CONDITIONS OK HEALTH ESSENTIAL FOR CARRYING ON INSTRUCTION, 491 



In all the others the management is left to the head master or head 

 mistress or to medical officers and nothing is required of the teachers. 



b. The arrangements of the curriculum are for the most part left to 

 the head master or head mistress with occasional discussions with the 

 staff. 



c. The physical training and drill are apparently conducted by the 

 teachers in the Board schools and partly by specialists in other schools. 



d. In three of the largest School Boards teachers are expected to make 

 systematic observations of the pupils' health, eyesight, defects, &c., under 

 the guidance of specialists. 



In other reports the methodical observations seem to be simply con- 

 fined to inspection by the teachers for cleanliness and signs of infectious 

 diseases or entrusted to a limited extent to the medical ofiicer, or to be 

 altogether ignored. 



(5. What opportunities and encouragements are afforded to the teachers 

 for the study of mental and moral as well as of physical hygiene ?) 



In some few schools periodical meetings are held at which mental and 

 moral school hygiene are dealt with in addresses and discussions, but there 

 is no other evidence of the matter being treated as important. 



In addition to the replies to the circular, reports on the subject 

 have also been received from the Dublin Board of National Education 

 and the London School Board, with notes by Dr. Kerr. These reports 

 contain valuable information but are too long to quote in full, and are 

 therefore summarised in the following notes. 



The Report of the Commissioners of National Education, Dublin, 

 shows : — 



That about three hundred and fifty teachers hold special certificates 

 in hygiene granted to them by the Commissioners ; Hygiene and Domestic 

 Economy for the female teachers, Elementary Science, School Discipline, 

 Physical Drill (into which questions of hygiene largely enter) for the male 

 teachers. 



Teachers are required to attend to the ventilation of schoolrooms at least 

 three times a day, to take charge of the offices, »fec., and see that these are 

 kept in proper order. The arrangement of the curricula does not depend 

 upon the teachers, and the methodical observation of the children is limited 

 to personal cleanliness. The dozen good books on hygienic subjects sanc- 

 tioned by the Commission for use in National Schools includes the 

 ' Temperance Lesson Book ' (Richardson). The programme of instruction 

 issued to managers and teachers calls special attention to the need of the 

 lessons in cookery and laundry work being made the occasion for impart- 

 ing sufficient information on hygienic matters. The object lessons and 

 elementary science are well planned, working from the child's point of 

 view, but the list of the optional subjects does not include hygiene. 



The Report of the School Board for London shows — 



That the only qualification in hygiene generally recognised b}' the 

 School Board for London is the advanced certificate of the South Ken- 

 sington Branch of the Board of Education, already referred to in Miss 

 Ravenhill's report. Papers taken at random of one hundred teachers 

 applying for promotion showed that seventy had taken this certificate. 



