§ MR. TALBOT (Oxford University)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he has completed the inquiries, which he undertook earlier in the Session to make, as to an alleged large deficiency in the supply of teachers for small schools; and, if so, whether he can communicate to the House the result of such inquiries?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND,) York, W.R., RotherhamThe inquiry undertaken has been completed, and I may briefly summarise the result by saying that about one-third of Her Majesty's Inspectors report that complaints of serious difficulty in this matter have come to their knowledge; of the remainder, some have received no such complaints, while others mention a few instances due in large measure to exceptional causes. The principal reasons assigned are, first and most generally, lowness of salaries offered; and, secondly, the desire for town life, and the loneliness and dulness of remote country districts. With regard to the first of these, I may mention that in upwards of 30 of 150 cases 1689 which have been specially mentioned in these Reports, the teacher's salary appears to have been loss than £50 a year, and in nearly 40 others, between £50 and £60. It is also pointed out that the work of a single teacher in a small school, who has to prepare children of all standards in a number of subjects, is very exacting, and that there is a strong feeling among teachers against undertaking outside duties in order to gain a slight increase of income.