§ Mr. GOLDSTONEasked how many secondary schools in receipt of the higher grant of the Board were allowed to offer less than the normal 25 per cent. of free places, subsequently offered the proportion of free places required by the regulations of the Board?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANA reduction of the normal free-place requirement of the Board is only allowed to a school on the request of the school authorities and in the light of representations adequately supporting the application. The term "free place" is loosely used to describe not only places filled by pupils for whom no fee is charged by the school and no fee paid, but also where the full fee is charged but is paid to the school by the local authority, or from some other source, and not by the parent. Adopting this wider sense of the phrase, I believe that, of the schools which had applied for and received a reduction of the normal requirement, twenty-four awarded or offered in the year 1910–11 25 per cent. or more of free place. If my hon. Friend means by free places places filled by pupils for whom no fee is charged to any one, I fear that I must ask him to repeat his question after Easter.
§ Mr. GOLDSTONEasked whether the question of the proportion of teachers of elementary school origin on the staffs of secondary schools has been discussed by members of the staff of the Board; and, 466 if so, whether the summary of the discussion has been circulated by memorandum, or otherwise, among His Majesty's inspectors of schools?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI am not sure what my hon. Friend means by the expression "teachers of elementary school origin." In its natural interpretation the expression would appear to apply to teachers who had received their preliminary education in public elementary schools. I have every reason to believe that no responsible member of the Board's staff would consider that the suitability of a teacher for employment on the staff of a secondary school could be affected—adversely at any rate—by the fact that he had received his preliminary education in a public elementary school. I think it is possible, however, that the question is intended to refer to teachers whose teaching experience has been acquired wholly or partly in public elementary schools. It is certainly the case that, in some of their reports on individual secondary schools, inspectors have had occasion to suggest the desirability of strengthening the staff by the addition of men with some teaching experience beyond that which can be gained in public elementary schools where few children remain beyond the age of fourteen, and the range of the curriculum is different from that of a secondary school. I have no reason to believe that it has ever been suggested on behalf of the Board that the mere fact that a teacher has served on the staff of a public elementary school should in any respect prejudice his chances of appointment to a post in a secondary school. Indeed, the inclusion of teachers with experience of this character is not infrequently recommended. Whatever may be the correct interpretation of the expression used by my hon. Friend, it is equally true that no discussion of the question in general terms has taken place, and that any memorandum which any officer of the Board may have been inspired to write has not yet, so far as the Board are aware, had an opportunity of affecting anybody's mind except his own.
§ Mr. GOLDSTONEMay I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman is aware that, as a result of the recommendation of His Majesty's inspectors in various reports, teachers who have gained the bulk of their experience in elementary schools have been removed to the elementary schools from the secondary schools, as the result of action of the Board's staff?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe answer I have given is a general answer to the question. If the hon. Member has any particular case he can bring to my notice I shall, of course, inquire into it.
§ Mr. BYLESasked whether the reports of inspectors of secondary schools last year revealed the fact that in nearly fifty districts the scales of salaries were so low as to be detrimental to the efficiency of those schools; whether similar reports are made by the inspectors of elementary schools; whether in any and, if so, in how many of these schools the scales of salaries are also deficient; and whether, in such cases, the Board of Education will cause representations to that effect to be made to the local education authorities?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANIn the year 1910 168 secondary schools received a full inspection; in forty-seven of them the inspectors called attention to the inadequacy of the salaries. In some of these cases the salaries were fixed by scale, in others they were not. The Board called attention to such deficiencies where they found them to exist, because the low scale of salaries tended to one or both of the following results: either the school failed to secure the services of adequately qualified teachers, or, having secured the services of such teachers, it failed to retain them. In elementary schools the qualifications of teachers are regulated by definite requirements of the Board under the code.