§ Sir G. Sinclairasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he will take to attract suitably qualified immigrants into teaching posts or into training colleges to enable them to deploy their talents in short-staffed schools and particularly in areas where they could be of special assistance in helping to teach immigrants from their own countries of origin.
§ Mr. CroslandImmigrants who are eligible for qualified teacher status are already seeking teaching posts in large numbers, particularly in those areas where their own compatriots are concentrated. Unfortunately they are often handicapped, sometimes to a degree which renders them unsuitable for employment, through lack of knowledge of the teaching methods used in our schools or through an inadequate command of spoken English. I am considering what special arrangements could be made to help them.
§ Sir G. Sinclairasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what 24W steps he will take to help immigrants to improve their spoken English; and whether, as an experiment, he will consider establishing a language laboratory for this purpose in one area of dense immigrant settlement.
§ Mr. CroslandThe advice foreshadowed in reply to the hon. Member's Question on 6th April will very shortly reach local education authorities. A number of colleges of further education already have a language laboratory, and it is for each college to decide whether this could be profitably used to help immigrants improve their spoken English. I know of one college which is to experiment on these lines next term.