§ 14. Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what study she has made of the reasons for early retirement of head teachers. [33211]
§ Mr. ForthMy right hon. Friend has made no study of the reasons for early retirement of head teachers. She is, however, considering the issue of early retirement for all teachers following a recent report of the Public Accounts Committee.
§ Mr. SpearingWas it not the duty of the Secretary of State to have done that some time ago, bearing in mind the reports from professional associations of rapidly rising early retirement through stress? Is not the task of a head teacher to assemble the appropriate educational offering for all pupils in the school, for which he should be provided with the resources so to do? Have not the Government's changes turned head teachers virtually into business managers, dealing with a variety of issues that are extraneous to education? Does that not prejudice the quality of teaching and education and affect the standards that are attained and are constantly on the lips of Ministers and Conservative Members?
§ Mr. ForthThe hon. Gentleman, rather uncharacteristically, has departed from the factual background to his question. He should consider the fact that only 2.3 per cent. of heads and 1.5 per cent. of deputies retired on ill-health grounds in 1994–95. That is hardly a torrent or a flood. He should also bear in mind the fact that the increasing rates of ill-health retirement in teaching are below those in the health service or even the civil service. That hardly suggests that head teachers are peculiarly stressed or are retiring earlier than anyone else. I repeat that the Secretary of State will examine the subject of early retirement from teaching. Presumably, that will encompass heads.
§ Mr. Duncan SmithWhen my hon. Friend looks in detail at the figures, will he bear in mind the fact that as we have now released schools from complete political control through local management of schools—and, ultimately, through the grant-maintained system—we are at last offering to those who aspire to be head teachers and to those who are head teachers the opportunity to run their schools for the benefit of the pupils? Essentially, that means that heads will be better off, will enjoy their job and will get greater job satisfaction. Are they not therefore more likely to stay for longer than those who wish to retire now?
§ Mr. ForthHow typical of my hon. Friend to encapsulate the difference in attitude between the Government and the Opposition. He rightly identified the opportunities available to heads the better to run their schools, while Opposition Members saw it as a matter of stress and a disadvantage. There could not be a clearer difference.