ABSTRACT
A local education authority is required by law to appoint a Chief Education Officer and the Secretary of State must be satisfied that he is a fit person for the post. The officer responsible for the administration of primary education has to deal with more children, more teachers and more buildings than any other branch. The primary education officer now at least has the Plowden Report to help him make a case for higher standards in the years when the child's future is being settled. The educational advantages and disadvantages are balanced; practical and management considerations are not straightforward; there are many special interests to be taken into account; decisions have to be reached democratically. The purposes to discover any factors, social, intellectual, physical or emotional that may prevent an individual child from benefiting from education in a primary or secondary school.
