§ 31. Mr. J. E. B. Hillasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to encourage more men teachers to go into primary schools.
§ Mr. Denis HowellMy right hon. Friend has urged local education authorities to guide more newly qualified teachers into primary schools and has encouraged colleges of education to continue to bring home to their students the pressing needs of the primary schools. An increasing proportion of men students entering training take courses in primary teaching and 1946 their absolute numbers have more than doubled in four years.
§ Mr. J. E. B. HillIn view of the alarming and continuing rate of wastage of women teachers to marriage outside the profession, would the hon. Gentleman not agree that it is important to get a higher proportion of men students into primary schools—"brave men", to quote Plowden—as that is more likely to persuade women teachers to stay on in their profession and perhaps fall in love with it?
§ Mr. HowellAll our experience is that teachers marry teachers much more often than is desirable—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—from the point of view of pure educational considerations. I am happy to say that there is also a great deal of evidence that that is not to be regarded as absolute wastage since many more are coming back into the profession when their families are growing up.