Recreation Programs

In Illinois

Junior Colleges

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY
was to determine which junior colleges, or community colleges, in the State of Illinois are presently providing courses in recreation, therapeutic recreation, or areas closely related to therapeutic recreation. Also, the authors wished to find if those schools not offering courses in these areas were planning to offer such courses in the near future.

During the month of December, 1971, fifty-six Illinois two-year institutions of higher education were sent a short questionnaire. Fifty-one schools were represented in the returned questionnaires for a return rate of ninety-one percent. However, two institutions reported they had been dissolved within the past year and two others had merged. This left a total of forty-eight presently operating schools which had completed and returned the questionnaire. The data presented here is based on those forty-eight institutions.

Approximately forty-four percent of the schools reporting, or twenty-one of the forty-eight indicated they presently offer courses in recreation. Thirteen of these were located in the northern part of the state. Four were located in the central area of the state, while four more were located in the southern part of the state. (A listing of the schools surveyed is found above.

Thirteen institutions (representing 27 percent) reported that they now offer courses related to therapeutic recreation (e.g., adaptive physical education, art or music therapy, etc.). Only two of the forty-eight schools reported offering courses in therapeutic recreation. The two institutions providing course work in therapeutic recreation were Parkland College located in Champaign, and Moraine Valley Community College located in Palos Hills. Both of these colleges also reported offering recreation field experiences for students to work with ill and disabled populations. Only six others stated they provide for student field work with special populations.

Some institutions did report that although they were not now providing courses in recreation or therapeutic recreation, or field experiences in therapeutic recreation, they were planning to initiate such offerings in the near future. Three of the twenty-five schools which do not now have courses in recreation planned to add such courses. Six of the forty-six institutions lacking courses in therapeutic recreation reported they hoped to begin courses in this area in the near future. Three schools also indicated that they were planing to offer student field practicums with agencies serving the ill and disabled.

Illinois Parks and Recreation    22    March/April, 1972

Of the original fifty-six junior colleges contacted, twenty-four reported they presently have, or shortly will have, professional courses in recreation. This figure would appear to indicate that many Illinois students may now receive the opportunity for training in recreation at the junior college level.

The picture for therapeutic recreation in junior colleges in Illinois is in sharp contrast to that for general recreation. Only two colleges of the forty-eight which returned the survey reported they provide course work in therapeutic recreation, although six others hoped to soon be offering courses in the area. Only nine schools presently provide, or plan to provide, student field experiences for work with the ill and disabled. Further, thirty-seven of the forty-eight schools completing the questionnaire indicated that they were not now offering either courses or field experience in therapeutic recreation and did not plan to initiate such programs in the near future.

Although we do not have adequate data on manpower projections in all categories of recreation services, a recent study by Hawkins and Verhoven (1970) gives some indication of the kind of manpower demands that might be anticipated in this decade. Analyzing the projected supply and demand figures for professional and associate professional personnel between 1967 and 1980, Hawkins and Verhoven predicted that there will be an ever-increasing manpower/demand gap in the years ahead.

In an article published in the "Therapeutic Recreation Journal" (Vol. III, No. 1, 1969), Verhoven states that there will be a need for 18,000 therapeutic recreation service personnel by 1980. It seems clear that we will be unable to keep pace with these demands unless a major push is given to the development of associate arts program in therapeutic recreation.

Illinois Parks and Recreation    23    March/April, 1972