Search

The article focuses on the White Paper: A Framework for Expansion--the ten year plan of the government for education in Great Britain. It hedges much of its planning by saying there is room for flexibility and many points still remain for decision. It is planned that the public expenditure on maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools will rise from 1475 million pounds in 1971 to 2,000 million pounds in 1981 at 1972 survey prices. This means an assumed growth rate of 3 per cent compared with two and half percent for the decade 1961-62 to 1971-72. Thus, the White Paper shifts the emphasis of public spending and it is important since the growth in numbers in primary and secondary education will ease off in the current decade. The commitment to universal nursery education, in-service education for teachers, improvements in staffing standards, the reduction in class sizes and the rapid acceleration in primary and secondary school improvements to buildings, are the hardcore objectives. The first 16 pages of the report deal with them.