Teachers

HC Deb 11 July 1957 vol 573 cc521-3

12. Mr. M. Stewart

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education what financial help is available from public funds to teachers taking supplementary courses in mathematics.

Sir E. Boyle

Teachers employed by local education authorities are seconded on salary to supplementary courses in all subjects. Tuition is free. Other expenses are borne by the teacher.

Mr. Stewart

Has the Parliamentary Secretary considered that this arrangement, while quite suitable for a teacher without any dependants, is not altogether suitable for teachers with families dependent on them? Will he look at the matter in view of the importance of persuading teachers to take up this course?

Sir E. Boyle

Of course, I will consider any matter the hon. Gentleman likes to bring to my attention. I am writing to him about the particular case he raises.

15. Mr. G. Thomas

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education whether he will now introduce the necessary regulations to ensure that all future entrants to the teaching profession shall have received training either in a recognised training college or in a university training department; and whether he will make a statement.

Sir E. Boyle

No, Sir.

Mr. Thomas

Whilst thanking the hon. Gentleman for that very full reply, may I ask if he is aware that this Question includes one of the motions which was passed at the recent Conference of the National Union of Teachers and that the profession feels strongly about it? Will he try to give a reasonable reply?

Sir E. Boyle

My right hon. Friend is fully aware of the strong views of the National Union of Teachers on this matter, but he must also take into account all the needs of the schools. We cannot afford to recruit into the maintained schools fewer graduates and other untrained specialists than we do now.

17. Miss Bacon

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education how many students desirous of entering a teachers' training college in 1956 were unable to gain a place in 1956 and were again refused admission in 1957.

Sir E. Boyle

I regret that this information is not available.

Miss Bacon

Will not the hon. Gentleman take steps to get this information? Is he aware that for years past parents have been told that there is this shortage of teachers and they have been encouraged to keep their children at school, but it is pretty hard on those parents if, after keeping their children at school until they are 19, they find the children cannot enter training colleges?

Sir E. Boyle

There is no central register of applications. In any case, the figure for which the hon. Lady asks would really mean little by itself. It is important to have quality as well as quantity.

Mr. M. Stewart

Does the hon. Gentleman remember that one of the effects of the proposed three-year training as at present conceived will be to reduce the number of places available for people proposing to take up the teaching profession? Would he not accept, therefore, that it is important to get a figure of this kind so that we may know whether we are turning away from the profession people who are qualified to take it up?

Sir E. Boyle

More students are being admitted in 1957, but at the same time competition is keener than it was in 1956, which I should have thought was not a bad state of affairs.

18. Miss Bacon

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education if he will devise machinery whereby students who remain at school to become teachers and fail to gain a place in a training college one year are given high priority for the next year.

Sir E. Boyle

No, Sir. My noble Friend thinks that colleges are right to choose the best candidates, without giving priority to those who have made previous applications.

Miss Bacon

Would the hon. Gentleman agree that if boys or girls are suited to be teachers they ought to be admitted to training college at least in the second year in which they apply, and that if they are not suited to be teachers, they ought to be so informed in order that their parents can arrange another career for them?

Sir E. Boyle

I really disagree with the hon. Lady on this question. We want quality, and the only way to get that is to get colleges to judge people on their merits. If the would-be teachers improve their academic ability between the first time they apply and the second time they apply, so much the better, but it would be wrong to interfere with the rights of colleges to examine applicants on their merits.

Mrs. Slater

Does this not raise the question of provision of places in training colleges, because it means that many girls and boys who are unable to get into college in the first year or the second year will give up the idea of teaching altogether? Will the hon. Gentleman look at the whole problem again in the light of freeing all places?

Sir E. Boyle

That question raises rather wider questions which we discussed in April. At the present time we are getting more students in the colleges; the improvement in quality is not a bad thing.