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is well advanced. Only shortages of labour and materials in the printing industry are preventing more rapid publication. Teachers' manuals will also be produced ; a very good one on Number Work in the Infant-room has already been given to all schools. The School Journal is to be doubled in size in 1946. Apart from smaller classes, there is no more urgent need in the primary schools than good text-books, and the Government is determined to provide them at the earliest possible moment. (7) The School Library Service, administered by the Country Library Service, was begun in 1938, and, in spite of difficulties of supply in wartime, has now built up a magnificent collection of 124,782 children's books and is providing a loan service to 63,923 children, in 1,042 schools, mostly in the country. A small charge is made to a school for the first two years, but after that the service is free to both State and private schools. It is hoped eventually to extend the service to cover all schools. Special grants have also been given to Education Boards to enable them in some cases to carry on loan services and in others to purchase reference books to remain permanently in schools. (8) Departmental advisers to infant departments were first appointed in 1938, and have done excellent work in assisting infant-mistresses to adopt modern methods. The amount of formal work in infant-rooms has been greatly reduced. Increasing emphasis is being placed on helping the young child to adapt himself socially and to lay a foundation of real experiences that will give a concrete understanding of numbers and verbal symbols when they are introduced later. This has created a need for much more infant-room apparatus of all kinds, and the Department, with the assistance of the Boards, has distributed great quantities of it free to schools over the past three years. Still more is needed, and will be provided as it can be produced. The best modern infant-rooms come as near as any places I know to providing a balanced allround education. (9) Considerable advances have been made in the field of teaching-aids since the appointment in 1941 of a departmental officer to supervise the work. A National Film Library has been built up which gives to schools and other organizations a free and rapidly growing service of films, both sound and silent. Free libraries of film strips have been established in every Education Board district. Education officers have been attached to the four main museums for museum work with school-children. The National Broadcasting Service now provides a country-wide coverage of specially prepared school broadcasts for three and a quarter hours a week. All these services are available to State and private schools alike. (10) In 1939 a Superintendent of Physical Education was appointed to the Department's staff. Since then there have been great improvements in physical education in the primary schools, and within the last year or two a special effort has been made to extend the work to the post-primary schools. Ten years ago there were at the most only half a dozen full-time physical education specialists in the primary-school system ; in 1945 there were 70, and some of the very best training-college students are selected each year for specialized instruction in physical education. Substantial grants have been made to Education Boards for the provision of apparatus and equipment to the schools, and these will be continued until all schools are well equipped. (11) The teaching of art and crafts fell to a low level during the depression owing to lack of specialized staff and of materials. A Supervisor of Art and Crafts was appointed to the Department in 1941, since when a scheme of art and crafts utilizing New Zealand raw materials has expanded rapidly through the schools. In spite of supply difficulties due to the war, far more materials for art and crafts have been issued than ever before. Teachers with specialist qualifications in art and crafts are being trained in increasing numbers. (12) Visiting teachers were attached experimentally in 1944 to certain groups of schools to act as school social workers and form a special link between home and school in the case of problem children of all types. The experiment proved most successful, and there are now 15 visiting teachers employed.

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