§ MR. BULL (Hammersmith)On behalf of the hon. Member for West Ham, North, I beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether he is aware that the West Sussex education authority are requiring the guardians of pupil-teachers to enter into an agreement under which pupil-teachers, on completing apprenticeship in the county, are to become and remain teachers in the elementary schools of the county until the authority allow them to accept appointments elsewhere or to cease teaching; and whether, having regard to the injury to the schools consequent on such restrictive regulations, the Board will decline to recognise such pupil-teachers as part of the school staff.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (Sir WILLIAM ANSON, Oxford University)I have seen what purports to be a copy of the agreements in question. As these agreements are to be made by or on behalf of persons under age, their legality may be called in question. In other respects I am not prepared to express an opinion on a form of agreement which may be subject to modifications of which I am not aware.