London schools
Sir: Mr Tyrell Burgess should try to face up to the realities of education in Inner London (Letters March 30). Members of the teaching profession say that within the boundaries of the Inner London Authority only 15 per cent of the 'County' schools (schools run by the LEA) and only 60 per cent of the ' Voluntary ' schools (Church schools etc.) are running well. The standards of achievement of the Inner London schools are considerably below average for the South of England.
In the recent election canvassers received many complaints about the lack of discipline in schools.
Many of the present difficulties of the Inner London Education Authority arose from its poor liaison with parents and children. Good local government is based on close contact with people. It is a shock for new arrivals from the country to find how remote local government can be. In small authorities when things go wrong the school's local councillors soon have parents arriving to see them in the evenings, it would be interesting to know how many parents have rung Mr Tyrell Burgess's bell in the last year.
The attitude of many parents in Inner London is that ILEA is a failure and at the earliest opportunity they will move out to areas where their children will have better opportunities. Parents who live in council houses have much greater difficulty in making this type of move and often experience the sad situation of seeing their children do less well than they should.
Mr Tyrell Burgess talks vaguely of the introduction of a fully comprehensive system, but he must be fully aware that the Department of Education and Science is unable to provide any evidence that the six types of schools described in Circular 10/65 are viable. The new Secretary of State may be working at some new type of school, but the urgent needs of Inner London require practical and professional policies rather than paper schemes based on political slogans, which aggravate the present situation. Many parents consider that the Inner London Education Authority has failed to provide the variety of schools legally required under the Education Act 1944.
If the responsibility for education in Inner London was returned to the Boroughs there would be a considerable improvement of standards within ten years. Of course some authorities would be less good than others, but local interest and involvement would be restored.
At present there is a steady flow of able children and able teachers out of Inner London and most of the proposals of Mr Tyrrell Burgess are likely to increase the rate of flow.
Richard Wort Knole Cottage, 69 Murray Road, Wimbledon, SW19
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