Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Speech to National Children’s Bureau Conference

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: County Hall, Westminster
Source: Thatcher Archive: DES press release
Editorial comments: Embargoed until 1630 Thursday 18 October 1973.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 1520
Themes: Education, Primary education

No Significant Increase in Misbehaviour in Schools, Says Education Secretary

The problems of pupil violence and indiscipline were a long way from being common to the majority of schools, said the Education Secretary, Mrs Margaret Thatcher this afternoon (Thursday 18 October). Speaking at the annual conference of the National Children's Bureau in London she said that where violence and indiscipline did arise it was clear that they were a consequence of environmental and home conditions, rather than of anything which did or did not happen in the schools.

“Ours is not for the most part a violent society in comparison either with its own past or with many other societies in the world today,” said Mrs Thatcher. “If there is misbehaviour in the schools it is a reflection, at least in part, of what goes on outside. This is confirmed by the results of a questionnaire sent to the local education authorities by the Association of Education Committees earlier this year. The returns from about 100 out of 163 authorities are being studied. We are very conscious of the lack of agreed definitions and can only regard this enquiry as the first step towards better research in this field. But the results are welcome for several reasons. One is that about 60 per cent of the authorities who responded saw no significant increase in misbehaviour, and a few detected an improvement. Another is that where increases are recorded the variations in the figures are helpful in suggesting where further inquiry should be made.

“The rate of incidents reported by the local authorities is between three and four times as high in the most densely populated metropolitan areas as in the less densely populated areas. A number of authorities said affluence was no barrier to the emergence of poor behaviour, and marital break-up or domestic tension is the biggest single factor blamed. [end p1]

There are two other interesting pointers. One is that vandalism tends to occur out of school hours and away from the school. The other is that there is very little reference in these returns to the curriculum or organisation of the schools.

“We are all concerned about this problem, and we shall continue, with the local authorities and the teachers, to explore it and to seek remedies. But everything we have so far discovered points to the conclusion that this is a problem of society rather than of the schools, and the schools cannot be expected to put it right single-handed. They need the support, in this as in other matters affecting their daily life, of other agencies in our society—including the family and the media, and all who contribute to the setting of standards.”

Nursery Education

“A systematic expansion of nursery education is one of the priorities central government has chosen and a good start has already been made. There has been a vigorous campaign for this over the years, and you would have thought the chorus of approval might have been well-nigh unanimous. Yet once the programme is launched, there are niggling criticisms to be heard. Misconceived, says one. Not enough resources, says another. There are times when the education service, with its proneness to criticism, can be its own worst enemy. The public may begin to lose patience with people who are so addicted to campaigning and so apt to have second thoughts that when they get what they've been campaigning for they forget to cheer.

“The value of nursery education in this country has been questioned in comparison with the head-start programme in USA. This is very wide of the mark. On two points alone it is not a valid comparison. First, head-start staff were trained very quickly in order to open short-term programmes for the children in the summer holidays, a month or six weeks immediately prior to their going into their first grade. Second, on entering the first grade there was no continuity between what the children had been doing in their head-start programme and the work which they were expected to do in grade one. Neither applies here. In this country we have deliberately made the nursery expansion a long-term project. This will give us time to increase the number of teachers and assistants with knowledge of young children; and it will enable the majority of young children to have at least a year of pre-school experience. Fortunately we have general agreement on aims and objectives among those who teach in our nursery or infant schools. So there is continuity in the programme offered. But we are certainly not dismissing other countries' ideas and experience; and our own research programme will be looking very closely at the patterns of educational provision.” [end p2]

Mrs Thatcher said that the £34m nursery building programme was for the first two years and was the first part of a continuing programme. There would certainly be areas which would not get the provision they needed from this £34m but she hoped that their needs would be met from allocations yet to be decided for later stages of the programme.

The distribution of the £34m had been weighted in favour of local-authority areas where there were relatively large numbers of socially deprived children, but the deprivation of children in rural areas had been taken into account as well as those in our towns and cities.

“It is our intention to meet the demand for nursery education in all parts of the country, and for children in all circumstances, and the distribution of resources for the later stages of the building programme will therefore be arranged with this in mind.”

Mrs Thatcher said that the development programme initiated by the DES and DHSS was now under way to provide some nursery centres with more flexible attendance patterns for children to complement their pattern of life at home.

Four centres were already open: Hartcliffe in Bristol, Gamesley in Derbyshire, Hillfields in Coventry, and at Sutton-in Ashfield. They provided educational opportunities and full day care for under-fives. Another four centres which will open within the next year will provide other extended patterns. These will be in Burnley, Salford, Bedford, and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. One will have a small family-care unit, another will provide nursery-school education with extended hours at either end of the day.

Speaking about the extra teachers that would be needed for the nursery programme Mrs Thatcher said: “Some teachers already serving in primary or secondary schools may be attracted to teach very young children, and it is likely to appeal particularly to married women who have had earlier teaching experience and wish to return to the profession after bringing up their own families. In order to give such teachers the opportunity to gain the necessary expertise I have already approved twenty new one-term or one-year courses of in-service training in colleges of education, and more are planned. The Department has also arranged to increase substantially the number of short courses. Other teachers will be recruited from those who aim at teaching the younger age group from the start, and colleges have been increasing the proportion of initial training places devoted to teaching at this level. About 4,500 students enrolled in 1972 on courses which include some nursery training. [end p3]

Primary Education

“The declared priority of the Government for education was, from the outset, to improve the prospect for the younger child. A properly planned nursery programme, calculated and costed over a period of years, was a necessary part of our plan to implement that priority. To be seen in its full perspective it must be put in the context of our drive to improve primary school buildings and to make a searching inquiry into the teaching of reading, on which so much else depends.

“The Government's special programme for the improvement or replacement of pre-1903 primary schools began with projects on which work started in 1972/3. The programme for that year, together with those for subsequent years up to 1975/6, will provide for about 2,000 old primary schools to be replaced or improved at a cost of over £200m at present price levels. During the first year resources were concentrated on deprived urban areas, but a large number of projects were also included for rural areas and some suburban areas. This special improvement programme will continue until we have eliminated old and sub-standard primary schools.

“There was at one time a rather facile assumption that almost anything could be put right by education. Very liberal people shared this belief with very doctrinaire people—in itself perhaps a ground for suspicion. I believe it is an important step forward that while we have increased the share of public spending going to education, and plan to increase it still further, we no longer expect the schools and colleges on their own to correct all the ills and imbalances that a restless and changing society is bound to exhibit.

“We certainly need more for certain aspects of education, and the Government has provided resources to extend the period of schooling at both ends. We certainly need better education, and the Government has put in hand a thorough overhaul both of initial and in-service training for teachers. We certainly need enlarged educational opportunities for school leavers, and we are increasing the proportion of the age group which will go on to advanced studies. It is a simple fact of life that we cannot keep our place in the modern world, nor sustain and improve our living standards, unless the basic business of education is well done and those who have the ability to go further are enabled to do so” , said Mrs Thatcher.