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EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN TRANSPORT The work of the Local Education Authorities—I

11th March 1966, Page 92
11th March 1966
Page 92
Page 92, 11th March 1966 — EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN TRANSPORT The work of the Local Education Authorities—I
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

ECAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES play the key role in promoting, arranging and staffing courses to follow the examination schemes of specific educational organizations in transport. Much of the work is performed at technical colleges, polytechnics, colleges of commerce and further education establishments. Departments of transport as such are rare indeed and the number of full-time staff specifically charged with work in this field is also at a premium.

In the main, teaching in transport courses is performed by part-time staff who are paid by their hours of teaching. Some of the part-time lecturers do a magnificent job of work, others are indifferent and some fall below the minimum standard required.

With so few full-time staff to advise, visit and generally supervise the work of part-time staff, this situation is not unexpected. Further, what full-time staff there are find they have little time for the "pastoral care" of part-time lecturers as their own teaching programme is so heavy.

The transport examining bodies should try to advise the LEAs much more than they do at present and, at the same time, exert pressure for increases in full-time staff.

There ought to be a closer look at the fee structure for parttime teachers. All fees are low and there is the complication that grades of work are remunerated differently. A part-time lecturer gains higher fees for a class following the associateship of the Institute of Transport than for the graduateship which, in turn, is paid at a better rate than a class following the RSA diploma in road transport subjects. Thus, there is a constant difficulty of recruiting suitable lecturers for courses preparing students in examination courses at a rather lower level.

But even if transport examination organizations implemented these ideas of advising LEAs and exerting pressure on a number of issues, it is doubtful if LEAs are going to heed too many voices urging a wide variety of reforms. A much stronger case can be made out for one organization speaking on behalf of a number of interests.

This is yet another aspect of the need for a major transport educational organization bringing together and furthering the aspirations of several separate institutions. Indeed, it is only by a marshalling of forces that there can be any real prospect of an improvement in standards of transport education.

In the major centres of population, LEAs do much more than provide courses for examination bodies. They promote many courses quite independently, frequently making awards of their own which have no direct connection with the transport examining bodies. The amount and extent of this work is slowly increasing, but is complicated by its very diversity, both in the range of transport subjects offered and in the different LEA institutions providing the work. Next week I intend to summarize some of the main groups of this work but omitting colleges of advanced technology, which are increasingly being accorded university status and are thus best included in a separate section.

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Organisations: Institute of Transport

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