§ Sir E. Graham-Littleasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education what decision has been reached on the question of holding special examinations in training colleges for students who are called up before completing their approved courses of study?
Mr. LindsayThe Board have decided to request the various joint boards which are responsible for examining students in training colleges to hold a modified examination in the fifth term of the two year (that is, six term) course for those students who cannot continue their studies beyond the fifth term owing to their having been called up under the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, 1939. Such students will be eligible for recognition as certificated teachers in the same way as those who complete the full course.
The Board do not propose to ask the joint boards to conduct any special examination for those students who complete four terms or less of the course. The question whether such students will be required to undergo a further period of training before being regarded as eligible for recognition as certificated teachers, and if so the extent of the further training in each case, will be decided in the light of the circumstances which prevail when the student is released from military service. In any case, as I informed the hon. Member in my answer to his question of the 19th October, students will not be required after the war to repeat a period of study which they had completed before they were called up.