HC Deb 08 March 1956 vol 549 cc2283-4
8. Mr. Hayman

asked the Minister of Education whether he will make a statement on the concluding sentence of paragraph 36 of the Report of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England) on early leaving from grammar schools, which indicates that in order to secure from the bottom third of the intake three pupils who will do very creditably it has been necessary to accept five who will do rather badly.

Sir D. Eccles

The sentence to which the hon. Member refers illustrates the general principle that the higher the proportion of a given age-group that is admitted to grammar schools the greater the likelihood that some children will find the course too difficult for them. This is why, in my Foreword to the Report, I was sceptical about the wisdom of an all-round increase in the proportion of grammar school places.

Mr. Hayman

Will the Minister also bear in mind that this paragraph indicates how unpredictable many of these children are in their intellectual development and that it is really undesirable to keep many of them at school beyond the compulsory school-leaving age?

Sir D. Eccles

That is a very big question which I can scarcely answer at Question Time.

Mr. M. Stewart

Does not the fact to which my hon. Friend has drawn attention also help us to realise how difficult it is to predict whether children at the age of eleven are unsuitable for grammar school education or not? Ought not the Minister altogether to re-examine the organisation of secondary education?

Sir D. Eccles

This is, of course, intensely interesting. It is perfectly true that children progress at different rates. The whole secondary system is growing, and what I should Like to see is a little more transfer of children who have been misfitted at one time or another.