HC Deb 04 December 1947 vol 445 cc554-7
29. Mr. Palmer

asked the Minister of Education if he will give the reasons for the delays now occurring in the admission of temporary teachers to colleges under the Emergency Training Scheme; and whether he is aware of the difficult financial straits in which many of these temporary teachers now find themselves.

Mr. Tomlinson

The delays are due to the large number of men candidates and the necessarily limited capacity of the colleges. I have increased the number of colleges to the highest figure which can be justified, having regard to the prospects of employment. On the second part of the Question, I have recently approved a recommendation of the Burnham Committee which will enable local education authorities at their discretion to extend the salary scale for this class of temporary teachers.

Mr. Lipson

Is the Minister aware that this scale does not apply to men employed as clerical assistants by local authorities and that in some instances, particularly when they are married, the amount they receive is totally inadequate, and could he make representation about it?

Mr. Tomlinson

I will look into the matter. There is more involved than appears in the Question.

Mr. Cecil Poole

Is the Minister aware that it is not only men who are being denied entrance, but women also, and why does he not do the sensible thing of announcing three-year Froebel grants, and thereby ease the situation?

Mr. Tomlinson

That is a different question.

36. Mr. Haydn Davies

asked the Minister of Education how many emergency training colleges for men are to be converted into women's colleges; what are their names and the proposed dates of conversion.

Mr. Tomlinson

I am sending my hon. Friend a list giving the information which he desires. Most of the proposed conversions will take effect in 1949.

37. Mr. Haydn Davies

asked the Minister of Education how many men are still awaiting admission to emergency colleges; how many of these are ex-Service men; what is the present waiting period for those already accepted; and by how many months will this be extended by the decision to reduce the number of colleges.

Mr. Tomlinson

Men who applied while they were still in the Services are now entering emergency colleges after waiting about eighteen months from the date of their release. The corresponding waiting period for future entrants will rise by stages to a maximum of about two years, irrespective of the proposed closure of some colleges. These closures will have no appreciable effect on the maximum waiting period, but will prevent its falling as rapidly as it would otherwise have fallen for the last candidates on the waiting list.

Mr. Davies

In view of the fact that the bulk of these men are married ex-Service men and are undergoing financial hardship arising from the long waiting period between their acceptance and entrance to the colleges, does the Minister think it is right to close colleges at this moment, and should he not be opening new ones to give these men a chance?

Mr. Tomlinson

I am not closing colleges at the present moment; the anticipation is we shall be transferring them from men to women in 1948 and 1949 because of the urgent need for women teachers. But we have opened as many colleges as is convenient to meet the present situation.

Mr. Davies

Does the Minister consider it fair to ask a man to wait two years before he can get into an emergency training college?

Mr. Tomlinson

When this scheme was initiated we did not know either the extent to which applications would be made, or the numbers that we should be able to train, but when I tell the House that we had something like 100,000 applications, and have accepted 40,000 for training, they will appreciate it would be impossible not to contemplate a waiting period. It is not a question of whether it is fair to ask them to wait. They have been told the circumstances and have been promised that if they do wait, they will be accepted.

Mr. Chetwynd

Have many people who have been accepted withdraw their claims, in view of the long waiting period?

Mr. Tomlinson

I could not give the figures without notice.

38. Mr. Haydn Davies

asked the Minister of Education what is the present estimated shortage of men teachers in aided and maintained schools; and what steps he proposes to take to increase the supply from those who have already applied for emergency training.

Mr. Tomlinson

According to the returns received from local education authorities, there were on 1st October last 2,268 vacancies for men teachers in maintained and assisted primary and secondary, including special schools, and in addition 1,049 vacancies which could be filled either by men or by women. The output of trained men teachers from the emergency colleges will amount to rather over 8,000 in 1948, as compared with about 3,000 in 1947.