EDUCATION DEPARTMENT—LOWER MIDDLE CLASS EDUCATION. (Hansard, 31 October 1884)

§ MR. MUNDELLA

I can assure my hon. Friend that the Education Department is fully alive to the importance of the subject of lower middle-class education, and is watching with interest and sympathy the efforts that are being made to supply the serious deficiencies in this branch of education. We do not think, however, having regard to the facts of the case, that it is immediately desirable to institute a public inquiry into the subject. We have already before us, as my hon. Friend is aware, the Report of the Departmental Commission for Wales; and we are anxious, as soon as we have an opportunity, to pass a measure which will make provision for intermediate education in the Principality. In Scotland the Educational Endowment Commissioners are applying themselves vigorously to the revision and better appropriation of Scotch endowments; and I believe that with their aid, and with the powers already in possession of the Education Department, efficient secondary education in Scotland may be provided without further legislation. England alone remains to be dealt with; and here it must be admitted that the supply of intermediate schools is inadequate, and that the organization of secondary education is one of the most urgent questions of the time. But I hardly think that information on the subject is what is required. We have the elaborate Report of the Public Schools Inquiry Commission of 1867, consisting of 20 volumes, the recommendations of which have not been nearly carried out. The Government is pledged to the appointment of a Committee next Session to inquire into the working of the Endowed Schools Acts. This will necessarily cover much of the ground which will be traversed by such an inquiry as that suggested.