§ 47. Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation whether he will take steps to increase the number of potential teachers of technical subjects from overseas studying in Great Britain.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodI have been asked to reply.
Britain has, under the Commonwealth Teacher Training Bursary Scheme, already offered bursaries leading to a technical teacher qualification. Ninety-seven awards have been made and fifty-four bursars have completed their courses.
To meet the needs overseas for teachers of craft subjects, a new scheme was announced at the Second Commonwealth Education Conference in Delhi. Forty to fifty bursaries will be awarded annually. Students will attend a technical college for six months and go on to six months practical training in industry. The second year will be spent in a technical teacher training college. The first intake of bursars will be offered courses in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, constructional engineering and building. Governments have been asked to make nominations but it is too early to measure the response to this new scheme. If the number of suitable candidates is in excess of the bursaries available, the question of increasing the number for future years will be considered. Apart from these schemes for full-time training of technical teachers, every encouragement is given to post-graduate scholars in Science and Technology to take advantage of part-time teacher training courses.