§ Major T. HAYasked the President of the Board of Education why the Board of Education has been trying to force the Lowestoft education authority to dismiss a number of their newly appointed teachers on the ground that they have little experience, due to the fact that these men were serving in the Army or Navy during the War; and if he will reconsider this decision and, if necessary, give them further training to enable them to have the necessary qualifications?
Mr. WOODThe Board have not pressed the authority to dismiss the particular teachers referred to, but have called their attention to the difficulty of the task which they have undertaken. The authority are faced with the problem of providing for all their schools simultaneously an almost completely new staff, and the circumstance that a large number of the assistant teachers have had no previous experience requires a specially careful selection of the head and the other assistant teachers engaged. It is indeed in the interests of the inexperienced teachers, if they are to do justice to themselves and the schools, that the other members of the staff should be qualified by attain-1608W ments and experience to make up for their lack of experience. The teachers referred to have already passed through a training college course and no question, therefore, arises of providing a further course of training for them.