusiastic, and the •testimony in support of the wider adoption of this 1 type of building for educational purposes is steadily increasing. An influential English , weekly, the “Spectator,” recently devoted to the subject an article which is almost fervid in its argument for the conduct of all schools upon open-air lines. “Children are still herded in their thousands,’’ it says, “into barrack-dike schools, deprived of the air and sunlight which are their birthright, their natural activity is repressed, and they are taught and talked at instead of being allowed to learn.” There seems to be some straying hero from the point of instruction in the open air to that of methods of instruction in general. The writer in the “Spectator” is convinced, however, that the open-air school movement, which is described as perhaps strongest in England, ds spreading to all parts of the civilised world. The New Zealand movement in that direction is mentioned as particularly interesting because it is essentially a parents’ movement. Dotted here and •there in Great Britain are to be found open-air schools for sick children, and in certain areas new elementary and secondary schools are being built on open-air or semi-open-air lines. The Derbyshire County Council is setting a good example bv deciding that all its new schools, both primary and secondary, shall be of the open-air type. New elementary schools at Leeds, moreover, are of an excellent open-air design. All the class rooms have large French windows facing the south, while on the opposite walls are vent windows opening also into the open air. “It would appear,” tire “Spectator” says, “that among the most progressive educational authorities opinion is steadily veering in favour of plenty of space and buildings of a semi-permanent and less costly type. And this is wise, for our ideas arc ever changing, and palatial schools, erected at great cost, may well prove hindrances to future educational developments, even as at the present time they take no account of the child’s physical needs.” The educational authorities in New Zealand are now alive to the desirability of the open-air type of class room and Haworn has reason, in the now building for infants now in course of construction, to be grateful for the steady persistence with which the originators of the movement have worked to gain recognition of the practicability of their demands. At present the Department does not commit itself beyond a declaration that it will favourably consider requests that new buildings should be of the open-air type when and where it is satisfied that there is a decided opinion, in that, direction among the parents. In some districts the parents are enthusiastic, in their preference for more air and sunlight for the school children, but there are still many in New Zealand who look upon this innovation with suspicion. However, with open-air schools continuing to grow in numbers ,and in all cases giving satisfaction, it is not too much for the enthusiasts to hope that soon the Department will feel justified in taking its courage in both hands and giving the hesitant section of the public a lead instead of awaiting guidance. If the climate of England or Scotland is found suitable for the introduction of tin’ open-air school, that of no part of New

Zealand should bo a very serious ob

stacle to the innovation. It is stated that tho experience of the Glasgow Education Authority with the Burnside Special School, an open-air institution founded in 1914 and accommodating 600 delicate children, and with, subsequent schools of a similar type, lias led it to look very favourably upon the open-air school. Those who are disposed to regard the advocates of the open-air school as more faddists may advantageously ponder a statement by the Director of'Education for Glasgow: “When we find better school attendance, better attendance of teachers, and I should almost be inclined to say considerably better quality of work, I would recommend, even for Glasgow, .the erection of no school that was not of the open-air or quasi-open-air type; indeed, all plans which are under review for new schools are on this principle.” In England and Scotland the advocates of the new type of .school are endeavouring to make the public sec for itself that if open-air class-rooms are beneficial to delicate children they are surely not a menace to the normal child. But it is more difficult to drive this obvious point home than one would suspect, and the advocates have many more years of work ahead of them before they achieve their ultimate ideal of every school an open-air school.