§ MR. HAROLD COXI beg to ask: the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to the Reports by women inspectors on children under five years of age in the public elementary schools, and in particular to the introductory Memorandum on these Reports by the chief inspector of public elementary schools, who states that there is complete-unanimity that the children between the ages of three and five yet practically no intellectual advantage from school instruction, and that the children admitted later can in six months or a year reach the same standard of attainment as those who have been in the school for two years previously; and whether this Report has been communicated to local education authorities throughout the kingdom.
§ THE PRESIDENT or THE BOARD or EDUCATION (Mr. BIRRELL, Bristol, N.)I have seen the Reports and the Memorandum referred to in the Question. It should be noticed that the "complete unanimity" referred to is not more than 1245 a general agreement on the part of five particular women inspectors, and it is doubtful whether even that unanimity extended so far as is stated in the Question. The volume was issued as a Parliamentary Paper and placed on sale in the usual way, so that every local education authority has had ample opportunity of obtaining it and perusing its contents. I understand that the actual number of copies disposed of exceeds 3,000.