The rate of remuneration varies according to the kind of work undertaken; the initial salary in schools is usually £60 to £80 per annum resident, or £100 to £120 non-resident. Organisers and inspectors command a much higher salary; the three Government inspectors start at £200 rising to £400 with first-class travelling expenses, and the four woman-organisers employed by the London County Council Education Committee start at £175, rising by £10 a year to £240 plus actual travelling expenses. Some women do well in private practice, making from £200 to £300 a year. The salaries of the gymnastic teachers in the London County Council secondary schools are fixed at £130 a year with no possibility of advancement, and, though this may compare favourably with the initial salaries of other teachers on the staff, it must be remembered that the teaching life of a gymnastic teacher is shorter and there are no headmistress-ships to which to look forward. The few "plums" of the profession are the inspectorships of the Government and of the more important education committees. For the latter, women have often to compete with men, and even in cases where both men and women inspectors are employed—the men doing the same work in the boys' schools as the women do in the girls'—the men's salaries are considerably higher, despite the fact that most women give up professional work on marriage, either voluntarily or compulsorily, and have therefore a shorter time in which to recover the cost of their training, whereas if they do not marry, they have to make provision for old age and in many cases to contribute to the support of others besides themselves.
With regard to this employment of women after marriage, there would seem to be no reason why the principals or assistants of colleges or institutes, or the women with private practices should not continue their work; but in schools, even where the terms of the appointment do not demand resignation on marriage, it is not customary for married teachers to be employed.
Up to the present, the supply of trained gymnastic teachers has scarcely satisfied the demand, and fresh openings are from time to time created. When physical exercises were made compulsory in all the elementary schools, the class teacher had and still has, to give this instruction to her class, but there has been an increasing demand for organisers to teach the elementary school teacher and superintend her work. This has also led to specialist teachers being appointed to all the elementary training colleges and pupil teachers' centres. Then came medical inspection, and with it the need for school clinics, which could not be complete without a department for treating curvatures, flat feet, etc., and giving breathing exercises, especially after the removal of adenoids. Though these clinics are only in the experimental stage they are sure to expand, and it is expected that a large number of trained gymnastic teachers will be required for them. Further it is possible, and may be found desirable, that specialist teachers should be appointed for groups of elementary schools, so relieving the class teachers of this part of their work. Large secondary and private schools often appoint two, three, or four trained teachers who are jointly responsible for gymnastics, games, dancing, swimming, and the treatment of deformities throughout the school. Besides all these openings a considerable number of gymnastic teachers find work in the colonies, especially in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
To band together the teachers of Swedish gymnastics and to guard their interests generally, the Ling Association was founded in 1899. Though it is open to men and women, very few men have joined, as the number of men with the necessary qualifications is very small. Members must have trained for at least two years at a recognised college, and it was not till 1912 that the first training college for men was opened in England.
With a view to standardising the training and diplomas of gymnastic teachers, the Ling Association in 1904 started a diploma-examination. Though the syllabus drawn up is practically the same as those used in the different colleges, most of the colleges still grant their own diplomas at the end of the course.
It is hardly possible at present, to specify the usual age of retirement for gymnastic teachers, but when a woman becomes too old for regular school teaching she can organise, supervise, and inspect, or continue to practise remedial work which includes massage.
Most of the gymnastic teachers who come within the scope of the
Insurance Act have joined the University, Secondary and Technical
Teachers' Provident Society.
VII
THE TEACHING OF DOMESTIC SUBJECTS
There are several reasons why instruction in the domestic arts and in the management of a house has not until quite recently formed part of the curriculum in girls' secondary schools. In the first years of the existence of these schools, no handicraft was encouraged except needlework, and this was soon almost crowded out of the time-table. It was assumed that household management was taught by the mother. There was a second assumption made even more confidently than the first, that a well-informed young woman with an active brain would find no difficulty in arranging her domestic affairs. This theory was founded on still another assumption—that there would always be on hire a sufficiency of servants already well trained for their work.