Schools : eighth report from the Select Committee on Estimates together with the Minutes of Evidence taken before Sub-Committee E and Appendices, Session 1952-1953.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Estimates
Date:
1953
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Schools : eighth report from the Select Committee on Estimates together with the Minutes of Evidence taken before Sub-Committee E and Appendices, Session 1952-1953. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    18 February, 1953.] [Continued. eeeesceneren 554. With regard to heating, I wanted to know whether there was any experience and if you have any views on some of the new heating arrangements?—(Mr. Britton.) What particular heating arrangements? 555. The new radiation systems, where the heat is blown into the hall, so to speak. Have you seen any of those?—I have seen them, but I could not say at first hand I have had any experience with people who have worked in such buildings. I am quite certain that very many teachers have welcomed the fact that there is far less danger from children hitting them- selves on radiators than there used to be. That is a marked advantage. Mr. James Johnson. 556. We have mainly put questions about false economies. Can I ask the N.U.T.. delegation now, (since: it asova common complaint, or a common shout, so to speak, that since the war we have been lavish with our schoo] buildings, are there any parts of a school that have been built, or any ornamental parts, that need not have been put in, on which we have spent too much money?—I deny that any money spent has been wasteful. I have seen a good few new buildings, and I have not yet seen one where I felt money had been spent unnecessarily. Brigadier Peto. 557. What about Slough?—(Mr. Griffith.) Just the opposite; they have not spent enough. 558. The second point I wanted to ask about was this. Have you any view on the desirability of having only one floor, the advantages or disadvantages of one- and two-storey buildings?—(Mr. Britton.) I think it depends on the age of the children very largely. With young children I think it is undesirable that there should be two storeys, but I do not think that there is any serious disadvantage in having a school for older children of more than one storey. (Mr. Griffith.) We did discuss this problem when the Building Regulations came out, and we have got to have regard to space. It is no good saying you can have a one-floor big school, because you have to have regard, especially in towns, to space. But we are definitely against three- storeyed buildings, and two-storeyed ones in the case of very young children. 559. Are you speaking from the point of view of the efficiency of the teaching? —Yes, because if you are going up and downstairs you waste a lot of time moving about from one part of the school to another and one class to another. 560. Not so much as you do if it is on one floor?—It depends how it is shaped. (Mr. Hickman.) There are very serious danger elements in some places, though not for older children. There are advantages in some schools in having some parts upstairs, for instance, libraries and sixth form rooms, to get away from the noise. Miss Ward. 561. Do you, in the positions that you hold in the National Union of Teachers, when there are any fairly considerable departures in building, go round and see them from county to county, or local authority to local authority? Do you see them for yourselves or do you really judge from the Bulletins?—(Mr. Britton.) We do go round and see them. As an elected member of the Executive and officials, we go round the country quite a lot, and we do see a fair bit of new building. $62. A fair sample?—Yes. But we also do have a procedure by which all our associations send in views on all sorts of subjects to headquarters, so that we have the advantage of the information that comes from the localities, from the teachers who are working in_ those localities —(Mr. Griffith.) Could we explain that Mr. Britton is actually the head of a school? Mr. Hickman and I are not now in schools. We came out a few years ago; but we are always going to address teachers at meetings, very often held in schools, and we take advantage of seeing anything new, and in fact anything old, that is about. Chairman. 563. We have had a good talk about new schools. Can we now go to the old schools? You know that there were 600 schools black listed in 1925. Would you say that a number of those schools are no longer on the black list, or at least some of them have been improved, and that figure today is less than 600?—It is very difficult to say whether it is less or what the actual position is. Some of them were removed from the black list; some were removed every year because the L.E.A. was able to do sufficient, just sufficient, to bring them off the black list; but in many of those schools the defects which put them on the black list are still there. The Ministry have information as to how many were removed from year to year, although when I tried to find out the other day about one I had no information as to the reason why they were removed except that something had been done to take them off. Very many are still there. 564. Have the Ministry got information? Have they collected information about the number?—-You have the power to press for the information. 565. You say that the Ministry of Edu- cation has that information?—I think so. 566. If so, do you ask for that informa- tion?—Yes, we have asked for informa- tion.