§ 4. Mr. Lubbockasked the Minister of Education if he will order a sample analysis to be carried out to discover what correlation there is between age of transfer from infants to junior sections of primary schools and subsequent performance in the 11-plus examination; and if he will publish the results.
§ Sir E. BoyleAs I announced in answer to a Question from my hon. Friend the Member for Tonbridge (Mr. Hornby) on 17th June, I have asked the Central Advisory Council for Education to consider primary education in all its aspects and the transition to secondary education. I cannot commit the Council to detailed projects of the kind suggested, but I am sure that it will make a thorough study of all aspects of selection for secondary schools.
§ Mr. LubbockIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that this Question is concerned not with selection for secondary schools but with the transfer from the infants to junior sections of primary schools? Is he aware that many parents feel that because there can be a variation of as much as a year in the age of transfer from infants to junior sections, this can set back the progress of a child so that he is not on an equal footing with his competitors who were transferred at a later age?
§ Sir E. BoyleI do not deny that the hon. Gentleman has a point here. I think he is on to a real problem. There have been investigations, such as the one in Durham, into the proportion of children born in the summer found in the lower streams of primary schools. My point was that the subject of the Question is so closely related to the organisation of primary education generally that I doubted the wisdom of having a separate inquiry over and above the major inquiry which the Central Advisory Council will shortly be carrying out.