§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many colleges of education, and how many student places in those colleges, in England and Wales, there were in 1971, 1974, and 1977; and what are the expected numbers for 1981.
§ Mr. OakesIn 1971 and 1974, there were 159 colleges and departments of education, excluding colleges of education (technical), in England and Wales with an estimated total capacity of about 117,000 places.
In the academic year 1976–77 there were 136 institutions with some 84,700 full-time teacher training students and about 32,000 other places formerly used for teacher education. Four of those institutions with a total of 1,430 places are closing later this summer.
No final decisions have yet been announced on the future of the colleges in Wales. It is expected that in England there will be 75 institutions engaged in teacher education in 1981, including colleges merging with universities, with a total of 43,770 places for that purpose. Those institutions will also have about 41,000 places formerly used for teacher training which will be available for other higher and further education courses.
§ Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many departments of craft and design in colleges of education in England and Wales there were in 1971, 1974, and 139W 1977; and what is their expected number for 1981.
§ Mr. OakesThe figures give the number of colleges and polytechnic departments of education in England and Wales which offered non-graduate main courses of inititial training in craft, design and technology in the two earlier academic years shown and plan to offer them in the two later years:
1971–72 … … 35 1974–75 … … 35 1977–78 … … 28 1981–82 (provisional) … … 22