I should have thought that as a temporary measure, perhaps till 1967 or until the Teacher Crisis is over, it would be possible to enable teachers of over 65 to continue teaching for four or five years and add greatly to their pension entitlement.
The Teacher Crisis confronting Scotland today is like a creeping paralysis which becomes progressively worse.
We now have information from all the universities that they cannot carry out even the Government's programme, but here is the National Advisory Council itself saying that there must be "a massive expansion" if This Teacher Crisis is to be overcome.
How can the Secretary of State and the Minister dare to evade blame for the major and growing Teacher Crisis in inner London and elsewhere when, on the Secretary of State's admission, the information that he and the Minister have obtained on resignations is more than two years old?
Perhaps the most substantial indictment of the Government's schools policy is the continuing Teacher Crisis caused by inadequate pay and insufficient numbers, and leading to a tragic lack of morale.
If the Secretary of State is saying that the Government intend to deal with the Teacher Crisis by allowing anyone to teach our children - actually to appear before a class of youngsters - he ought to confirm that now.
There is a teacher shortage - a Teacher Crisis - in our schools, despite the protestations to the contrary by the Secretary of State this evening and by BaronessBlackstone in the other place last week.
If that is the only suggestion that the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) can make about the way in which the previous Government dealt with the Teacher Crisis - as it was in their day - it is no wonder that we inherited a teacher recruitment problem, just as we inherited other problems such as crumbling schools, and literacy and numeracy levels.
The result is that there is now a Teacher Crisis in our schools: 2,000 are leaving the profession every year, and there could be 30,000 teaching vacancies within five years.
That was the Tories' one-club approach to solving the Teacher Crisis: hang on, wait for a recession and more people will want to go into teaching.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her outline of what the Government intend to do about the Teacher Crisis.
Councillor Mrs. Sally Can, said to me that this was a fine policy, but did the Government realise that, perhaps uniquely, there was a Teacher Crisis in Southend?
There is a Serious Teacher Crisis.
I was extremely surprised that there was no mention in the gracious Speech of the Teacher Crisis, but my noble friend Lady Walmsley will, I believe, talk about that later.
Does my hon. Friend agree that the Crisis in Teachers' morale is certainly not helped when they find that their hard work with their pupils is not rewarded when exams come to be marked?
What steps will the Department take to head off the coming Teacher Crisis in London?
Ofsted and the National Audit Office have confirmed that there is a shortage and a Crisis of Teachers.