Unifying the Educational System The plea put forward at the
annual conference of the National Union of Teachers for one code for all schools is one that has the support of most of the educational world. It was the central proposal of the Spens report that there should be parity of conditions in matters such as the size of classes, buildings, equipment, the abolition of fees, and the compulsory school-leaving age in different types of post- primary schools. The resolution which the N.U.T. passed unanimously went farther and urged the unification of the whole State system of education and the issue of one code of regulations for all schools. The Scottish Department of Education has already published one code of regulations for all day schools, and similar action in this country would go far to modify the differences which at present exist between schools which in theory belong to the same class. Even greater differences, particularly in the matter of remunera- tion, divide primary from post-primary schools, and the primary schools as a result often suffer from an inferiority complex on account of the salary inequalities. The Spens report does not go far enough for the teachers in this respect, and the salary proposals in the report were described by one speaker as " intolerable and unjustified."
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