Orders of the Day — Education (Scotland) Bill.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 2 July 1936.

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Photo of Mr William Gallacher Mr William Gallacher , Fife Western

Much of the discussion that I have heard to-night has, in my opinion, emphasised the very urgent need for an extended age for education in Scotland. But we not only want an extended age; we want it immediately. There are two points to which I desire to draw special attention. One is the urgent need for making this Bill operable not in 1939, but at the latest in 1937. The other is the question of parents and education. We have at present a large number of teachers who cannot get employment. When this Bill was introduced I got several letters, and I want to draw attention to one or two of them. One says: As an unemployed teacher I am writing you this note in the hope that you may be able to induce the Government to bring forward the date for raising the school age. This teacher has got optimism if she thinks that I or anyone else can move this Government in a progressive direction. That is the appeal she makes, and she is one of many who would have the possibility of employment if the date was brought forward to 1937. Another writes: Meanwhile we people who are just fresh from college are being allowed to stagnate. … My heart sickens when I see my colleagues who qualified two years ago. These are young people who have been trained and on whom money has been spent to make them teachers. Surely if we are concerned with education we should make the earliest possible date in order to provide employment for them. I know that not only do the parents not want the children out of school, but the school masters do not want them out of school. A case came to my notice at home the other week of a boy who was being talked about as being taken out of school for employment. The headmaster sent for the guardian of that boy in order to persuade' him that it would be an injustice to the boy to take him out of school. The Lord Advocate says that they may be taken out at 14 and put into a job in the home which will develop character. There is not a job that can be mentioned but will kill character, and not develop it. I have another letter here which says: My mother was widowed when I was six months old and she worked day and night, often all night, as a nurse to educate me. … That was two years ago. Since then I have been on the waiting list. The writer tells how she got a job as a canvasser for electric cleaners and went to 109 doors and never got an order. I appeal to the Government to bring forward an Act that will be of advantage to teachers and to children, and to put an end to what is called "beneficial employment."