§ Sir R. Gowerasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education (1) what arrangements are made to ensure that an adequate number of children attending elementary and secondary schools are given proper opportunities to fit themselves for agricultural employment after their education is complete;
(2) whether he has any statistics showing the number of children who, on leaving elementary or secondary schools during each of the past five years, have subsequently taken up agricultural employment?
Mr. LindsayThe Board are anxious to secure that the instruction in public elementary and secondary schools in rural areas should be specially suited to their rural environment, and they have for some time been encouraging county local education authorities and governing bodies in this direction. I would invite the attention of my hon. Friend to the Board's pamphlet "Education and the Countryside," of which I am sending him a copy, and to Chapter 10 and other references in their recently published "Handbook of Suggestions for Teachers." The Board have no reliable statistics showing the number of pupils who have entered agricultural or rural occupations on leaving public elementary or secondary schools.