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Wednesday, April 7, 1976
"Ac is well known the worki g party on measures to replace the
Secondary School Entrance Examination has reported and its proposals have
been widely discussed.
"This debate has brought cut clearly the conflict between the desire
to retain and develop excellent education for the benefit of some pupile
and also for the community through the production of effective leaders and
trained professionals on the one hand, and on the other the desire to give
a fair chance for everyone through mixed ability intake.
"The debate is not yet finished and clearly we must steer carefully
to avoid either injustice, or chaos resulting from a too rapid and
doctrinaire re-arrangement of our system.
*The guidance given by the White Paper suggests that we must
give the fairest possible chance to everyone, but we must not in the process
destroy or undermine the good work of the past," Mr. Topley cautioned.
Turning to long-term commitments, the Director said it was neces-kry
to re-examine the Schools Building Programe in the light of finencil
forecasts, the probable rate of development of the new towns and their
forecast demographic characteristics in order to determine how many schools
could and should be built and where.
"These forecasts together with the guidelines laid down in the
White Paper on Secondary Education for the appropriate mix of schools will
decide what will be the proportions of asymmetrical, gramer and technic:1
schools.
"This will be the mechanism by which we first phase out bought
places and, second, reduce extended day and flotation to a reasonable uinimum.
"It will be a