INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION (IRELAND) BILL. (Hansard, 7 August 1914)

§ LORD WIMBORNE

My Lords, this is an agreed Bill. It is designed to raise the standard and improve the position of teachers in intermediate schools in Ireland. These schools correspond to what are called secondary schools in England. The object is carried oat in two ways. A register of intermediate school teachers is to be established by the Lord Lieutenant on lines similar to those on which a register of teachers has been established in England under the Education Act, 1907, and an annual grant of £40,000 is to be provided by Parliament and to be distributed by the Intermediate Education Board for Ireland in accordance with rules to be framed by the Lord Lieutenant. The outlines of those rules have already been presented to Parliament in the shape of a White Paper. It may be stated generally that the aim of the rules is to secure that qualified teachers in the schools which participate in the teachers' salary grant will receive reasonable remuneration and will not be dismissed, except for misconduct, without reasonable notice. The position of intermediate school teachers in Ireland has long been known to be a very unsatisfactory one, and the cause of education will be very much assisted by putting them in a better position and establishing a register which will give a certain status to such qualified teachers. The Bill has not met with any opposition in the other House, and I hope your Lordships will give it a Second Reading and pass it through its remaining stages to-day.