§ Mr. RENNIE SMITHasked the President of the Board of Education if he can provide a comparative table for last year of the size of classes, arranged in numbers of, say, under 30, 40, 50, 60, and over, in elementary schools of France, Germany, and Great Britain, and also a list of the subjects taught?
§ Lord E. PERCYEngland and Wales. —The latest complete figures available are those for the year 1922–23, which are as follow:
Number of classes classified according to size. (Number on registers.) Under 20 11,088 20 and under 30 26,159 30 and under 40 39,181 40 and under 50 41,064 50 and under 60 27,166 60 and over 4,022 Total 148,680 As regards the subjects taught, I would refer the hon. Member to Chapter I of the Code of Regulations for Public Elementary Schools.
Scotland.—For similar information with regard to Scotland, I must refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary for Scotland.
Germany.—The latest information at my disposal relates to Prussia and Bavaria, and is as follows:
2047W
Prussia (1921). Total number of classes in public elementary schools=123,210. 30 and under 16,481 31–40 29,721 41–50 40,011 51–60 24,332 61–70 9,461 Over 70 3,204
Bavaria (1922). Total number of classes in public elementary schools=20,999. 30 and under 1,755 31–40 4,047 41–50 5,934 51–60 4,380 61–70 2,539 Over 70 2,344 The curriculum of the Prussian elementary schools includes: Religion, the mother tongue; reading and writing; arithmetic, geometry and drawing; history and geography; needlework for girls; a variety of other subjects is taught in some schools. The curricula of Bavarian elementary schools are generally similar.
France.—Corresponding statistics for France do not appear to be published by the French Ministry of Public Instruction.