CORRESPONDENCE COURSES (REGISTRATION) (Hansard, 19 December 1961)

§ Mr. James Boyden (Bishop Auckland)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for the registration of correspondence courses; and for purposes connected therewith. The purpose of my proposed Bill is as modest as its title sounds, and I apologise for the sense of anti-climax. It is to provide for the registration of correspondence colleges and their courses with the Ministry of Education, which will have a duty of inspection. The Bill will be on the lines of Part III, Sections 70 to 75, of the Education Act, 1944. I should be very surprised if the Bill arouses the passions which have been exhibited during the last half-hour.

Although an announcement appeared about six weeks ago, I have had no case of anybody objecting to the purpose of the Bill. Indeed, I have had some modest signs of support. The Executive of the National Institute of Adult Education, of which, very recently, I have had the honour to be chairman, is supporting proposals along these lines. The Institute is representative of most local education authorities, universities, the voluntary bodies concerned with education, such as the Townswomen's Guild, Women's Institute and Workers' Educational Association, and of the educational side of the Armed Forces. I shall, therefore, be very surprised if there is very much opposition to it.

The question may well be asked what is the point of introducing such a small Measure. It would ensure that all the colleges were efficient. Most of them are, but there are a number of shady colleges whose prospectuses and objectives border on the fraudulent. While, in England, this is not a very serious matter, it can be serious overseas. When I was in West Africa on two previous occasions I came across African students who were being almost defrauded by colleges whose efficiency and honesty were subject to doubt. It would be in the interests of the reputable colleges to have a Measure such as I propose.

It would do something else. It would bring the Ministry of Education into contact with a field of education about 1149 which very little is known. It is estimated that a large number of students take these courses. The figure has been put at 150,000. This is a very considerable figure in the educational field. It is about equivalent to the total number of university students and students at colleges of advanced technology. It would, therefore, be very much in the public interest and in the interest of the Ministry of Education that the Ministry should know about these courses. From the very fact of registration they will be able to draw up statistics to assess their value in the general educational effort.

A minor point which is not unimportant is that local education authorities are empowered to make, and do make, grants for students to take the courses. Several authorities known to me say that they have no idea of the respective merits of the courses and more or less give grants blind. Further, they are asked by students who cannot attend technical colleges, and so on, to advise them when they are about to enter these courses. They have very great difficulty in doing this.

There would be a more important effect of bringing out into the open the work and facilities which correspondence courses provide. It might do something to throw a searchlight on some forms of professional education, particularly in the commercial field, because many students rely almost entirely on this method of preparation for their examinations. In one sense it might be the cause of the rather narrow professional education in some fields.

For example, there is criticism of the training of cost accountants on the ground that they have not enough knowledge of economics. There is sometimes criticism of legal students. There is sometimes criticism of other commercial students. There seems to be a very considerable variation between the merits of particular types of courses. The Carr-Saunders Committee on Education for Commerce said that correspondence courses were a very bad second to anything else.

On the other hand, some of the students of the professional bodies who take these examinations have very marked success, regularly winning gold medals for being top of the list. Their 1150 students are to be found in the first few places, and great pride is taken in these courses. It is highly necessary that those matters should be considered but, at present, so very little is known about them. A registration scheme under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, such as I propose, would, I think, do some good in this connection.

I do not in any way criticise the reputable colleges. Ten of the largest colleges, those specialising in the commercial examinations and in the degrees of London University, have 50,000 students, and I am sure that all those 50,000 have very satisfactory arrangements made for them. Another college, specialising in industrial technology, has as many as 20,000 students, but I would point out a way in which registration, and the publicity associated with it, would be helpful.

We need as much educational effort and as many people taking part in educational activities as possible. There are throughout the country and abroad, in isolated communities, ship workers, members of the Forces overseas, merchant seamen, whose almost only hope of education when they are at work is through correspondence courses. It would give a very considerable impetus to people studying part time in that way if they knew, when registering for a course that it was absolutely bona fide, and that their efforts and their money would be well protected.

This is one of the very few ways in which applied science can be brought to mature people in the commercial and technical fields. Many hon. Members are interested in the training of teachers, and the like. Registration would probably give an impetus to married women studying at home—possibly being linked to day training colleges—to further their studies and so swell the numbers of those coming forward for teacher training. I would be surprised if there were much opposition to this very modest proposal, and I therefore seek the leave of the House to introduce the Bill.