OOCUMtr* i o
ROOW
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THE ORGANIZATION OF TRAINING FOR RECREATION LEADERSHIP
W.P.A. technical Series
Community Service Series No. 10
Recreation Circular No. 10
November 28, 1940
FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY
10RK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
Division of Professional and Service Projects
Washington, D. C.
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Recreation Leadership Training
Foreword
FOREWORD
This bulletin is released for the purpose of outlining
principles for the organization of training for recreation leader¬
ship. It is recommended as a basis for refining the training program.
It is hoped that this bulletin will provide stimulation
and suggestions for raising the quality of training on recreation
projects to an even higher level. The Recreation Program can only
improve and render finer and jroader community services as we develop
leaders of people as well as leaders of activities, evolve clearer
concepts, finer techniques, and broader aims through consistently im¬
proving training processes and programs.
Howard 0. Hunter
Acting Commissioner
of Work Projects
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Recreation Leadership Training
TARTOF CONTENTS
Page.
Foreword
PART I. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1
Section I. General Aims 1
Section 2. Training Aims 3
A. Improved Project Work 3
B. Individual Development and Specific Objectives
of Leadership Training 3
PART II. STATE TRAINING RESOURCES 5
Section 3. Educational Agencies 5
Section 4. State Agencies 6
Section 5. Civic Social, and Professional Organizations 6
PART III. PRE-ENTRY TRAINING 7
Section 6. Organization Methodc for Pre-Entry Training 7
Section 7. Materials for and Content of Fre-Entry
Training Program 9
PART IV. IN-SERVICE TRAINING 12
Section 8. Resources for In-Service Training 14
Section 9. Organization Methods and Materials for and
Content of In-Service Training 16
PART V. INTEGRATION OE TRAINING 22
Section 10. Within the Recreation Program Itself 22
Section 11. Integration with Other Service Units 23
Section 12. Integration with Other Recreation Agencies 24
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THE ORGANIZATION OP TE USING FOR RECREATION LEADERSHIP
PART I. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Section 1. General Aims. The following general statements of aims are
projected in an effort to focus attention on the important purposes of
the Recreation Section, and attention is directed to the definition of
the objectives of recreation -s they might best be applied to the social
and individual problems arising from the new leisure.
1. Aims in Employment and Administration. To employ and supervise
recreation workers in order to insure the greatest possible
leadership growth, recognizing a positive and democratic ap¬
proach as essential to the development of leadership.
2. Aims in Community Organization. To function with community
representation in order to develop a community consciousness
of the leisure problers. To focus community attention on
these problems through the organization of lay committees,
and by such other steps as those stimulating the evolving
of a planning process which will contribute continuing
functional leadership on local, State, and Federal levels.
3. Aims n Program. To provide Opportunities through leadership
activities for all age and social groups to participate in
leisure-time pursuits, based on their express needs and serving
as a means of expanding intellectual, social, and creative in¬
terests. To provide opportunities for the people to maintain
folk customs; to have a functional relationship with the arts,
that they as individuals and as members of the group may be
related to cultural progress; to maintain a balanced organism,
physically fit, mentally balanced, and socially adjusted; to
acquire varied skills thi .ugh which there may be release for
creative expression; and to create an environment conducive
to cooperative and democratic group relationships.
Aims such as these merit local discussion and interpretation in
terms of local needs. State and local staff meetings might well discuss
the questions that the above statements of aims should precipitate.
Recreation Leadership Training
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Por example, in terms of the State or local program, what are the purposes
of the Recreation Program? How are these aims to "be achieved? What ia the
new leisure? What are the social and individual problems arising from
the new leisure? These are questions which a training program must con¬
sider.
To specifically outline general and immediate objectives for each
State and local community in a national bulletin would be inappropriate
and would tend to defeat the training process itself. However, objectives
and aims for local programs should be in a constant state of development
by local personnel. In addition to developing and working toward such
local objectives, the following training aims should be kept in mind.
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Recreation Leadership Training
Sec. 2 Page 1
Section 2. Training Aims.
A. Improved Pro.lect Work. The first aim of training on recreation
projects must be the direct improvement of work on the project itself. 1/
Success of the recreation project is, however, so dependent upon the de¬
velopment and maintenance of intangible qualities of community leadership
that much attention, in training must be devoted to the improvement of in¬
dividual leaders and to the teaming of the recreation project work with
that of other service projects of the Work Projects Administration and
with other•recreation agencies in the community. The training program,
therefore, necessarily must devote considerable attention to the in¬
dividual project worker's understanding of the objectives of the Work
Projects Administration, of recreation, andof community betterment, in
addition to the technical skills necessary for the job itself. En
that portion of the training program devoted to the development of
"skill techniques," the aims should be: 2/
1. Each worker should be "excellent" in the techniques
of one or more types of activity.
2. Each worker should be "go~d" in two or three types of
activity.
3. Each worker should h-ve a "working knowledge" of many
types of activity.
In general, it should be assumed that supervisors as well as leaders
work toward the above aim in personal-skill techniques. To carry the
matter further, the Recreation Program should offer the participant op¬
portunities to achieve "excellence" in one or two forms of activities,
a status of "good" in several activities, and a "general knowledge" of
many activities.
B. Individual Development and Specific Objectives of Leader Training.
The recreation leader as an individual must develop* in addition to activity
skills, individual traits which will result in a community confidence in
him as a leader. To lead activities in a public program, or to organize
members of the community into activity groups, requires both a knowledge
of organizing techniques and the individual quAlities which will demand
respect. The individual leader, therefore, must be fully aware of the
social aspects of community recreation and its relation to other services
in the community, such as education, health, library services, and the arts.
The following Specific objectivrs of leader training should be kspt con¬
stantly in mind and training efforts tested to insure that the training;
1. Increases awareness of the social significance of leisure.
2. Improves leader's understanding of his responsibilities to
the individual, the group, the community, the state, the
Nation, and to the recreation profession.
3. Aids in the discovery of resources and develops methods of using
all resources.
X/ WA Operating Procedure No.. G-5, sec. 28, p. 2.
2/ Music as Recreation Community Service Circular No. 1, p. 25,
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4. Provides practice in f*oup management and leadership methods.
5. Permits practice in activity skills.
6. Brings understanding of ifferences in needs of individuals
based on study of total cultural make-up of the area, and
further that it permits practice in methods of meeting these
needs.
7. Brings improved planning.
8. Establishes methods of evaluation and recording.
9. Effects improved appearance and proper utilization of physical
facilities.
10. Promotes development of professional attitude.
11. Provides opportunity for, end promotes leader's initiative
through, research and creative expression.
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PART II. STATE TRAINING RESOURCES
In evolving a State-wide training program, one of the first steps
is necessarily an analysis of resources in the State to determine available
leadership for training, facilities which may he used and their distribution
throughout the State; the status of public acceptance of the Recreation
Program, and opportunities for financial assistance which may exist within
the state. There may be facilities for special or general training in
recreation already available, either for the training of recreation leader¬
ship or for the training of supervisory or administrative employees. The
following are suggested as some of the facilities which may be available.
Section 3. Educational Agencies. Most colleges and universities pro¬
vide some opportunity on an undergraduate level for the training of leader¬
ship, and many provide opportunities on a graduate level for the training
of supervisory personnel. Investigation may show that university grounds
and buildings are available, or that materials and printed matter have
already been reproduced at the college or university in such form as to
be useful for WPA recreation training purposes. The faculty of universi¬
ties and colleges may be available either for instruction or for the evalua¬
tion of materials for training. In some universities, the leaders may take
work for university credit, thus increasing their professional standing.
High-school facilities are also usually available and may be used ef¬
fectively as training centers. The same is true of junior high schools
and elementary-school buildings, and there are often high-school faculty
members or elementary-school supervisors close at hand who can make real
contributions to the training program.
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Sec. 4 and Sec. 5
Section 4. State Agencies. Among the State agencies which can assist
not only in the extension of the Recreation Program, "but also in the train¬
ing of recreation leadership, are the Departments of Conservation, Parks,
Education Welfare, Planning, Housing, and Libraries. Investigation of
the aims and objectives of the varic'S agencies may show that several
have specialists available for use in connection with the recreation
training program.
Section 5, Civic. Social, and Professional Organizations. Among
the quasi-public agencies which may offer assistance in the training
program are the Parent-Teacher Association, the Grange, the American
Logion, civic clubs, medical associations, Community Chest organizations,
and councils of social agencies. These agencies, in addition to the
regular professional recreation associations, should be cooperated with
extensively in the development of any State-wide recreation training
program.
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PART III. PRE-ENTRY TRAINING
Section 6. Organization Methods for Pre-Entry Training. The rapid
turnover of recreation project workers and periodic disruptions, such
as the 18-month clause^/ necessitate provision for the constant training
of new workers before they are assigned to specific duties on the project.
The amount of time devoted o pre-entry training on the projects
will, of course, vary according to the needs of the newly assigned indi¬
viduals, the opportunities for newly assigned workers to operate under
close and adequate supervision, the administrative determination of how
much pre-entry training is necessary, and the geographic situation in
which the project operates.
It is quite firmly established, however, that the pre-entry training
shouHbe sufficient in length and detail to assure smooth and efficient
abruption of the new leaders in the program and should be followed by
especially close supervision and assistance on the part of more experienced
leaders and project and local-agency supervisors. In concentrated areas
where a number of new leaders are assigned simultaneously, special courses
in ,:theory" and "skills" should be established to accomplish a dual pur¬
pose! —/
1, To relate the specialized techniques, with which the new
leader is already equipped, to the general field of recreation,
2, To provide an opportunity for the new leader to lead activites
in a laboratory situation before he is confronted with the harsh
reality of the problems of leadership in a work situation.
Z/ Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, Fiscal Year 1941,
4/ Announcement of Courses, 1939-40 - First and Second Semesters,
WPA Recreation Training Center, Work Frojects Administration of New
York City, 1940,
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Recreation Leadership Training
Section 6 Page 2
In addition to the above, pre-entry training should:
1. -familiarize the new leader with the WPA program as a whole.
2. Provide an opportunity for the new leader to become
aware of the other inter-related projects of the
community service projects.
3. Introduce the leader to the philosophies and purposes
cf the WPA Recreation Program.
4. Provide an opportunity for project supervisors to study
the potential capacities of each new leader before a
specific assignment is made. 5/
5/ Minimum In-Service Training Program for WPA Pecreation Leaders,
Work Projects Administration of West Virginia, Huntington, West Virginia,
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Recreation Leadership Training
Section 7 Page 1
Section 7. Materials for apd Content of Pre-Entrv Training Program.
In general, the time devoted to pre-entry training, as in othor types of
recreation training, will ordinarily be most profitably divided into about
one-third theory, philosophy, and background, a&d two-thirds laboratory
experience in skill-development techniques of leadership in sports and
games, drama, music, crafts, nature activities, and social recreation.
The emphasis placed on the various types of activity will, of course,
depend on the duties to which the new leader is to be assigned. If he
is to be assigned only to leadership of one type of activity—and this
i8 increasingly rare—such as recreation music, his participation la
the other forms of activity will be of an introductory nature only. If,
however, the new worker is to be assigned to a situation where it is
necessary for him to handle all types of activity for various age groups,
the problem of "skill" training becomes more complicated and a great deal
of attention must be paid to those types of activity in which he is
least proficient in order that his work in the field may become balanced.
It is presupposed that e~ch worker in entering a preservice training
program will have maximum leeway in selecting his "coursea." Each worker
is apt, at first, to select those types of activities with which he is
most familiar and hesitate during the period of training to accept the
challenge of a new skill. This tendency is very apt to be reflected in
his later project work, and the materials presented should provide op¬
portunities for him to participate in those activities with which he is
less familiar.' There are those who feel that theory courses as such are
less desirable than the immediate introduction of the worker to an ac¬
tivity situation; but theory type courses appear to be generally included
in most of the pre-entry training programs, and include to advantage:
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Recreation Leadership Training
Section 7 Page 2
1. Reasons for pre-entry training.
2. Aims and objectives of the WPA Recreation Division.
3. Relationship between public sponsors, and the Work Projects
Administration.
4. History of recreation.
5. Contemporary recreation programs and practices.
6. Recreation and democracy.
7- Leadership in a democracy. 6/
In any event, all of the above should probably not consume more than
one-third of the pre-entry training time, with the balance devoted to ac¬
tivity situations. The following principles should be applied in handling
the so-called "theory" courses:
1. Lectures and talking at the trainee should be minimized.
2. Discussions of the problems involved in operating the
recreation program should be stimulated, encouraged, and
form the backbone of the courses.
3. Problems discussed should be related directly to the situa¬
tion with w.iich the new leader is going to be confronted
and, insofar as possible, laboratory situations should be
created in the training course itself which will necessitate
his working out the answers to those problems as a part of
the course.
The following principles should be applied in handling the so-
called "skill" courses:
1. During the brief period of pre-entry training, the leader
cannot hope to acquire proficiency in a complicated skill
in which he has had no previous experience, such as basket¬
ball or swimming, but can and should be introduced to the
activity in such a way that he may learn the rules of a
sport, such as basketball, and the methods of organizing'
basketball games and leagues, and in the case of swimming,
the necessary safety precautions and sources of competent
supervision.
6/ Outline of Pre-Entry Training, Santa Barbara area, recreation project,
Work Projects Administration of California, 1940.
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Recreation Leadership Training
Section 7 Page 3
2. The trainee should have an opportunity to work in one
activity long enough to grasp the possibilities of a new
field of activity but should not be required to become so
involved in the practice of one skill that broader concepts
are precluded. For ir.st&nc*, in an arts and crafts course,
the worker should have an opportunity to complete for him¬
self an article under the exact circumstances in which a
participant in his program will later complete similar
articles. In providing the opportunity for the worker to
carry an activity to completion, however, he should not
spend 30 much time on tne completion of one "beaded hat
band" or "leather belt" that his concept of a craft program
and later leadership W3ll be restricted to the production of
"beaded hat bands" and "leather belts." Similarly, in
recreation music . his experiences during the pre-entry
training period should include an introduction to sources
of songs for community singing rather than just "learning
the words of the song."
3. The trainee should have em opportunity to act as both
participant and leader in the activity. For example, in
training for leadership in social recreation, the worker
should have an oppo:. ^unity to plan and conduct activities
for the mixed groups as well as participating in various
types of activity appropriate for parties and special events.
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PART IV. IN-SERVICE TRAINING
Pre-service or apprentice training may introduce a recreation
leader to his job, "but as a necessary complement to supervision—once he
is assigned—the continuous day-by-day and week-by-week training oro-
gram must carry him on from th.re. The breadth of the recreation pro¬
gram reouires many skills which short-term pre-entry training simply
cannot supply, and the continuous-training schools or work shops there¬
fore become the backbone and fibre of the training program. They en¬
courage consistency of effort and at the same time offer great flexi¬
bility of methods and a wide variety of experiences in the field of
recreation.
The chief responsibility of the in-service training program is,
of course, to advance the worker in the professional field of recreation—
with a resultant improvement in his work—but there is also an implied
obligation to teach the workers techniaues which will help them to re¬
locate in private employment.
3y sheer necessity, WPA supervisors have had to experiment
with many types of in-service training and in the past 5 years have
traversed from a policy which allowed little time for preparation on
recreation projects to plans and programs that demand certain in-service
training hours out of a leader's weekly schedule. The 130-hour pro¬
vision of the Relief Act of 1940 makes possible continuity of training
and the regular scheduling of training hours to a degree which was here¬
tofore impractical.
It is as important that the recreation supervisor hold his
training program to a minimum—consistent with good administrative
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practice under the WPA program—as it is important that he project
an adequate program of in-service training which will reflect in the
aualitative and quantitative work on his project. Briefly stated, the
continuous in-service training program should:
1. Provide weekly schooling of from 2 to 5 hours required
and scheduled as a regular part of the program.
2. Furnish the day-by-day development and follow-up of the
occasional training-received in short-term institutes,
conferences, and camps, whose brief periods can serve only
to introduce techniques.
3. Afford a variety of experiences which will givs the leader
better skill for his specialized job and additional working
skills in the whole field of recreation.
4. Keep the leader in an "ever learning" frame of mind, because
recreation calls for a constant alertness to its many phases
and wealth of varied experiences.
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Section 8. Resources for In-Service Training. The in-service
training program is usually divided into two types of training:
1. Short-term institutes or conferences
2. Weekly training courses near the job location
The resource available in most communities for short-term
institutes or conferences include;
1. Facilities.
(a) Camps, such as CCC cimps, organization camps in forest
areas, IJYA camp sites, State or national park camps, and
in some cases camp sites controlled by the Federal
Government which may be assigned outright to the Work
Projects Administration for project operation and
training purposes.
(b) Institutions, sucn as colleges and universities, often
make available to the recreation program their classroom
and dormitory facilities during vacation or other periods
when not in use for regular school purposes.
2.• Barsfcnnel.
(a) The supervisory project personnel of the State or area,
supplemented by especially well qualified technicians
among the project workers, can usually furnish the bulk of
the instructional staff.
(b) Colleges, universities, other community-service projects,
or other recreation agencies can often provide supplementary
instructional staff for the period of short-institutes.
Resources available in most communities for continuous weekly
in-service training courses include:
1. Facilities.
(a) Community centers wi :'.ch operate only in the after¬
noon or evening and are available in the morning as
training centers.
(b) School facilities outside of school hours.
V
(c) Vacant public buildings available for conversion into
semipermanent training centers.
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2. Personnel.
(a) Project personnel shoiild in most instances provide the
"bulk of the training staff for the continuous weekly
program with supervisors and specialists handling and
leading the various courses.
(b) Members of the faculty of local universities or colleges
may be available at no charge or at very low cost.
(c) Other recreation agencies operating in the community can
usually provide instructors for various phases of the
work. The use of personnel from other agencies also
indirectly may result in a more closely coordinated
community program and a better understanding on the part
of project workers of the functions of the various agencies
in the community. »
(d) Supervisors or project workers on other community-
service projects, such as education, music, art, or
drama, c.-n usually provide excellent technical pro¬
fessional instruction in specialised types of activity.
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Section 9. Organization Methods and Materials for and Content of
In-Service Training.
A. Basic Training Machinery. Pooling the information from the
various States establishes rather clearly that the relative necessities
for a year-round training program are:
1. A Pull-Time Staff Training Officer. He will he responsible
for the organization and direction of the training program.
2. Supervisors and Specialists. Services of all supervisors, and
particularly the specialists, should be made available to the
training officer for the conduct of activities or courses in
both short-term and weekly training programs.
3. Continuous In-Service Training Schools. A series of 8- to 16-
week studies should be established which will give weekly
training at different levels to every worker on the program.
4. Camo or Caroouc Short-Term Conferences. Two or three times
a year, it should be possible to provide an opportunity for
most of the leaders in the States to participate in a 3- to
10-day conference at a camp or on the campus of a university.
By arranging low-cost housing and transportation, many States
are providing a training experience of this kind for leaders in
the spring in anticipation of the summer program, and in the
fall in anticipation of the winter program.
5. Special Training of Supervisors. Each conference of super¬
visors should become a training meeting for those supervisors
and time should be devoted to program planning and training
evaluation in addition to administrative problems and details.
6. Correspondence Courses. 7/ In rural areas, an extension
training service may have to be developed to reach those for
whom attendance at the continuous in-service training schools is
impractical.
7. Adequate Recreation Library and Information Service. There
should be provided resources for the circulation of contemporary
recreation materials and information on new developments to
all project workers.
B. Functions of Training Officer. How to make the machinery work is
the next consideration and here a great deal depends upon the staff
training officer. Obviously, he must tackle his task from five main angles:
1. Set up the training framework so that it will reach all the
leaders.
7/ Recreation Correspondence Courses, University of Oklahoma, 1938.
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2. Coordinate his own administrative efforts with those of
specialists on the State and local staffs to whom he must look
for technical materials, methods, and direction in their
respective fields.
3. Provide a counseling and guidance service which will help
_• adapt the training program to individual needs and result in a
maximum personal rehabilitation of leaders.
4. Confer constantly with other recreation agencies, with officers
of agencies using recreation leaders, and with colleges as to
♦ (l) training assistance, and (2) training credit for WPA courses
•at the college level.
5. Involve the entire group of project workers in the olanning of
each training conference or course which he proposes to initiate
for their training.
C. Short-Term Institutes or Conferences.'1' The conferences on campuses
and in camps, in addition to serving as planning meetings for the season
immediately to follow, may well become places for advanced experimentation,
creative effort, developments of new fields of work, evaluation of contin¬
uous training methods, training of supervisors, and the exchange of ideas
between various project workers, as well as the integration of the various
project subdivisions. Full advantage should be taken of the opportunities
provided by a camp or campus situation for project workers to experience the
recreation values inherent to that community spirit which results from a
number of workers on the same project eating, studying, and participating in
activities together for a number of successive days. To establish a camo
situation which requires strict regimentation of those at the camp training
conferences is to encourage regimentation of the recreation programs to
follow; on the other hand, the establishment of direct recreation processes
where individual interests and opportunities for the development of those
individual interests are provided—with a minimum of restriction or academic
restraint—will result in recreation processes of highest quality in the
programs which follow the camo.
It has often proved valuable to establish a single theme for each
short-term institute so that the institute may become a recreation "project"
as well as a training project. 8J 9/ 10/ 11/
* The 1939 National Conference of Regional and State Directors of
Recreation recommended that these short-term conferences be held
semiannually in 1-week sessions.
i/ Report of Recreation Camp Training Project, winter 1939-40, Wisconsin
Work Projects Administration, 1940.
9/ Report of Louisiana Camp Training Project, Louisiana Work Projects
Administration, 1938.
1Qj Report of Georgia Recreation Camp Training Project, Georgia Work
Projects Administration, 1939.
11/ RepPrt of Alabama Training Conference, Alabama Work Projects
Administration, 1939.
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•• 18 ••
D. Weekly Training Courses Near the Job Location. Continuous-training
schools should reach every leader everywhere with regular weekly train¬
ing. Supervision, place, time, training faculty, and curriculum are
therefore items to he reckoned with carefully. Continuous training in
specific phases of recreation is not a new venture hut continuous-
training schools which offer actual experiences in many fields have
little background. They have broken in on the scene so suddenly— largely
because of the emergency training of large groups of WPA recreation
leaders—that there is little precedent and no handbook to serve as a guide.
1. Administrative Personnel. The staff training officer will find the
continuous-training schools his main business. To conduct it
prooerly, he may need assistant training officers in each of his
training areas, also a registrar to handle enrollment and. records
for each school. Some of these assistants should be available
from among security wage employees. It is assumed that the
complete training records of the leaders will be kept in local and
State offices and that the training officers will have many
consultations with individual leaders regarding their program.
2. Training Centers. The selection of facilities for training centers
merits considerable attention to location, floor space, comfort,
sanitation, and safety. The matter of location is serious in
sparsely settled areas. Permanent training centers are usually
located in or near urban areas because a greater number of leaders
can be served, additional faculty resources are usually available,
and a greater choice of facilities possible. Transportation of
leaders to and from training centers is usually handled in
accordance with procedures established in Operating Procedure
No. G—5 where training is mandatory, or, as has been freauently
done, local committees or advisory groups underwrite travel costs
for leaders to the training centers. It is encouraging to find an
increasing number of communities doing this because they have
recognized the local benefits derived as a result of local leaders
having attended good training courses.
The training center should be available full time wherever possible.
Also it may well serve as a demonstration center and community
center.
The landscaping, interior decorating, and furnishing of the center
may serve as excellent practical problems reouiring a union of
effort of laymen-leaders and supervisors. To make the center liv-r'
able, comfortable, warm and inviting, and nleasing to the eye, will
reouire a plan, the execution of which should do much to bring all
concerned a clearer concept of the part leisure may play in enrich¬
ment of life. Leaders, supervisors, faculty-visiting professional
people, and local townsmen will enthusiastically support a dignified
training center.
3. Training Hours. Three to five hours a week is the common practice
and the hours are usually scheduled all in one day. The day
selected is a decision governed by the wishes of the leaders, the
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availability of the training facilities, and the program problems
of the supervisors.
4. Training Facal ty. Again the matter of geography plays an important
role in the make-up of the teaching corps. In large cities there
are often a number of qualified experts who can be called upon to
teach in continuous schools on salary or as volunteers. Outside the
urban areas—where continuous training encounters most mechanical
difficulties—the building of a faculty requires considerable in¬
genuity.
Recognizing the budgetary barriers which prevent expenditures for
outside consultants, some of the fields from which trainers may be
secured are here amplified:
(a) Key Leaders in WPA Recreation. Discovery of real talent and
special abilities on the project itself will usually supply
most of the instructors. Besides bringing new and enriching
experiences to the training situation, this practice does much
for the leaders themselves who take on new interest and hope
with a rc sponsibil'ity for teaching others. This also places an
added responsibility on the staff training officers to provide
workshops where better methods and new teachers may be developed.
Faculties of key leaders are of two kinds:
(1) Permanent, where the best key Leaders are incorporated
into a permanent teaching unit for a number of schools.12/
(2) Rotating, where faculties are constantly changed.13/
(b) Lay Hobbyists. These can be counted on to offer courses in
their specialty with enthusiasm and expero skill.
(c) Exnerts From Other Agencies. Few will come for the full course
without a fee, but several can be aligned to handle one course,
each giving a share on a specified topic. The help of these
experts can also be secured by joining with other agencies in
some sessions of the training school. 1±J Continuous-training-
school heads should always be on the alert for visiting recrea¬
tion exoerts who may be in the area for conferences or other
meetings.
(d) Public Administrators From Other Fields. These will bring into
the training program much-needed skills in public relations.
Inviting them is in itself a good community relations gesture
which will acquaint public officials with WPA leadership.
H7 Los Angeles, New York City, Wisconsin, and Minnesota-Illinois WPA
Schools.
13/ Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio.
14/ Boston Technical Circular No. 1, Sec. II, p. 2.
A1797 Recreation Leadership Training
Sec. 9 Page 5
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(a) WPA Supervisors and Consultants. It should be a part of the
recreation supervisors' training program to actually teach or
conduct an activity in the training school.
Outside consultants should be chosen with care, and precaution?
taken that they become an active participant in the school
rather than a "professor" who drops in once a week to lecture.
5. Curriculum. The best curriculum for the weekly in-service training
program, and, as a matter of fact, for any in-service recreation training
program, is that which develops to meet the individual needs of the leaders
themselves in their local community situation. Five general fields are,
however, usually covered and these are indicated as a reference to what is
usually done rather than a recommendation that all or even part of these
fields necessarily be included:
(a) Background: history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and
interpretation of recreation.
(b) Community relations: public administration; relating the
program to the community; using all community resources;
personal relationships with other officials.
(c) Leadership techniaues to meet program needs in the various
administrative program areas, such as sports, social activities
music, drama, etc.
(d) Personal-rehabilitation courses for better speech, better
human conduct and relations, personal adjustment to community
attitudes.
(e) Enrichment of attitudes; enrichment of individual attitudes;
broad experiences in actual recreation situations.
6. Operation.
(a) Length of Sessions. The courses vary from four 12-week
sessions or three 16-week semesters to shorter sessions of
from 8 to 10 weeks. The Colorado plan, which seems very
workable for the local situation, calls for three 9-week
sessions; fall, winter, and spring, with a month's interim
between each session. The interim period of a month has the
advantage of providing an opportunity for preparation of
courses and faculty for the next term, personal interviews
with leaders as to their training needs and. desires, special-
activity work shops, and the production or collection of
necessary printed materials. The spring or fall interims
might be set aside as dates for the annual or semiannual
conferences in canros or on campuses. From three to five
1-hour periods is the common weekly schedule, 1 hour per week
being allotted to each course except in the case of crafts or
special-activity work shops, which may extend to two periods.
A1797 Recreation Leadership Training
Sec. 9 Page 6
- 21 -
(b) Number of Courses Offered. The number of courses offered
in a single term depends upon:
(1) Needs of the leaders.
(2) Number of teachers available.
(3) Different levels of training to be met.
In the outlyirg areas it may be possible to offer only two or
three different courses which will be attended by all enrolle-
while in the cities and more densely populated areas, the num¬
ber of courses ranges from 25 in Denver to 40 in Los Angeles
and 100 in New York City.
(c) Enrollment. An enrollment plan whereby the leader is given
an opportunity to first select his courses, which selection
should be approved by his local supervisor and the training
officer, seems the most successful. 15/
(d) Records. Attendance records are important both from the
training viewpoint and for payroll purposes. Grading
methods vary, but some evaluation should be made by the
instructor, and at the same time the trainees should
give evaluations as to the instruction and content of
the course for future consideration. A permanent training
record is important because of possible college credit;
credentials for future employment in the recreation field;
for rating in possible reclassifications on the project;
and for personal-rehabilitation, counseling, and advisory
purposes.
15/ Recreation Training School courses 1938-39, New York City, WPA In¬
formation Section, pp. 1-2. See Training Curricula, Work Projects
Administration, Chicago, 1940.
A1797 Recreation Leadership Training
Sec. 10 Page 1
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PART V. INTEGRATION OF TRAINING
Section 10. Within the Recreation Program Itself. Pre-entry, in-
service, and institute programs can in no way "be considered independent or
separate units of the training program. All must "be related to each
other and to the objectives of the project work itself. In like manner,
training for district, area, State, county, or city supervisors cannot
be disassociated from the training program for project leaders. Super¬
visors, it is assumed, have had more experience and training in the
field of recreation than the leaders, but since the supervisors are
expected to develop a program of "training as a process", their concern
with training is a consistent one. In education, a person does not
become "educated," but is rather introduced to certain educational
processes which give education a "continuing" rather than a "static"
identity. In the same manner, a recreation leader or supervisor can¬
not be considered "trained" when he has completed a certain number of
prescribed courses—but rather he should be thought of as having been
introduced to certain processes which will initiate a "continuing"
attitude.
A1797 Recreation Leadership Training
Sec. 11 Page 1
- 23 -
Section 11. Integration With Other Service Units. The inclusion of
recreation projects in the Community Service Section of the Division of
Professional and Service Projects provides an opportunity not only for the
integration of recreation oro.iect work with the community work of education,
art, music, library projects, and the like, but also provides a rare
opportunity for the integration of recreation training with these other
closely related services. Recreation has much to contribute to the other
service programs in "community organization," "social philosophies," and
"informal approaches." The other service programs, in turn, may
contribute to the recreation program much-needed professional techni¬
cal guidance in specialized fields, such as "music," "art," "research,"
and "educational methods and materials for training." Methods of
accomplishing this integration can best be developed on a local basis,
but the principle of integration and coordination has now become a
matter of national policy. 16/
16/ Operating Procedure No. G-5, Work Projects Administration,
Washington, D. C., January 10, 1940.
A1797 Recreation Leadership Training
24 _ Sec. 12 Page 1
Section 12. Integration With Other Recreation Agencies. The broad ai
of WPA recreation projects has often been reiterated as the "extension
and expansion of community recreation" on all fronts. The integration
of the training program needs stimulation and impetus beyond that
which can be accomplished through administrative rulings. There can be
little doubt but that the impact of the WPA Recreation Program has greatly
influenced the curriculum and training programs of general training
institutions. 17/ 18/ This inroact and the professional dignity with
which the WPA Recreation Program is now regarded in most areas, places
upon the administrative staff an increasing responsibility for gearing
their training program more closely with other operating recreation
training agencies. In many States the training centers and training courses
of the Work Projects Administration are partially or wholly accredited for
university work. * Other university training programs have been influenced
■by the materials and concepts developed on WPA recreation projects,** and
the university people appear to be increasingly interested in training for
and on the job itself. 19/
Proper relationships with regular institutions, however, cannot be
founded just on those things which the universities do for the Recreation
Program nor on changes the university makes in its curriculum upon request,
but must also be established on the basis of services which the program, in
turn, renders the universities and training institutions. This means that
17/ Report of College Conference on Training Recreation Leaders, University
of Minnesota, 1937, WPA Recreation Division, Washington, D. C.
18/ Report of Second National Conference on College Training of Recreation
Leaders, University of North Carolina, 1939, Parnham Printing and
Stationery Conroany, Minneapolis, Minn., 1939, 55«5.
*1 University of Louisiana, Oberlin University, and Bowling Green University.
*2 Ohio University, Miami, Akron, Toledo, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota.
19/ Report of Joint Conference of University and Government Representatives,
Hau. York TTn-i gfcrslty, 1940.
A1797 Recreation Leadership Training
„ 25 - Sec» 12 2
as individuals, as well as members of a profession, persons connected
with the Recreation Program have an increasing obligation to render direct
and actual service to the institutions by participating in discussions
and by integrating the Program more closely with those of agencies
which have been established in the field for a longer time. Municipal
departments of recreation and private recreation agencies are usually
anxious to integrate their training program with that of other recreation
agencies, and the Work Projects Administration—serving as it does broad
areas both geographically and functionally—can assume considerable
initiative in promoting joint training programs. In some instances this
may occur through the exchange of personnel; in other instances it may occur
as the result of jointly operating training courses, using the personnel of
all agencies as trainers and often the representatives of all agencies as
trainees.
The field of recreation is too broad, its needs are too great, and
its objectives are too significant to allow for competition in service,
and one means of assuring a cooperative and integrated program is to
establish the mechanics and methods of integration and cooperation in
training.
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