§ Colonel WEDGWOODasked the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to the case of Mr. C. Austin Brook, late geography master at the secondary school, Hanley, Staffs; whether he is aware that Mr. Brook resigned his post as geography master in April last as a protest against receiving a salary which was lower than that to which his qualifications entitled him and reapplied for the post with admission to Grade III.; that his reapplication was refused and the post filled by a substitute who had not attained the same academic qualifications; whether the fact that Mr. Brook, in addition to having graduated in mathematics, held the diploma in geography and had on three occasions demonstrated at the Cambridge University summer schools to secondary school teachers, headmasters, and others in modern methods of teaching geography, entitled him to admission to Grade III. and to receive a salary in accordance with that grade; if so, why was he not accorded a salary in accordance with Grade III., and why was his reapplication for the post refused in favour of a less-qualified teacher who did not apply for the post; and whether he will look into the case of Mr. Brook and the case of the secondary school teachers in general, with a view to reviewing the standards of remuneration, so that well-qualified and experienced teachers may not be driven from the profession at a time when there is a great shortage of such?
§ Mr. FISHERMy attention has not been called to the case referred to. The appointment of a teacher to fill a vacancy 279W and the amount of his salary are matters within the discretion of the Local Education Authority, as the body providing the school, and I have no authority to intervene. As regards the general question of salaries of teachers in secondary schools, I have nothing to add to the answer which I gave to the hon. and gallant Member on the 17th instant.