XCC(70)28
CONFIDENTIAL
- 2
6
Not all children will wish to take advantage of the additional aid offered. For similar reasons, under the previous statement of aims, it was thought that only 80% of those eligible for an aided primary education would have to be catered for. It is now preferred to plan places for the full number in the age group (or 50% in the first instance). This is because although the age group is used as a planning basis for determining the number of places to be provided, this does not debar children outside the age group from participating; and a proportion of the places can thus be made available for, for example, over-age children who started their education late. An element of flexibility, in so far as individual children are concerned, is therefore built-in.
7
Next, while it is not proposed to raise the final target figure of 15-20% of aided places in full secondary courses leading to Certificates of Education, it is proposed to express it as 18% - towards which figure it is moving naturally with projects already under consideration - and to use the 12-16 year age group, not school-leavers, as a basis on which to compute the number of aided places to be provided. Since primary school-leavers in fact represent only about 70% of the appropriate age group (the remaining 30% having, for one reason or another, failed to reach the end of the primary course by the appropriate age) the change will, in practice, at first permit a not inconsiderable extension of the gross number of places which can be provided for. But it must here be made clear that the 70% figure is likely to increase with time in other words, it is likely that, with time, the figures for school-leavers will progressively approximate age group figures more closely. Moreover, although 16.8% of the school-leavers are being provided for now, this represents only some 10% of the age group: thus 18% of the age group represents an 8% expansion of the age group covered.
8
A new aim for the post-primary sector receiving assistance from Government might therefore be expressed as follows:
"(i)
(ii)
(iii)
In the full expectation that it will be possible to offer, by 1971, an aided primary education to all children desiring it, the next main aim will be progressively to make available with Govern- ment assistance at least 3 years post-primary education to all children in the appropriate age group (12-14) seeking it.
It is intended to achieve the first half of this goal, that is to say to provide for 50% of the age group, as determined from census inform- ation, by 1976: provided funds and the avail- ability of teachers and other resources permit.
In the meanwhile, within the 50% figure, provision will be made for the 18% of the 12-16 year age group to proceed on to aided courses leading to a Certificate of Education, in substitution for the present aim of providing for 15-20% of
CONFIDENTIAL