§ MR. BROOKE ROBINSON (Dudley)To ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether, in view of the fact that candidates who are examined in April or May by the Board of Education for appointments as pupil teachers in elementary schools, often do not learn the result of the examination until the autumn, when the date of the appointment of a successful candidate is often made to run from 1st January previously, with the result that the pupil teacher is put on almost immediately to second year's work, with only two years instead of three to prepare for the final scholarship examination, the Board of Education can see their way to arrange the date of appointment so that the pupil teacher shall have three full years preparation before sitting for the scholarship examination.
(Answered by Sir William Anson.) The hon. Member is under a misapprehension in supposing that candidates for appointments as pupil teachers, who are examined in May, often do not learn the result of the examination until the autumn. Last year the results were published, with a few exceptions, by the end of July. It is hoped that the results will be out by the end of June this year. In the past the Board have never made it compulsory for pupil teachers to have their date of appointment made to run from the previous 1st January. As regards this year, the Board have already done what the hon. Member desires. In a circular, dated 5th February, they stated that candidates, if they are not old enough for an appoint- 672 ment (for two years) from 1st August, 1904, "may, if they are old enough and have been actually instructed as pupil teachers and employed in public elementary schools since 1st January, 1904, be, appointed for a period of three years from that date." In the same circular they further stated that they "do not propose in future to admit any pupil teachers who have not passed a qualifying examination previous to the date from which their admission is desired; but, in view of the necessarily transitional nature of the arrangements for the current year, they will, for it alone, continue their former practice in this respect."