COMMONWEALTH TEACHERS BILL (Hansard, 31 May 1960)

THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS (THE EARL OF HOME)
My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time.

§ LORD DALTON
My Lords, I regret that yesterday, owing to circumstances outside my control, I was prevented from giving what would have been a very warm welcome to this Bill. I have read with great satisfaction the eloquent and hopeful speech of the noble Earl the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, and I trust that his hopes may all be realised. There is one point, and only one point, which I should like to underline before we part with this Bill on Third Reading, and it relates to the question of the recruitment of teachers in this country to go forth and teach in the Commonwealth overseas.
There is, I think, a danger, which was referred to when this Bill was under consideration in another place, and also by my noble friend Lord Taylor yesterday, that, unless the right climate of opinion is created among the employers of teachers—which in this case means local education authorities, universities and other employing bodies—when these teachers return to this country they will find that they have been forgotten and that their careers are somewhat prejudiced. I am sure that the noble Earl has this point in mind, and that, although we cannot prescribe any remedy for this danger in a Statute, he will keep it in view and watch the situation so as to prevent what might be a serious discouragement to recruitment for this purpose of, if I may so describe it, educational adventure overseas.
I am sure that it will be generally agreed that service of the kind contemplated in this Bill should be accounted to those who undertake it for righteousness and as a credit to be taken into account in the determination of their future careers. Otherwise, I am afraid that there is danger of frustration and discouragement in a body of people whom we should wish to see encouraged and fully recognised as having performed a most valuable service to the Commonwealth by volunteering to go and teach for a period of years in a Commonwealth country. The Commonwealth, in all its dynamic growth and development, presents a multiform challenge to us all. This Bill which is before us is, in part at least, our response to that challenge, and I wish it well in its passage from this House into fulfilment.

THE EARL OF HOME
My Lords, I am glad that the noble Lord, Lord Dalton, has taken advantage of the Third Reading of the Bill to reinforce the verdict of your Lordships on Second Reading yesterday of approval of this Bill. I am particularly grateful to the noble Lord for the points he made in his exhortation to local authorities and, indeed, to all employers of teachers, and for his suggestion, which I am sure is wise and right, that they should do everything possible to encourage teachers to go overseas for a number of years. I am quite certain that the local authorities themselves will find that a teacher who has had experience overseas in a Commonwealth country will be of enormous value locally and, indeed, in the organisation of education in this country when he or she returns from that experience. The noble Lord said that service overseas should be accounted to the individual for righteousness: also I would suggest for superannuation—and I think that is achieved under the latest arrangements which have been made by the local authorities and by the employers. I would just express my gratitude to the noble Lord for the few remarks he has uttered which I hope will be an encouragement not only to teachers to go overseas but also to their employers to enable them to do so.