PRESENTED BY COMMAND.

HC Deb 17 February 1865 vol 177 cc323-8

MR. H. A. BRUCE

presented (by Command) Copy of Revised Code of Regulations, and said: Sir, I am desirous, in accordance with the wish generally expressed during the discussions which took place on this question last Session, to offer some explanation of those portions of the Code which are new Some minute alterations have been made in order to clear up ambiguities which have been discovered in the process of administering the Code; but two important changes have also been introduced, the nature of which the House will, I am sure, learn with some interest. Hon. Members are well aware that, whatever success may have attended our educational system in the more populous districts throughout the country, it cannot be said to have exercised the same degree of usefulness in the poorer and more thinly-inhabited parishes. That fact has been long familiar to the House, but it was, I believe, brought out more prominently last Session by the Report laid on the table by the Committee of Council than it had ever previously been. By that Report it appears that, out of all the parishes of England and Wales, which number 14,877, 8,761 have a population of less than 500 inhabitants; while, out of the 8,761, 4,149 have a population of less than 200. Three-fifths, therefore, of the number of parishes in England and Wales have a population of less than 500. It also appeared from the Report that, of 618 parishes which contained more than 5,000 inhabitants, and an aggregate of 10,772,623, 563, or 91.5 per cent, are in the receipt of annual grants from the State; while, of the 8,761 parishes with less than 500 inhabitants, and containing an aggregate population of 1,966,422, only 8.8 per cent received grants. In fact, in the one case, all but 8 per cent receive State assistance; while, in the other, only 8 per cent are in receipt of it. Various attempts have been made in this House, and by the Government, to remedy this inequality: I will now allude to them no further than to say that they have, one and all, either failed in securing acceptance from the House or have broken down in the result, because of their unfitness to secure the object in view. Attempts have been made to enable parishes to unite for the purpose of having one school for several parishes; but the moral obstacles were found to be too great to obtain for it success. A proposition was also submitted to our notice—which hon. Gentlemen have probably seen mentioned in the newspapers—by a lady who has devoted a great fortune to the noblest ends, and who has led the way on many previous occasions in many good works, by which the difficulties of the case might be met in another manner, without departing from the leading principle that State assistance should be given only where the teacher of a school was a certificated master. The suggestion made by the lady in question was that a master should be allowed to attend the schools of a number of parishes, and that the children attending in those schools should be examined, and payment made according to the results. That suggestion, as well as every other bearing on this important subject, we considered with all the attention which it deserved. The result is that the copy of the Revised Code which I have had the honour of just laying on the table contains a provision calculated to carry this suggestion into effect. It is provided by those Minutes that any number of schools, not being less than two or more than six, of which no one has within a mile and a half of it a population of more than 500, and in which the aggregate number of scholars is not less than forty, may be united under the superintendence of one certificated master or mistress, who must have been trained for not less than two years at a normal school, and must have received a certificate after the usual probationary service. The day scholars of all the united schools must be assembled for inspection by one of Her Majesty's Inspectors once every year at some school-room under inspection, They will be examined in the usual manner, and the payments will be made as now to all the other inspected schools. What the result of this experiment will be it is impossible to say. There are, no doubt, in many parts of England a vast number of small parishes, in which there are no physical obstacles to its being tried and carried into effect, and I am sure it is the wish of the House as well as of the Government that the result of the alteration may be, at all events, greatly to diminish the evils which it is intended to remedy. Another proposition which I have to bring under the notice of the House, is that relating to evening schools. Under the old Code, the assistance given to evening schools was as follows:—Boys received 6s., and girls 5s., who had attended fifty nights; while under the Revised Code, the payment is 2s. 6d. on average attendance at the schools, and 5s. on examination to every scholar who has attended more than twenty-four nights. The benefits derived from this system have, however, been very much diminished by the manner in which inspection and examination have been carried into effect. The schools are attended only by those who work during the day, and who, therefore, can only be taught at night. The inspection must take place at some school to which the evening school is attached, and it often happens at an hour at which it is highly inconvenient for the scholars to be present. The result has been found to be that, especially in the summer and autumn seasons, they are not able to spare time to come; and therefore the attendance for examination frequently does not represent the average attendance at the school. We propose to remedy that state of things by having recourse to a plan, new, so far as regards these schools, but which has been successfully tried by the Department of Science and Art. The new Minutes set forth that the managers of inspected schools may apply to be furnished with printed papers and instructions for holding an examination on a day to be named in their application. Two of the applicants must pledge themselves to be present during the whole of the examination, and to conduct it in every respect according to the instructions. The examination-papers will be sent under an official seal, and must be returned by next post under the seal of the two examining managers to the Education Department, who will transmit them to the Inspector of the school. The Inspector may attend the examination without notice, and hold it in person. The effect of these regulations would be that the inspection may take place at the time most convenient to the school, and thus greatly to encourage these institutions—of the usefulness of which the House is well aware, as well as of their necessity, as the complement of our system of elementary education. In writing and arithmetic, the examination would be by means of papers which would be transmitted to the Inspector; while, in the case of reading, reliance must be placed on the honour of the managers. The only other alteration of any importance is one with respect to the revision of the Code. Disagreeable discussions, involving charges of breach of faith, have arisen as to the manner in which Minutes have been introduced from time to time. We are anxious that such differences should be cleared away, and therefore we propose to alter the language of the present Minutes in accordance with the sense and spirit in which they were proposed by my right hon. Friend the Member for the University of Cambridge (Mr. Walpole). These will then read as follows:— The Committee of Council on Education, in the course of each year, as occasion requires, may cancel or modify articles of the Code, or may establish new articles, but may not take any action thereon until the same shall have been submitted to Parliament and laid on the table of both Houses for at least one calendar month. In January of each year, the Code shall be printed in such a form as to show separately all articles cancelled or modified, and all new articles since the last edition, and shall be laid on the table of both Houses within one calendar month from the meeting of Parliament. Therefore, while the power of the Department to alter the Minutes is recognized, the action upon them is restrained until the documents have been laid before Parliament.

SIR JOHN PAKINGTON

I think the right hon. Gentleman has established a good precedent, and has endeavoured to meet the wish expressed by the House last Session by a free explanation of the new Minutes adopted by the Committee of Council at the time of their being laid on the table of the House. On the other hand, I think the course adopted by the right hon. Gentleman is attended with some degree of inconvenience, and is somewhat unusual in this respect, that the right hon. Gentleman has availed himself of an opportunity—usually one only of form—to enter upon a statement of which he has not given any notice. I am sure the right hon. Gentleman did not intend to do anything irregular, but I think it would have been better had he given some intimation of his intention. Under the circumstances, I think I shall best consult the convenience of tie House by deferring any observations I may have to offer to a future opportunity.

MR. H. A. BRUCE

I consulted the Speaker as to the course which ought to be taken, and he informed me that it would be altogether irregular for me to give notice of a statement on laying these papers upon the table. I therefore adopted the only course which lay in my power, that of communicating my intention to the right hon. Gentleman and others taking an interest in the subject of education.

LORD ROBERT CECIL

I shall not utter a word of comment on what the right hon. Gentleman has stated, but there is one question which I wish to address to him in elucidation of the statement he has just made. I wish to know whether the Minutes to be laid every year on the table of the House by the Committee of Council are to be understood as including such regulations as those supplementary rules introduced eighteen months ago—whether, in fact, every kind of regulation affecting the payment of managers will be laid on the table of the House and not carried into execution until one calendar month after that step has been taken?

MR. H. A. BRUCE

These regulations form no part of the Code; they are laid on the table every year with the Report, and I am not aware of any intention to depart from the practice hitherto established. I have been extremely cautious that everything hitherto called regulations, but which ought to form part of the Code, should be embodied in the Code, and the noble Lord will find that many of the matters which formed subjects of discussion during the last Session are now embodied in the Code.

To lie on the table.