§ 3.30 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I should like to ask the noble Viscount the Question of which I have given Private Notice: to ask Her Majesty's Government if they have any statement to make on the extension of the period of training for teachers.
§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAMMy Lords, with the permission of the House, I wish to make a statement about the training of teachers. The Government have decided to extend from two to three years the course of training which leads to the status of qualified teacher. This change will be made in 1960 and will apply to students who enter the general teacher training colleges in or after September of that year. The necessary changes in the regulations will be made later. The introduction of the longer course will reduce the annual output of teachers from the general training colleges, but the choice of 1960 takes into account the prospect of a sharp decrease in the number of children at school after 1961. The change will not therefore halt the process of reducing class sizes, though there will be some slowing down in that process.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, whilst, of course, I welcome the fact that there is going to be some additional professional training for the teachers, who are doing such an important job, I hope that there will be no real delay in proceeding with the reduction in the size of classes, because in some parts of the country, at any rate, there is still very great overcrowding. I am quite sure the Minister knows about that.
§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAMMy Lords, I fully agree with what the noble Viscount has just said. Deciding the right course to pursue has caused me considerable anxiety, but I have no doubt whatever that the course contained in my statement is the right one. There must be some delay in the rate of reduction of class sizes, because, if you increase the length of teacher-training courses from two years to three years, there will be a period during which the training colleges are no longer sending out their students. I have 241 done the best I can to ascertain the views of the profession and of the educational world, and I am advised that this course will be generally welcomed. In particular, my predecessor set up a Committee to advise the Ministry on this subject which laid down certain criteria, and these criteria have been observed.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I should like to ask, with regard to the extra year which will be attached to the training of normal primary school teachers as well as others, whether this is going to mean some extra financial provision to be made by the parents of the students or whether the extra cost will be covered by the Government.
§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAMMy Lords, it is very difficult, without notice, to give answers to questions which involve intricate matters of that kind, but I do not think that the balance between the parents, the local authorities and the State is altered in any way by my answer. It is a three-year course instead of a two-year course. I do not think that the shares in which the burden is borne have been altered by that change.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHI am much obliged to the noble Viscount. I hope that that will prove to be so. What I am anxious about is that there are many people of the working-class whose children enter training for this profession, and perhaps they have made their plans or the basis that at the end of two years those young people will be able to start receiving their professional salaries. If they will now have to stay another year—I am very much in favour of that—the parents may be placed in some difficulty from the point of view of finance.
§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAMMy Lords, I do not think the noble Viscount has been following the matter at all. These courses begin in 1960.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHBut the same question will arise where people have been planning the future of their children from the age of 11-plus.