HC Deb 02 March 1967 vol 742 cc691-2
28. Mr. Arnold Shaw

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will take steps to grant official recognition of the certificate for primary teachers, issued by the Irish Department of Education.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

No, Sir. My right hon. Friend is unable to accept the courses of training for primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland as suitably matching the courses of teachers training which are approved in England and Wales.

Mr. Shaw

I appreciate the force of my hon. Friend's Answer, but will she give sympathetic consideration if representations are made by local education authorities on behalf of such teachers who have already given satisfactory returns in respect of the teaching they are giving in school at present?

Mrs. Williams

Yes, Sir. It is always open to a local education authority to make a special application to the Department for exceptional treatment on behalf of a certain teacher, and normally the Department would consider the experience and satisfactory services of a teacher over a period of teaching amounting to a number of years.

Mr. Henry Clark

Can the hon. Lady assure us that the same negative attitude that she expressed in reply to an earlier Question will not apply to the Diploma in Education granted by Irish universities, of which there are many holders teaching in this country?

Mrs. Williams

That matter will be considered by those responsible for working out the equation of one degree with another. I must make it clear that it is in no sense a special picking out of Ireland. For Irish training courses a similar length of time and a similar age of starting would normally be required to equate them with our own teaching staff.