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Summaries of Evidence:

*For convenient reference, a complete index to both volumes has been placed at the end of each volume.

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THE RIGHT HON. A. H. DYKE ACLAND (Chairman).
MR. C. W. BOWERMAN, M.P.
MRS. SOPHIE BRYANT.
THE REVEREND JAMES CHAPMAN.
DR. R. S. CLAY.
MISS ISABEL CLEGHORN.
MR. CHRISTOPHER COOKSON.
MISS F. HERMIA DURHAM.
MR. JAMES EASTERBROOK.
REV. T. C. FITZPATRICK.
SIR HENRY F. HIBBERT.
MR. MARSHALL JACKMAN.
MR. ALBERT MANSBRIDGE.
DR. NORMAN MOORE.
MR. J. L. PATON.
PRINCIPAL SIR HARRY R. REICHEL.
PROFESSOR M. E. SADLER.
MR. GEORGE SHARPLES.
MISS MARGARET J. TUKE.
MR. CHRISTOPHER TURNOR.

ARTHUR H. WOOD (Secretary).

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CHAPTER I continued

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CHAPTER II continued

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CHAPTER III continued

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CHAPTER IV continued

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CHAPTER IV continued

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CHAPTER IV continued

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CHAPTER IV continued

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CHAPTER V continued

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DETAILED MEMORANDUM continued

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It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of the question of examinations in Secondary Schools, or the complexity of their present organisation. The influence of these examinations, especially of those which are external, appears to penetrate and pervade the whole life of the schools. At the same time the intricacy of the system under which they are conducted is simply bewildering. Many, probably most, of the individual examinations possess a most efficient organisation; but there is no unifying force at work, and the combined effect of the energies of many different and independent bodies has been to produce what one of our witnesses not unreasonably described as a state of chaos.

The influence of examinations is, of course, not confined to Secondary Schools. It spreads far beyond them, to the Universities, to the Professions, to the Government Service. It has an important bearing on many branches of national life. But with these wider problems we are not here directly concerned. If we allude to them at all it is only to point out that, though our inquiries have been confined to the subject of examinations in Secondary Schools, we have not lost sight of the broader aspects of examinations as a whole. We believe that the general principles which we have laid down in connection with our own part of the problem are capable of wider extension, and that the practical recommendations which we have made will be found compatible with progress in other parts of the field.

The actual question put to us by the Board of Education was as follows: "The Committee are desired to consider when and in what circumstances examinations are desirable in Secondary Schools (a) for boys and (b) for girls. The Committee are desired to consider this question under the following heads:

(i) Examinations at entrance to school.
(ii) Examinations during school life.
(iii) Examinations at leaving school."

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schools falling within the category of Secondary Schools as defined by Articles 1 and 2 of the Board's Regulations for Secondary Schools. In other words, the schools whose examinations we were asked to consider are schools which "offer to each of their pupils a progressive course of general education ... of a kind and amount suitable for pupils of an age-range at least as wide as from 12 to 17", and in which "(i) an adequate proportion of the pupils remain at least four years in the school, and (ii) an adequate proportion of the pupils remain in the school up to and beyond the age of 16." We have, of course, confined our report within the limits laid down by the Board, and in accordance with the implication of the above Articles we have used the term Secondary School as applicable only to such schools as may be said generally to comply with the conditions named in those Articles. But we have been conscious throughout our inquiry of a difficulty in this connection. Of the Secondary Schools which fall within the category as defined above, many are on the Board's list of efficient schools, while a number are not. This latter class includes schools such as most of the big Public Schools which differ in several important particulars from the majority of those on the Board's list. The mere fact that their pupils remain at school till a later age, and that a much larger proportion of them are preparing for the Universities, would make it necessary to consider carefully to what extent a scheme of examinations suitable to the majority of Secondary Schools would need adaptation before it could be applied successfully to this smaller and more advanced class. We wish to make it plain here that we have not entered in any detail into this question in our present report. We have had principally in mind the schools on the Board's list of efficient Secondary Schools, and have endeavoured to lay down the general principles on which we believe that examinations in such schools should be organised. We believe that these general principles are capable of such extension and modification as would make them perfectly applicable to Secondary Schools of a more advanced type. But we have refrained from reporting upon this part of the subject in any detail.

There is a second restriction which we have put upon ourselves. We have not dealt in any great detail with the question of examinations for scholarships. We believe that there is in many quarters a growing feeling that financial assistance towards continued education must not be given on the results of a single examination, while some go further and have proposed that such assistance should only be given to those whose scholastic record justified it, and who had financial need of it. We are not prepared, however, to go into this question in detail, having thought it better to address ourselves mainly to the question of examinations as they affect the large majority of normal pupils in Secondary Schools. We consider that in

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any case this priority of treatment is justified by the claims of so numerous a class of pupils, and further, that if we are able to make suggestions which will meet their case we shall at the same time have laid foundations on which a more efficient scholarship system can be based.

We would add here that in our consideration of the Board's reference, we have given our main attention to the subject as it affects Secondary Schools in England. As regards Wales, we think it is sufficient to say that we consider that the general principles we have laid down in our report apply equally, mutatis mutandis [with the necessary changes], to examinations in Welsh Secondary Schools, and that in any reform of examinations in Secondary Schools care should be taken to bring the systems of the two countries into harmonious adjustment.

Having now made plain the limits within which we propose to confine our report, we may sketch very briefly the line of argument which we have followed. It might have appeared at first sight that the most reasonable course would have been to follow the chronological headings suggested to us by the terms of the Board's reference. But for reasons which we trust will commend themselves to the Board, we decided that our report, while supplying the Board with the information for which they asked, would be more coherent and more logical if arranged in a somewhat different order. The crux of the whole problem is the external examination. This is the examination which, whether taken during school life or on leaving school, is the point in the pupil's school career which cannot fail to influence to a large extent his previous school training. Examinations at entrance to school, and internal examinations during school life, must both be regarded as preliminary steps on a road which leads to the external examinations as a terminus. We felt, therefore, that if we were to make any useful suggestions to the Board as to what examinations were desirable in Secondary Schools, we must begin with those examinations which, to a great extent, fixed the conditions of the others.

So vital, in fact, is the question of these external examinations that we have devoted the greater part of our Report to its consideration. The further questions of examinations at entrance and during school life, important as they are in themselves, are of such comparatively minor urgency that we have felt justified in dealing with them in less detailed manner.

The main chapters in our report, therefore, deal with the question of external examinations. We have begun by showing in Chapter I how these examinations originated, and how they have grown and developed during the last 60 or 70 years. Chapter II contains a summary account of the principal points of the system of external examinations as it exists today, a more detailed account of the examinations themselves being given in a Memorandum at the end of the report. Chapter III

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contains our criticisms of the existing state of things. In Chapter IV we lay down the general principles which, in our opinion, must underlie any sound system of external examinations, and in Chapter V we make suggestions as to the manner in which these principles may be put into practice.

Having thus dealt with the subject of external examinations, we proceed to consider in two subsequent Notes the question of purely internal school examinations, and the question of examinations at entrance to school.

We may add here that our report refers equally to boys and girls, except where the contrary is stated. In the ground which we have covered it has not appeared necessary to devote any special section to distinguishing between their various needs. The general principles which we have recommended apply equally to both. It will be for the examining authority of the future, when addressing themselves to a consideration of the range and standard of the approved examinations, to decide in what way our general recommendations can best be adapted to the varying powers and circumstances of boys and girls respectively.

Having now explained the limits and the structure of our report, there are one or two general remarks which we should like to add by way of preface.

Without wishing to anticipate our conclusions, we may mention here that we have found it necessary to make many criticisms on the existing system, or lack of system, of external examinations in Secondary Schools. To avoid any misapprehension, therefore, which might be caused by these criticisms, there are two points upon which we should like to lay special emphasis in these introductory remarks. The first is that though we have criticised many of the existing examination arrangements, we must not be taken as implying any antagonism to external examinations as such. On the contrary, we consider that under proper conditions, they are a necessary and a valuable part of the educational machinery of a good school system. The second point is that though our criticisms of the external examinations most commonly used as school examinations are no doubt in a sense criticisms of the examining bodies who conduct them, we wish to record at an early stage in our report our firm conviction that an immense debt of gratitude is owing to these bodies for the services they have rendered to national education. We hold that the time has now come when further progress is only possible on the lines of more intimate co-operation with other bodies concerned with secondary education; but the fact remains that during all these years when the State has been unwilling or unable to do anything, these various bodies saw what was needed in the schools and set themselves to supply it. We have no doubt whatever that they should have much of the credit for the improvements in Secondary Schools during the

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last 50 years, and that if the time is now ripe, as we believe it is, for further developments on new lines, it is largely due to their spontaneous and persevering assistance.

In conclusion, we wish to take this opportunity of recording our obligation to the witnesses who supplied us with the valuable evidence which we are enabled to add to our Report, and also to all those other persons who were good enough to furnish us with statistics and historical memoranda. Their assistance has enabled us to make certain parts of our Report, notably Chapter I, much more complete and accurate than would otherwise have been the case.

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The examination system in this country at the present time is so closely interwoven, not only with the education, but with the very life of multitudes of boys and girls, and indeed with our very system of government, that it is not easy to realise how modern is the wide extension of the system as we know it. Fifty or sixty years ago competitive examinations had but a very limited place even at the Universities, and were still less frequent in Secondary Schools. Candidates for Woolwich and Sandhurst were admitted on the nomination of the Master General of the Ordnance and of the Governor respectively, nominated candidates having subsequently to pass a qualifying examination before the professors of the two institutions. Candidates for direct Commissions in the army had to pass no examination at all prior to 1849. Positions in the Indian Civil Service were obtained by nomination from the East India Company, and in the Home Civil Service largely by the patronage of the chiefs of the various departments, subject in some cases to a departmental examination, which, however, was not sufficiently stringent to form an adequate intellectual test. Traces of examination as a test for admission to a career are to be discovered here and there even in early times, but were certainly far from common. Even at Oxford and Cambridge the examination reforms made during the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, though the cause of great improvements in academic life, had left the deficiencies which were revealed by the Commissions of 1850.* Neither University imposed any matriculation examination, and even College entrance examinations, which now act in some sort as a substitute for a University entrance examination, were capricious and unusual. Scholarships at the Public Schools, with the great exceptions

*It has been stated that the first written examinations known in Europe were introduced by R. Bentley in 1702 at Trinity College, Cambridge. It seems doubtful, however, whether further research would not reveal the existence of earlier written examinations. The mediæval disputations gave place to written examinations in the Mathematical Tripos in 1730 when the examination system as applied to degrees first gave a serious motive power to education at Cambridge. No serious reform of Oxford degree examinations took place till 1802.

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of Westminster and subsequently Eton, and Fellowships and Scholarships at the Universities, with certain great exceptions, notably in the cases of Oriel and Balliol, were confined as a rule to strictly limited categories of candidates. In the Public and other Secondary Schools, with certain notable exceptions, e.g., Rugby, such external examinations as existed at all consisted as a rule in examinations by University men chosen by the head master.*

This condition of things was disturbed in the middle of the nineteenth century by the introduction and very rapid growth of a new system, for which public opinion had been gradually prepared by the writings of Jeremy Bentham and his disciples, by the success of the teachers' examinations, introduced by the Committee of Council on Education in 1846, and by the widespread belief in the efficacy of the principle of competition both in trade and in other departments of national life. But the rapidity of the administrative change, when it actually began, appears to have been mainly due to three distinct and more or less independent factors.

The first was the introduction of some degree of open competition as a condition of appointment in the Indian and Home Civil Service. The second was the change which followed from the investigations and reports of the Royal Commissions on Oxford and Cambridge. The third, which was largely the result of private enterprise, was the inauguration of various examinations for boys and girls in Secondary Schools by quasi-public bodies. It will throw considerable light on the problem which we are now investigating if we trace shortly the beginning, development, and results of these three movements.

The first competitive examination for the Indian Civil Service was conducted by the Commissioners of the Affairs of India in 1855 in accordance with the provisions of the India Act, 1853, carried largely by the influence of Lord Macaulay. A few years later the conduct of the examination was transferred to the Civil Service Commission, which had been established in 1855. Examinations for the Home Civil Service, which were inaugurated about the same time, were at first confined mainly to candidates who received nominations for appointments in the public service, and it was not until 1870 that with a few exceptions the whole Civil Service was thrown open to free competition. It should be added that a possible danger inherent in the new system was guarded against by requiring successful candidates to pass through a period of probation.

The important point to note about these examinations is that they were not mainly introduced for educational reasons,

*A few instances of somewhat more formal external examinations are quoted in Appendix F. from Carlisle's "Endowed Grammar Schools". Doubtless other instances could also be found.

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but to secure greater administrative efficiency.* Their chief object was to provide a remedy for the system of patronage and jobbery under which nearly all the posts in the service of the State had previously been allotted. But in practice the influence which these examinations had upon the schools was considerable, and naturally grew as the number of appointments increased and the competition for them became more general and more keen. That this influence was sometimes prejudicial to the schools seems clear. Indeed, this has been admitted on several occasions by the Civil Service Commissioners themselves. Even after the introduction of the complete system of open competition for the Home Civil Service, the examination for clerks of the Second Division and lower grades of the Service followed generally the methods which were used in the earlier days when appointments were made partly by nomination, and were organised with special reference to the official duties which the candidates would be called upon to perform. The Commissioners found that the working of such schemes of examination had a twofold effect. In the first place, the result of examining candidates in subjects which required a somewhat restricted range of intelligence was to oblige them "to devote much time to putting a high degree of polish upon a rather low though useful order of accomplishment".† Further, "since the subjects of examination were not identical with those which were being studied in the schools, the educational effect of the examinations was to cause pupils to be removed from their schools, often before the normal time, and to divert their mental training into the hands of those who are familiarly called 'crammers'."‡ The matter was brought to a head in 1896 by a memorandum forwarded to the Commissioners by the Incorporated Association of Headmasters, who pointed out that some of the examination schemes had hardly been modified during the previous twenty years, and that their powerful influence on schools could not be disregarded, "especially as they affected at

*"It was the conditions common to all the public establishments that called for revision, and the foundations for reform were laid in a report by Northcote and Sir Charles Trevelyan (November 1853), prepared for Mr. Gladstone at his request, recommending two propositions, so familiarised to us today as to seem like primordial elements of the British Constitution. One was, that access to the public service should be through the door of a competitive examination: the other, that for conducting these examinations a central board should be constituted. The effect of such a change has been enormous not only on the efficiency of the Service, but on the education of the country, and by a thousand indirect influences, raising and strengthening the social feeling for the immortal maxim that the career should be open to the talents. The lazy doctrine that men are much of a muchness gave way to a higher respect for merit and to more effectual standards of competency." (Morley's Life of Gladstone, vol, i., p.510.)

†Thirty-third Report of Her Majesty's Civil Service Commissioners (i.e., Report for 1888).

‡Forty-fifth Report of Civil Service Commissioners (i.e., Report for 1900).

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least ten times as many pupils as entered for the competition". As a result of the deputation, the Commissioners, who were in sympathy with the headmasters' views, obtained the necessary sanction for a scheme of examination on more liberal lines. Tests for practical efficiency in the mechanical work required by the various departments were retained. But the Commissioners considered that the admission of the more liberal subjects of education into the examination syllabuses would "open the competition to those who had received their education in the Secondary Schools of the country". It can hardly be doubted that the Commissioners achieved their objects to some extent, and that the new scheme harmonised more closely with the curricula of the Secondary Schools. There are no statistics, however, to show to what extent candidates have been enabled to stay longer at their Secondary Schools, and even if, as may be hoped, an improvement has been made, it is unfortunately true that large numbers of candidates for the Second Division and lower grades of the Service interpose a period of "special preparation" between leaving school and taking their examination. This, however, is a point which will he considered in greater detail in the next chapter when we are dealing with the general system of examinations in Secondary Schools as it exists at the present moment. But it may be well to add here, as showing the extraordinary development of the Civil Service examinations since their foundation some sixty years ago, that the number of cases dealt with in 1856 was 2,729, and in 1908 was 37,150, of which nearly 17,000 were those of candidates of Secondary School age.

The second main factor referred to above is the reform of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The Royal Commissions which dealt with this subject were appointed in 1850. Their Reports were issued independently in 1852, and effect was given to their recommendations by means of Acts of Parliament in 1854 and 1856, dealing with Oxford and Cambridge respectively. One of the chief results of the University Commissions was the removal of restrictions in electing Scholars and Fellows. This provided a strong stimulus to the better boys in the schools, and tended to raise the standard of scholarship amongst them. It must be added that the opening up of the field of competition, while it led to the removal of many evils, introduced certain disadvantages of which the effect has now become serious.

The third main factor which gave a stimulus to examinations in Secondary Schools in the middle of the last century was the establishment of such bodies as the College of Preceptors, and the Oxford Delegacy and the Cambridge Syndicate for Local Examinations. The first of these bodies was the College of Preceptors, founded in 1846, "for the purpose of promoting sound learning, and of advancing the interest of education". It established examinations, both for teachers, to ascertain their fitness to take pari in the work of instruction, and for pupils,

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"to test their progress, and to afford at once to the teacher and to the pupils a satisfactory criterion of the value of the instruction they receive". The College held its first examination for pupils in 1853, and secured the attendance of a few hundred candidates. Since that date the number of candidates has very largely increased.

But the early examinations of the College did not meet all the needs that were beginning to be felt in educational quarters. These needs were two. Reformers wanted to provide an improved education for the middle classes, and also some recognised standard by means of which such education could be evaluated by the parents of the pupils for whom it was intended. The following quotation sums up the situation as it presented itself to a contemporary:

"There is a vast mass of education of which there is no effective test. ... Hitherto the tests by which the capacity of teachers and the information imparted to the pupils are estimated, have been of the most meagre and unsatisfactory kind. The power of parents to determine the most important conceivable thing - the best means and the best places for the instruction of their children - was either absolutely wanting or totally empirical. Hence there is nothing in which incompetence has been more loud and pretentious than in scholastic business. The most successful schoolmaster was often, and is often, far from being the most capable person, but the most unblushing and impudent charlatan. The road to profit lay in puffs and advertisements.

Now the chief use of advertisements is the instruction of the purchaser in the place where he can secure, at prices which he can comprehend, goods which he can estimate the value of. But an advertisement is a delusion or a guess, when it puts forward the sale of that which persons are quite unable to appreciate. And education - that is, the special powers of individuals to educate - is one of those things about which parents are very apt to be misinformed and mistaken. It is true, indeed, that they can ordinarily estimate the common routine of proficiency in commercial requisites - that is to say, the knowledge of reading, spelling, writing, and rudimentary arithmetic; but the method of teaching, the way in which what is known has been imparted, and the extent to which this has systematically been put into the minds of young persons, they take on faith, and are perpetually deceived in. It was tolerably well understood, indeed, that the ordinary teaching of schools was unsatisfactory, and that an inquiry into it would reveal some significant and serious facts. The real want of information about it was most of all felt by the schoolmasters themselves, whose interest it was to have their goods tested by capable and critical judges,

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that they might have some appeal in the midst of the clumsy competition of persons very unequally competent, for the custom of persons singularly incapable to form all accurate judgment about the worth of the commodity. It was of the last importance to such persons that they should be supplied with this desideratum - a test, that is to say, of the value of their method and their teaching, and this by some unmistakeable authority."*

"It is evident that, in the absence of some public test, the parents, a body of men habitually engaged in manufacturing, buying, and selling, are not, as a class, good judges of the merit or demerit of the education they pay for, till (too late) they judge by the result in after life: they require professional help."†

*J. E. Thorold Rogers: "Education in Oxford, its Method, its Aids, and its Rewards". London: Smith. Elder & Co., 1861, pp. 84-5.

†T. D. Acland: "Some Account of the Origin and Objects of the New Oxford Examinations for the Title of Associate in Arts and for Certificates". 1858.

‡The idea had also occurred to Lord Ebrington, Mr. Harry Chester, the Rev. J. L. Brereton, the Society of Arts, the Department of Practical Art, and, as already noted, the College of Preceptors. It is worth noting that the administrative working of a scheme of local examinations had been facilitated, if not indeed rendered possible, by the cheapening of the rates of postage in 1840.

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Council appear to have been influenced partly by the feeling that State interference in Secondary Schools would at that time be resented. When the experimental examination was successfully over, the promoters made no formal application to the Government for assistance in making the scheme permanent, but turned at once to Oxford and Cambridge. They may have felt, no doubt, that even the success of their movement would not alter the opinion of the Committee of Council as to the "extension of official agency". But it would appear also that "further consideration had shown the great inconveniences which might result" from State action, and that the alternative plan of invoking the aid of the Universities appeared to have considerable advantages.

The following extract shows the grounds on which the appeal was made:

"Concurrently with the spread of new intellectual and social influences the world has been gradually finding out one deficiency which not only prevails in the ranks of practical men, but even affects some grades of the professions - I refer to the want of a good general education as a preparation for scientific and commercial pursuits. ... The world now knocks at the door of the schools and of the Senate-house, and asks for help to guide its children in general education. ... If parents in various classes of society are willing to accept the judgment of the Universities on general education, it is no small matter to have it put into our hands to decide what is and what is not a good general education for young men preparing for business. ... What they want at the hands of the Universities is some help towards the liberal training of their faculties, moral and social, as well as intellectual."*

This appeal was successful, largely owing to the great influence exercised at Oxford by Temple, who had taken the

*T. D. Acland: "Some Account of the Origin and Objects of the New Oxford Examinations for the Title of Associate in Arts and for Certificates". 1858.

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greatest interest in the education experiment, and who lent all his weight and experience to the endeavour to turn the experiment into a permanent and more comprehensive institution. The University of Oxford passed a Statute establishing two examinations for those who were not members of the University, one for youths under 18, another for boys under 15.* A Delegacy was also established to carry out the Statute, and the first examinations were held in June 1858. On receipt of applications from local committees, the examinations were held at different centres (not schools) at the same time, the local arrangements being made by the various committees. They were open to candidates of every social rank, and every religious denomination. The candidates had to satisfy the examiners that they had mastered the elements of a plain English education, after which they were allowed a wide latitude in the selection of subjects. We are informed that the Delegates have continued to act on the same principles as those which were formulated at the outset, with such modifications as have been suggested by experience. The most important of these modifications have been the admission of girls to the examinations in 1870, the raising of the maximum age for honours by one year (i.e., to 19 for Senior candidates and 16† for Juniors), the removal of all limitations of age for a Pass Certificate in either examination, the institution in 1877 of a special "School" examination (which may be combined with a Local Examination), and the establishment in 1895 of a lower examination, called the Preliminary, in which honours are confined to candidates under 14 years of age. The Delegates also conduct a superior grade of examination, called the Higher Local Examination, which, however, is taken by very few candidates (328 in 1910). This examination was held for the first time under that name in the year 1894, but it was merely an older examination for women, first started in 1877, under a new title. Lastly the Delegates established in 1903 a system of School Certificates and Army Leaving Certificates for pupils in approved Schools.‡ The extent to which the Local Examinations have found a place in the schools may be judged from the fact that in the year 1908, 21,644 candidates attended the examinations conducted by the Oxford Delegacy.

Cambridge quickly followed Oxford's example, the Junior and Senior Locals being started in December 1858, only six months after the first Local Examinations organised by Oxford. Cambridge, however, led the way in admitting girls to the examinations in 1865. The idea of obtaining the admission of girls to the Local Examinations originated with Miss Emily

*The Statute also provided for the title of Associate in Arts being given to successful candidates of both ages.

†This is to be raised to 17 in 1912.

‡A fuller description or all these examinations is given on page 160. The Army Certificates are now being abandoned See page 22.

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Davies, who formed a Committee in London in 1862-3 which applied to the Cambridge University Syndicate for leave to print additional copies of the Local Examination papers, and to make a private arrangement with the examiners to look over the answers. Leave was given in October 1863, and the experiment was followed by a memorial asking for the formal admission of girls to the examinations. This was granted in the year 1865 by the Senate by the narrow majority of 56 to 51. It was, however, decreed that the girls should appear in the lists under index numbers only, a restriction that continued in force until 1875. There can be no doubt that the introduction into the girls' schools of the intellectual tests that had been devised for boys had far-reaching effects on the future of education for women and girls.

As regards the Cambridge Syndicate's other examinations, the Higher Local was established in 1869, and the Preliminary Local in 1895. In 1905 the Syndicate began to award Senior and Junior School Certificates and Army Leaving Certificates to pupils in approved schools. The examination papers for these certificates are, for the most part, the same as those set in the Senior and Junior Local Examinations; but the requirements are more onerous in respect of the subjects exacted, and pupils are eligible for the certificates only on certain conditions of continuous attendance at approved schools. The number of candidates who took the Cambridge Local Examinations in 1908 was 21,698.*

It has already been mentioned that the Local Examinations of Oxford and Cambridge were started originally to meet the needs of what were then called Middle Class Schools. Later on, the needs of secondary education in a wider sense demanded attention, and the establishment of a statutory Council of Examinations for Secondary Schools was recommended by the Schools Enquiry Commission in 1868, a recommendation which led to the inclusion of provisions for the compulsory examination of all endowed schools in the original form of the Endowed Schools Bill of 1869. These provisions never attained the force of law; but the movement of opinion of which they were one outcome had two important effects on the history of examinations. In the first place, the Endowed Schools Commissioners insisted on provisions for annual examinations by external authority being included in their schemes; and, secondly, the proposal made in the Endowed Schools Bill of 1869 for the establishment of a central examination council contributed to the establishment of the Headmasters' Conference in 1870, and to the early consideration by the Conference of the way in which the necessary examinations for Public Schools could best be provided. The Conference decided at first in

*A fuller description of these examinations is given on p. 173. The Army Certificates are now being abandoned. See page 22.

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favour of a system of leaving examinations conducted by Government; but subsequently changed their minds, and decided to invite the co-operation of Oxford and Cambridge instead. As a result the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, commonly known as the Joint Board, was established in 1873. It is to be noticed that the two Universities, which continued to work independently as regards their Local Examinations for "Middle Class Schools", combined to act as a joint examining body in relation to the schools which sent large numbers of pupils to both Universities.

The first examination of the Joint Board was the Higher Certificate examination, started in 1874 as a Sixth Form examination for boys of 18 years of age and over. In 1879 girls were admitted to this examination. In 1884 the Lower Certificate examination was started for boys leaving school at 16. Last of all, in 1905, the School Certificate Examination was established for pupils of 17. This last examination has only been taken by boys (at least in a form which would secure a certificate), and is only open (for certificate purposes) to pupils who have attended for three years at an approved school. These three examinations are not "Local" examinations - that is to say, they are not held at local centres, but at schools. They are all of them examinations on which certificates are, or can be, granted, but they are also used as general school examinations; that is to say, the papers set for certificate candidates may also be used by a whole form in which there may or may not be pupils competing for certificates. The number of candidates for certificates has increased largely since this scheme was started, the total number in 1909 being about 4,000.*

The examinations of the three University bodies dealt with above were deliberately established for the use of pupils in Secondary Schools. But side by side with them there grew up another examination whose connection with the schools was at first rather fortuitous than deliberate, but which has gradually taken a recognised place in Secondary Schools. The London Matriculation examination was in its origin simply an examination for entrance into London University and had no relation to any individual schools or to their courses of study. It gradually came to be used as a Leaving Examination in Secondary Schools by many pupils who were not likely to proceed to a University course.† This somewhat casual use of a University examination as a school examination continued till a few years ago; or rather it continues to this day, though the university have now organised an alternative form of it specially adapted for school use. In 1900 the London University was reconstituted, and

*A fuller description of the examinations of the Joint Board is given on p.185.

†For statistics in this connection, see page 390.

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in 1902 au Extension Board was formed and entrusted with definite powers for the examination and inspection of Secondary Schools. The Board determined to offer the schools something on rather different lines from the existing Local Examinations, and they based their scheme on an intimate connection between examination and inspection. The first examination which they established was the "School Leaving Certificate (Matriculation Standard)", which resembled the ordinary Matriculation examination as regards subjects and standard, but which was based on closer co-operation between the schools and the University as regards the schedule of work on which the examination papers were set, and which was open only to pupils in schools inspected by the University or some body approved by them; further, even in such schools, no candidate was, as a rule, eligible for a certificate who had not been under continuous instruction for at least two years in approved schools. After eight years' experience of this examination, during which time, as the figures show, it appears to have come into use very slowly, it was replaced in 1910 by another examination known as the "Senior School Examination". In this examination, the standard in each subject remains the same as before, viz., the Matriculation standard. The effect of the change which has been made in the regulations is to give greater elasticity to the system by making it possible for a pupil to obtain a Senior School Certificate by a combination of subjects not necessarily that required by the University for the purpose of Matriculation, whereas no certificate could be obtained in the School Examination (Matriculation Standard) unless the candidate passed in the subjects required for Matriculation. Candidates who pass at one and the same examination in the combination of subjects required for Matriculation are, as hitherto, registered without further fee as Matriculated Students of the University and are awarded Matriculation Certificates, In 1903 the Junior School Examination was started. It was designed to be an examination which any well-educated pupil of 15 years of age ought to be able to pass. It was not meant for a School Leaving Examination,* though it was so used by boys who left school at 15. Two years later still, another examination, the Higher School Leaving Certificate,* was established for pupils who had passed the Matriculation Standard Examination, but were remaining on at school till 18. Some 1,500 candidates entered for these three examinations in 1908-9, and in addition nearly 6,700 took the Matriculation Examination in its ordinary form.†

Turning now to the other Universities, we find that in 1900 the Victoria University (which then included the Owens

*In 1910 the use of the term "School-Leaving" was discontinued in connection with the School examinations and certificates of London University, as experience showed that it was liable to be misunderstood.

†A fuller description of these London University Examinations is given on page 194.

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College, Manchester, University College, Liverpool, and the Yorkshire College, Leeds) began to use its Matriculation examination as a school examination, following the precedent of the University of London. At the establishment of the separate Universities of Manchester (1903) and Liverpool (1903), followed by those of Leeds (1904) and Sheffield (1905), the Universities in question were required by their Charters to co-operate by means of a Joint Board for the regulation and conduct of Matriculation examinations, including the conditions of exemption therefrom. The Joint Matriculation Board thus formed by representatives of the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds (and since enlarged by a representative of the University of Sheffield) continued the previous use of the Matriculation examination as a School examination. The membership of the Board consists of representatives appointed by each of the four Universities and four persons of educational experience (teachers of Secondary Schools) co-opted by the Board. In 1909 the Board resolved to separate its School examination from the Matriculation examination, and placed in the hands of a separate officer the supervision of the inspection and examination of schools together with the administration of a scheme for School Certificates. There are to be two ordinary certificates, the School Certificate and the Senior School Certificate. The latter is to be awarded mainly on Matriculation papers, but alternative papers may be substituted for them, and it is not necessary to take the Matriculation subjects to get a certificate. It is hoped that the Local Education Authorities will come into direct association with the scheme in some way or another. The interests of the Secondary Schools are safeguarded by the presence of a strong force of teachers on the Joint Board.

The Joint Board have also established this year (1911) a Housecraft Certificate for pupils in the Housewifery Forms of girls' schools. The examination is suitable for candidates of not less than 16 years of age who have received instruction in Domestic Subjects as well as in ordinary Secondary School subjects up to the standard of the School Certificate Examination.*

We may add that Durham conducted some Local Examinations for a few years, but has now abandoned them. Birmingham started a system of Local Examinations in 1905, but the number of candidates who have used them has always been very small. But it should be added that both Birmingham and Durham make arrangements for the examination and inspection of schools.

It will be seen then that the system of Local Examinations started at Oxford in 1858 has led to considerable developments

*A fuller description of the Examinations of the Northern Universities Joint Board is given on page 209.

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of a similar nature in other Universities. It was also followed gradually by the foundation of numerous societies which were established for the promotion of study in individual subjects and which provided special examinations of their own. Thus, the Tonic Sol-Fa College started its examinations in 1859, the Trinity College of Music in 1877, the Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in 1890, the Incorporated Society of Musicians and the Royal Drawing Society in 1884. The enormous clientèle which these various societies have secured may be seen from a perusal of the figures given in Appendix C. It will be seen that the Associated Board in 1908 examined 17,358 candidates, the Tonic Sol-Fa College 10,075 candidates, and the Trinity College 25,343 candidates, the Incorporated Society of Musicians 5,901, and the Royal Drawing Society 44,275.* We have no information as to how many of these candidates are Secondary School pupils. Many, no doubt, are Evening School pupils and private students. But it also appears that the examinations are extensively used in Secondary Schools.

While we are dealing with the subject of examinations in special subjects, it may be well to allude briefly to the examinations of the Society of Arts and of the Department of Science and Art. The Society of Arts decided upon a system of local provincial examinations in 1853. In the first instance, the subjects of examination were fairly general, and included English subjects, foreign languages, drawing, mathematics, and science subjects. In order, however, to prevent overlapping with the examinations of the Science and Art Department, which was established in 1863 and made enormous progress during the next 25 years, the Society eventually abandoned its examinations in Science and Art to the Department, and also transferred in 1879 its technological examinations to the newly-formed City and Guilds of London Institute. At the present time the Society's examinations are confined to commercial subjects, foreign languages, and music. It is not probable that they are used to any great extent by pupils in Secondary Schools. The bulk of the candidates are young people who are studying in evening classes.

As to the examinations started by the Science and Art Department, they are continued under the Board of Education's Regulations for Technical Schools. They are not now intended for pupils in Secondary Schools, and need not therefore be further considered here.

It will be convenient to add here a reference to the examinations of the London Chamber of Commerce. This body appointed a Commercial Education Committee in 1887, which

*Further particulars as to the examinations of these bodies are given on page 286.

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prepared a Scheme for Commercial Education. The scheme was modified shortly afterwards, after consultation with the Oxford and Cambridge Schools' Examination Board, and has since undergone further amendments. At the present moment the Committee conduct three grades of examination, namely, the Junior Examinations, the Senior Examinations, and the Teachers' Examinations. The Junior Examinations are "suited to pupils in Higher Elementary and Secondary Day Schools, during the last year or two years or their school life, or to young persons employed during the day-time attending evening classes at which instruction in commercial subjects is given." The Senior Examination is "suited to youths over 15 years of age who can devote all their time up to the ages of 18 or 19 to study, and to others employed during the day-time who can only attend at technical colleges or evening classes, at which instruction in advanced commercial subjects is given." The Teachers' Examination is based on the Senior Examination, and is intended for persons who wish to qualify as teachers in commercial subjects, and is presumably taken only by candidates who are no longer in Secondary Schools. In both the Junior and Senior Examinations any of the subjects of the examination may be taken singly, and certificates are given for such subjects. Candidates who pass in certain obligatory subjects, and also a certain number of optional subjects, are granted a full "Junior Commercial Education Certificate" or a "Higher Commercial Education Certificate", as the case may be. The subjects are not exclusively commercial, as they include, in addition to purely mercantile subjects, English, modern foreign Languages, Mathematics, and Science. We have no statistical information as to the kind of schools presenting candidates for these examinations. While, however, we understand that the bulk of the candidates come from schools of other types, it is clear that quite a fair number enter from Secondary Schools.

We may conclude our notice of the origin and growth of the various examinations commonly found in Secondary Schools by a brief review of the examinations that now form the preliminary step in many professional careers. It must be understood that no reference is made here to examinations which are taken by candidates who have passed school age. We are only dealing here with examinations which affect, or may affect, pupils in Secondary Schools.

The conditions now in force for candidates for a medical career depend upon the regulations of the several qualifying bodies. But the recommendations of the General Medical Council have been generally followed as regards the acceptance of particular examinations for this purpose. The Council was instituted in 1858, and on August 11th, 1859, adopted the report of a committee "that it is desirable that all students shall pass an examination in general education before they commence their professional studies." The

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Council further recommended that a register of students who had passed such an examination and begun professional study should be formed, and that all students should be registered after October 1st, 1861. The Council drew up a list of examinations which seemed to it worthy of recognition for the purpose. It had no statutory power to require the qualifying bodies to accept this list, and had no power to compel students to place their names on a register. Nevertheless, the convenience of a general agreement on the subject of preliminary examinations led to the acceptance of the list by the qualifying bodies. Many of them require students to place their names on the Students' Register, and others strongly encourage them to do so. The list of examinations recognised by the Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the chief qualifying bodies in England, with a few very slight differences is identical with that drawn up by the General Medical Council, while the University examinations with similar slight differences are upon that list.

The Institute of Chemistry drew up in 1877 a list of examinations success in which would qualify candidates for registration by the Institute. The Institute conducts no admission examinations of its own.

The Pharmaceutical Society used to conduct a Preliminary Examination of its own, and also recognised those of other bodies. In 1900 the Society ceased conducting its own Preliminary Examinations, and now uses those of other bodies entirely.

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons established in 1888 a system by which it was agreed that the College should conduct no qualifying examinations of its own, but should accept a list of such examinations similar to that drawn up by the General Medical Council.

As regards the legal profession, there was no regular system of examinations as a necessary condition of a call to the bar before 1872. At the present time students are admitted to any of the four Inns of Court subject to the "Consolidated Regulations of the several Societies of Lincoln's Inn, the Middle Temple, the Inner Temple, and Gray's Inn." Prior to October, 1910, candidates were admitted who had passed a public examination at a University, or for a commission in the Army or Navy, or for the Indian Civil Service, or for the Consular Service, or for Cadetships in the three Eastern Colonies of Ceylon, Hong Kong, and the Straits Settlements. All other candidates had to pass an examination in English, Latin, and English History, conducted by a Joint Board appointed by the four Inns of Court. This latter Examination has now been given up and the Inns of Court conduct no preliminary examination of their own. At the same time the number of qualifying examinations has been considerably enlarged, the schedule

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of accepted alternative examinations drawn up by the Council of Legal Education including amongst others the Matriculation or Preliminary Examinations of all Universities in the United Kingdom, as well as various examinations of the type and standard of the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations. Candidates are not required to have passed in any special subjects.

Candidates who wish to enter into Articles of Clerkship to Solicitors are required to pass a preliminary examination under regulations laid down by the Law Society. This Society, which was founded in 1825, began to conduct its own entrance examinations in 1862, under the Solicitors' Act of 1860. At the same date it made arrangements to accept examinations conducted by other bodies. These arrangements continue to the present day.

The Institution of Civil Engineers began in 1889 by recognising the examinations of other bodies, but in 1897 added an alternative examination of their own. The Surveyors' Institution, from 1881 onwards, has conducted its own Preliminary Examinations, and also recognised those of other bodies, The Royal Institute of British Architects started the dual system in 1889. Amongst commercial bodies, the Institute of Chartered Accountants established the dual system in 1882, the Incorporated Society of Accountants and Auditors did the same in 1886, and the Auctioneers followed suit in 1891. The Institute of Actuaries used to recognise no qualifying examinations but its own; but in 1908 it gave them up, and now accepts only the examinations of certain recognised educational bodies.

As regards the Army, candidates for Woolwich, as already noticed, used to be nominated by the Master General of Ordnance, and those for Sandhurst by the Governor of the College, the nominees being required to pass a qualifying examination conducted by the professors of the two institutions. Candidates for direct commissions had to pass no examination at all before 1840, when an examination by the professors at Sandhurst was established, mostly viva voce. The Crimean War brought about a shortage of officers, and various expedients, including nomination by headmasters, were tried in 1855, and the existing qualifying examinations were considerably relaxed in standard. In June, 1857, a Council of Military Education was appointed, its general functions being to discuss the principles on which military education, both before and after the receipt of a commission, should be conducted. Consequent on the deliberations of this Council various changes were introduced. It was decided that admission to Sandhurst and Woolwich should depend upon the results of open competitive examinations, conducted half-yearly by the Council of Military Education, while admission to the Army by direct commissions was to be by means of a qualifying examination, also held in London by the Council. In 1868 a Royal Commission was

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appointed to inquire into the "present state of military education", and, as a result of the Commission, the Council of Military Education was abolished, and a Director-General of Military Education, responsible to the Secretary of State for War was appointed to take over its duties. In 1870 the conduct of the examinations for entrance to Sandhurst and Woolwich was transferred to the Civil Service Commissioners, and also those for the Militia and for other candidates for direct commissions. Two examinations were established, a Preliminary and a Further, the object of the Preliminary or qualifying examination being to eliminate candidates who had no reasonable chance of succeeding in the Further or competitive examination. In 1893 the Preliminary Examination was abolished, the Civil Service Commissioners representing that it had failed to fulfil its object. The next great inquiry into the education of Army candidates was undertaken by the Akers-Douglas Committee, which issued its report in 1902. As a result of this Report the entrance examination was again divided into two parts, one qualifying and one competitive. In order to pass the earlier examination candidates could either take the Army Qualifying Examination, held in London and Dublin by the Army Qualifying Board under the direction of the Army Council, or could take some public examination equivalent to it, or could obtain Army Leaving Certificates at their schools.

These certificates were accepted by the Army Council only if granted by certain recognised examining bodies,* and only in certain inspected and approved Secondary Schools, of which there are in England and Wales about 60. Further, candidates were only eligible for such certificates if they had attended one or more such schools for three years' continuous teaching. Having obtained their qualifying certificates, candidates had then to enter for the competitive examination conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners.

This is the system in force at the present moment (1911); but a further change has recently been decided upon by the Army Council, and will come into force in April 1912. According to the new scheme, the last Army Qualifying Examination will be held in March 1912, and the last Leaving Certificate Examination, for Army purposes, in the Michaelmas Term, 1911. Subsequently there will be only one examination for the admission of officers to the Army, which will be known as the Army Entrance Examination. This examination will be conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners, and will combine the functions of the existing qualifying and competitive examinations. A candidate for admission to Woolwich or Sandhurst

*For England, the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, the University of London, the University of Birmingham, the Oxford Local Examination Delegacy, and the Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate. For Wales, the Central Welsh Board.

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by competition will have to qualify in the Army Entrance Examination by passing in certain obligatory subjects; the aggregate of the marks obtained in the obligatory and optional subjects combined will decide his place in the competitive list. Candidates for direct commissions, who are only required to pass a qualifying examination, will qualify in future by taking the obligatory subjects in the Army Entrance Examination. The new scheme, however, makes one interesting departure from previous practice which is of special interest in any account of the development of an examination system. The Army Council have decided to grant a certain number of Cadetships at Sandhurst each half year to candidates who will not be required to pass any entrance examination. Such Cadetships will be given to suitable candidates nominated by the headmasters of schools specially recognised for the purpose. Such schools must be regularly inspected by an approved body, and must maintain a contingent of the Officers' Training Corps. The candidate must, among other conditions, be recommended by his headmaster as thoroughly suitable, must have attended continuously for at least three years at one or more recognised schools, and must have been in residence at his school to the end of the school term immediately preceding his nomination. Cadets who enter Sandhurst by such nomination are subject to the same conditions, on passing out of the College, as Cadets who have entered by competition.

As regards the age for admission to the Army, there have been many changes during the period covered by the above paragraphs. In 1850, candidates for admission to Woolwich had to be between 14 and 16 years of age, and candidates for Sandhurst between 13 and 15. After many fluctuations, the ages in the new regulations have been settled us follows: For Woolwich, 16½-19½ years; for Sandhurst, 17-19½; for qualification only, 16½ years and upwards.

It may be added that the last two paragraphs refer exclusively to examinations for admission to the Army, which alone affect pupils in Secondary Schools. It may be interesting, however, to add, as another instance of the great extension of examinations during the decade 1850-1860, that examinations of officers for promotion were first introduced by the Duke of Wellington in 1850.

As regards the Navy, entrance examinations for naval officers were held at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, from about the year 1806. There was, however, no competition for Executive officers till the establishment of a system of admission to the training ship, H.M.S. "Britannia", by competition among nominated candidates in 1869. Engineer officers were entered by open competition from 1861 onwards, and Marine officers from the time of the adoption of open competition for the Army. Previous to the great changes introduced in 1903, the immediately preceding system of selection was as follows: Boys who

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wished to become Executive officers had to obtain a nomination when they were between 15½ and 16½ years of age (about three nominations being given for each vacancy), and were finally selected by competition. Engineer officers were selected by open competition at the age of 14½-16½. Marine officers were selected by open competition at the Army examinations for Woolwich (in the case of the Royal Marine Artillery) at the age of 16-18, or for Sandhurst (in the case of the Royal Marine Light Infantry) at the age of 17-19.

In 1903 all this was completely changed, and the arrangements which now exist were first introduced. Under this scheme all naval cadets are admitted at a very early age, namely when they are not less than 12 years and 8 months old, nor more than 13 years. Candidates appear first before a selection committee which interviews each candidate separately. Candidates recommended by the interviewing committee are then required to pass the Qualifying Literary Examination. The subsequent education of successful candidates is conducted in special schools under naval control. It will be seen that the entrance examinations for Naval Officers have comparatively little effect, in their present form, upon Secondary Schools except indirectly through the preparatory schools.

Entrance examinations for the lower ranks in the Navy are mostly of later origin. The earliest date at which any reference to entrance examinations for dockyard apprentices can be traced is the year 1853. Entrance examinations for Naval Shipwright Apprentices were established in 1898, and for Boy Artificers in 1903. Candidates for these examinations are considerably older than candidates for Naval Cadetships, and to that extent their entrance examinations have a more direct influence on Secondary Schools. Boy Artificers are admitted between the ages of 15 and 16 either (a) on the result of an open competitive examination conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners, or (b) on the recommendation of certain Naval Commanders-in-Chief on account of Service claims (such candidates, however, have to pass a qualifying examination), or (c) on the recommendation of certain educational authorities. Candidates who come under the last category are not required to pass any examination (provided they are physically fit), but they are expected to have educational attainments at least equal to those of boys who enter by open competition, and must have spent at least one year in a secondary school, or at least two years in a higher elementary school. Boys who wish to become Dockyard Apprentices or Boy Shipwrights enter their career by means of an open competitive examination, which they take when they are between 14 and 16 years of age. We understand that most of the candidates for this examination, which is severely competitive, take it after a course at technical schools or at private establishments which lay themselves out to prepare for this examination. It is

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doubtful, therefore, whether the examination has much concern with secondary school pupils.

In addition to the above examinations, there are, of course, a certain number of entrance examinations for administrative posts in the Admiralty and in the Navy. These are conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners, and so far as they affect the question of examinations in Secondary Schools are dealt with elsewhere.

As regards the teaching profession, no formal course of qualifying examinations is prescribed by authority, except in the case of teachers in Public Elementary Schools. The higher grades of such teachers are only recognised by the Board of Education on the strength of success in certain stated public examinations. The Board publishes lists of examinations, success in which entitles candidates to different grades of recognition, and it also conducts examinations of its own for a similar purpose. These examinations are three in number - the Preliminary Examination for the Certificate (originally called the Queen's Scholarship Examination), the Certificate Examination, and the examination of Students in Training Colleges. Of the latter two it is unnecessary to speak here, as they are confined to candidates who are above Secondary School age. As to the Preliminary Examination a detailed account of its origin and growth may be found in note 32 to Appendix C,* and need not be given here. But it should be mentioned that the connection between this examination and the Secondary Schools only dates from very recent times. Previous to 1900, pupil teachers were instructed either in Pupil Teacher Centres or by the head teachers of their Public Elementary Schools, and as the Scholarship Examination was little more than the final examination at the close of pupil teachership, it did not affect the Secondary Schools to any great extent. With the process of merging the Pupil Teachers Centre into the Secondary School, which was inaugurated by the Board of Education in 1903, the period of contact began, and the connection between the Preliminary Examination and the Secondary Schools became even closer after the Pupil Teacher Regulations of 1907. At the present moment, though a large number of Secondary School pupils who intend to become teachers in Elementary Schools prefer to take some alternative examination, the number who take the Preliminary Examination is considerable, amounting to rather over 4,000 in 1910, and the examination must be recognised therefore as one which has a considerable effect upon Secondary Schools.

We have now given very briefly an account of the various stages in the growth of the more numerically important external examinations which, apart from those for Scholarships, may be supposed to affect pupils in Secondary Schools. It will, of course, be understood that there are many examinations in

*See page 173.

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existence other than those to which we have referred. Such are the examinations conducted by the City and Guilds of London Institute, the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes, and the National Union of Teachers. But we have not referred to them here either because they are taken by older candidates, or because, though the candidates may be of Secondary School age, the examinations do not appear to be taken to any great extent by candidates in Secondary Schools. As regards scholarship examinations, we have refrained from any detailed inquiry for reasons given in the introduction to this report.

So far, we have confined ourselves to an account of the bare historic facts connected with the origin and growth of the actual examinations now common in Secondary Schools. Before we proceed to the next chapter, it may be well to supplement this account by a brief description of the evolution of prevalent ideas about the functions of examinations.

Examinations began as a method of testing the efficiency of a candidate for the practice of some profession or for admission to some learned society. Just as in the trade guild no one was admitted to mastership until the completion of his term of apprenticeship, and (as a rule) until he had shown by the production of a masterpiece that he could do a piece of work to the satisfaction of the guild, so, in the University, no one could receive the licentia docendi [permission to teach] until, after serving his apprenticeship of study, he had passed a technical test by which he was required to teach in public exactly as he would be required later to teach in the schools of the University. Similarly, a candidate for a medical career was from very early times examined, both as to his knowledge of medical subjects and as to his general education, and the degree or diploma which he obtained entitled him to be admitted to a licence to practice, or itself conferred that licence. The examinations for admission to the membership of the Royal College of Physicians of London, founded in 1518, are but little altered examples of examinations as used at the Revival of Learning.

But, early in the eighteenth century, both in England and Ireland, examinations took on a new function, namely, the distinguishing between candidates for academic distinction according to their different degrees of intellectual merit. These competitive examinations for the award of scholarships and other University distinctions had a bracing and salutary effect upon academic life. Their influence may be compared to that of unrestricted competition upon corporate and often obsolete restrictions in industry and commerce. The two developments in our national life were practically concurrent, sprang from similar needs, and were congenial to a similar attitude of mind.

A third stage was reached when the intellectual leaders of the French Revolution organised competitive examinations on a national scale for the recruiting of the public service. Their aim was to supersede the favouritism of private patronage, to

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secure equality of opportunity of preferment, and to staff the Government departments with the intellectual élite of the whole people. The idea of their scheme was that an arduous intellectual test could give a guarantee of administrative ability and of personal character. Clearly, as Macaulay, Trevelyan and Jowett always maintained, there is a good deal to be said for this view, but probably less than the thinkers of the Revolution assumed. Jeremy Bentham was captivated by the simplicity of the French idea, and by its administrative convenience. He was the first to elaborate a scheme for its adoption in England. Fantastic in many of its details, too mechanical in its psychological presuppositions, Bentham's plan lay long unnoticed. Chadwick, his disciple, was the untiring advocate of examinations as a test of fitness for the public service; and finally, on the recommendation of Trevelyan and Northcote, the principle was adopted in this country, the approval of the public being secured under the stress of two practical emergencies, namely the breakdown of Departmental administration in the Crimean War, and the danger of making Government appointments in India an affair of ministerial patronage, and therefore liable to political pressure from members of the House of Commons. Out of these beginnings, as already noticed, the immense system of our Civil Service examinations took its rise.

In the fourth place, a further function was added to the examination system in England about the middle of the nineteenth century, namely its use as a test of the efficiency of teachers in schools. This new development rested upon the belief, sound within certain limits, that an independent and impartial test of the pupils' knowledge would indirectly furnish evidence of the professional efficiency of the teachers, and would stimulate industry in the discharge of their duties.

Yet a fifth function has been allotted to the examination system in modern times, namely the diffusion of a prescribed ideal of liberal culture by means of an intellectual test imposed upon pupils in Secondary Schools at the completion of their course of study. This use of the examination system was first adopted in Germany. It lies at the root of the Abiturien-ten-examen. Under the pressure of modern developments of knowledge, its original limitations have broken down. But, in the first instance it rested upon the hypothesis that, for the efficient discharge of the duties of citizenship in the more responsible positions in life, or as the necessary qualification for admission to a University, every young man should be required to have reached a prescribed standard of all round attainment in liberal studies.

We may close this chapter by saying that the rapid development of the examination system about the middle of the last century was connected with (and in part the outcome of) a widely diffused faith in the efficiency of competition, not only

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in industrial operations, but also as an instrument of social reform. Examinations were to cure jobbery in the State and in the University; they were to be the open door by which merit was to come to its own; they were to provide a test whereby the public were to be enabled to estimate the education given to their children; and, lastly, they were to provide a wholesome stimulus both to teacher and pupil. In many respects the prevailing public opinion of the day (though challenged and satirised by Ruskin and other critics) was not unjustified. The more extended use of competitive examinations had in many ways a beneficial influence upon English education, stimulating the energies of many individual teachers and pupils, and delivering some schools from torpor and indolence. But it has now become clear that in the latter part of the nineteenth century public opinion in England was disposed to put a quite excessive reliance upon the system of competitive examinations as a panacea for educational delinquencies or defects. Examinations, as ends in themselves, have occupied too much of the thoughts of parents and teachers. Their very convenience and success led to their undue multiplication and to their occupying too large a place in the system of national education. We shall show in the following report that in our opinion the time has come - not for their abandonment (for nothing can supply their place) - but for the curtailment of their numbers, and for the correction of their results by other forms of educational supervision, especially by inspection and by a sensible regard to those sides of school life which no written examination can ever test, and for which purely intellectual discipline is not in itself a substitute.

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In the last chapter we gave a brief sketch of the history and growth of the more numerically important external examinations commonly taken in Secondary Schools in England. We have also prepared an account of these examinations as they are to he found at work today.* We attach great importance to this account, as it forms the basis upon which we shall base our plea for reform. We have found, however, that if the account is to be either fair or useful it must not only run to considerable length, but must inevitably be of such a kind that the true bearing of the facts is apt to be obscured by the multifarious details. We have decided therefore to place this account of the existing state of things at the end of our report, thinking it would be more helpful to the Board if we contented ourselves here with a statement of what appear to us to be the salient points which emerge from a study of the more detailed account and from the information supplied to us by our witnesses as to the way in which the system works.

We have already shown in Chapter I how in the middle of the last century the College of Preceptors, the Society of Arts, and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge each turned their energies to the improvement of the Secondary Schools of the day, and how for historical reasons their development proceeded on independent lines. These bodies, and also others such as London and the other Universities, have nearly always retained the independence of each other with which they started. With the two important exceptions named below, these various examining bodies, many of which have now extended their sphere of work over the whole country, are acting not only independently of each other, but in many instances in virtual competition. There appear to be only two instances in which any examining bodies have formally co-operated in conducting joint examinations. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, while maintaining the separate organisations of the Oxford Delegacy and the Cambridge Syndicate for Local and other examinations, have a Joint Board which conducts examinations for pupils in Secondary Schools of certain types. The four northern Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds have also a Joint Board for Matriculation purposes and have recently started a joint scheme for the inspection and examination of Secondary Schools. In all other instances the principal

*See Memorandum, page 159.

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examining bodies, as also various professional and commercial institutions which require an examination test from students and apprentices, have continued to maintain distinct examinations of their own, with their own individual requirements and regulations. The result of this may be gauged to some extent from a reference to Appendix C. That appendix gives a list of the examinations conducted by the more numerically important bodies which examine, or require a preliminary examination of, boys and girls of Secondary School age. Many of these bodies, though by no means all, recognise examinations other than their own under certain conditions. But even so the number of separate examinations even in this by no means exhaustive list amounts to nearly ninety.

It should be noted in this connection that this variety of examinations is not wholly, or even largely, due to a variety of object. The Oxford Delegacy and the Cambridge Syndicate for Local Examinations, the College of Preceptors, and the London University Extension Board, for instance, are all largely concerned in providing examination tests for pupils in Secondary Schools. That is to say, their examinations are primarily intended as tests of the efficiency of the schools and their scholars, and are only indirectly used as entrance examinations to the various universities and professions. But even in this more or less homogeneous branch of examination work these four bodies work in independence of each other, and this independence leads to a good deal of overlapping of effort. A reference to Appendix A will show to what extent this has been carried. It appears from that appendix that there are 20 towns where these four examining bodies all hold independent Local Examinations; there are 26 where three of these bodies hold such examinations; and 84 towns where two of these bodies have such examinations. It seems fairly clear that looking at the facts as a whole the system is the result of practically independent action. It is the outcome of a varied succession of unconnected accidents, in which owing to the disinclination or inability of the State to superintend the work at its beginning, there has been no single co-ordinating force at work. Head masters and mistresses, influenced either by patriotism to their own university or by the belief that one particular examination was more suited to their own curriculum, showed anxiety to be examined by one particular body, and so helped in many cases to lead to the establishment of more than one examination centre in the neighbourhood. It is not implied that the examining bodies have forced themselves upon the different localities. They appear to have extended their spheres of action only on the invitation of local teachers or committees. Nevertheless, the result has been that opportunities have been offered for candidates to enter for a variety of examinations. The great importance of the above facts will appear later, especially

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when the connection between inspection and examination is being discussed.

So far we have been referring mainly to bodies which exist primarily for the same purpose, namely, for conducting examinations of pupils of secondary school age for purposes which are primarily educational. When we turn to the case of the professional, commercial, and other similar bodies enumerated in Appendix C, we are dealing with bodies which have been formed for very distinct purposes and which therefore are naturally independent of each other so far as their main objects are concerned. But many of these bodies have this in common with each other, that they are concerned with the early education and preliminary examination of their apprentices and students. We find, however, that even in this branch of their work they act as a rule without any mutual consultation. Some of the medical qualifying bodies form the only considerable exception which has been brought to our notice. Thus, the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the Society of Apothecaries, each acting in general agreement with the General Council of Medical Education and Registration, accept an almost uniform list of equivalent examinations, and do not hold any preliminary examinations of their own. Further, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons accepts the list of examinations drawn up by the General Medical Council. None of the other professional and commercial bodies, however, appear to have arrived at any similar system of co-operation, or to have evolved any systematic method of co-operation by which they can be kept acquainted with the combined effect of their varied requirements upon the schools from which they draw their material.

We are for the moment only concerned with the actual facts of the case, and not with the historical reasons for them or with any remarks upon their effect on secondary education. We may, however, state briefly here that we consider that there are certain difficulties which are caused by this independence of action, and that educational changes have led to a clearer recognition of these difficulties. Further, we think that they might be considerably lessened by concerted action, and that this might be brought about by the conciliatory action and unifying influence of the Board of Education. This point will be more fully developed in Chapters IV and V. It may be mentioned here, however, that in any attempt to introduce a greater degree of co-operation, there is one body, namely, the Civil Service Commission, whose operations present a somewhat special difficulty. Their influence affects candidates who are not confined to England, or even to the United Kingdom. Even, therefore, were each constituent of the United Kingdom or of the Empire to establish a sound examination system of its own, the co-operation of the Civil Service Commission with the various national systems would still remain a difficulty unless the

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process were carried a step further and these systems in turn were subjected to some unification. While, therefore, we do not think it is impossible to suggest ways in which the examinations of the Civil Service Commissioners may be brought into closer harmony with secondary education, it is necessary to admit that their independence is on a different footing from that of other examining bodies.

It has been shown in the last section that there are a large number of University, professional, commercial, and educational bodies which are conducting examinations of their own in complete independence of each other. But many of these bodies, while unwilling for various reasons to give up their own examinations, have agreed to recognise other examinations under certain conditions as equivalent to their own. Thus the Universities and professional bodies, while retaining their own matriculation and preliminary examinations, have in the great majority of cases agreed to exempt from such examinations candidates who possess certificates showing that they have passed examinations of a corresponding standard. This system of "equivalents", which was begun somewhat tentatively, has been extended during the last few years, owing largely to the impetus derived from the ventilation of the subject in 1904, when the whole question was raised by some of the professional bodies, considered and reported on by the Consultative Committee, and subsequently discussed by the various examining bodies. Moreover, there are signs that the movement, if somewhat slow, still continues, and has brought much relief to the schools and their pupils. At the same time, we consider that there is still much room for improvement, and that the system is hampered by so many intricate and confusing restrictions that nothing like the whole difficulty has yet been remedied.

Before proceeding to describe the actual working of the system, we should like to repeat that we are not for the moment offering any criticism upon it. We are only endeavouring to set out the facts of the case, and we wish to guard ourselves from appearing in any way to imply that the intricacies of the system are due solely to want of organisation. We realise further that the complication of examination requirements which we are about to describe is to some extent based on the fact that, whether rightly or wrongly, different careers normally encourage different kinds of preparation, and that demands are made for examinations suitable to these alternative courses of preparation. To what extent these demands are reasonable and must be met is a matter which we shall consider later. At present it is sufficient to note that we are aware that there is a genuine

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difficulty to be faced. The rest of this section of our report should be read in the light of this warning.

To show how the system works in practice, we have prepared some tables showing the various exemptions granted by University, professional and other bodies to candidates who are successful in the examinations of the Oxford Delegacy, the Cambridge Syndicate, and the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board. These tables are given in Appendix D, page 329. An examination of them will show that the bodies who grant exemption on the strength of those examinations, have in many cases laid down the conditions on which they will do so. The most important condition relates to the combination of subjects in which the examination is passed. Further, it is sometimes made a condition that the candidate shall actually have obtained a certificate, while in other cases it is accepted as sufficient that he shall have passed the certificate examination in certain subjects, even if they did not qualify him for the certificate itself. In other cases it is laid down that all the required subjects or certain combinations of them shall have been passed at one and the same examination; sometimes not more than two examinations are allowed; sometimes the number of examinations is made to depend on the number of distinctions in various subjects; sometimes the number of examinations is left quite open.

The possible commutations of all these various conditions are endless. As an example, we may take the case of pupils who take the Oxford Senior Local Examination, and wish to use it subsequently to obtain various exemptions. Those of them who wish to obtain exemption from any part of the Previous examination at Cambridge must, in addition to passing the Senior Local in certain stated subjects, obtain a certificate on the examination as a whole. On the other hand, those of them who desire exemption from the corresponding examination at Oxford need not obtain a certificate so long as they pass in certain stated subjects (which are not so numerous as those required at Cambridge). Again, those who desire exemption from the Matriculation Examination of London University, of the Northern Universities Joint Board, and of Birmingham and Bristol Universities, or from the Preliminary Examinations of the Institution of Civil Engineers, must obtain a certificate and pass in the required subjects at one and the same examination. Those, on the other hand, who desire exemption from the corresponding examinations of the University of Wales, or the Institute of Chartered Accountants, may make up the required subjects at more than one examination. Those who wish for registration by the General Medical Council must obtain a certificate, and must either pass in certain required subjects at one or two examinations, or, if their subjects are spread over more than two examinations, obtain a Distinction in one or more subjects. Further, candidates find that even

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kindred Societies may have different practices. The Institute of Chemistry, for instance, expects that its required subjects shall as a rule, be passed at one examination, while the Pharmaceutical Society has a different list of subjects and requires them to be passed at not more than two examinations. Again, in the lists of required subjects candidates find great divergencies. English is demanded from them as a condition of admission to London University, but cannot be offered, even as an option, by candidates for Responsions[*] at Oxford. On the other hand, Greek is compulsory at Oxford* and Cambridge, and optional for London. Latin is compulsory for Oxford, Cambridge, the University of Wales, and optional for London, Birmingham, Bristol, and the Northern Universities. Without analysing the whole list, we may point out that while candidates can obtain their Oxford Senior Certificate by passing in five subjects, no one set of five subjects is accepted by all the exempting bodies. A candidate would have to pass in eleven subjects, viz., Arithmetic, English, Mathematics (Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry), Higher Geometry, Latin, Greek, English History, Geography, French or German, Chemistry or Physics, and a portion of New Testament in Greek, to be sure that his certificate would be accepted by all the bodies who accept the Oxford Senior Certificate as qualifying a candidate for exemption from their Matriculation or Preliminary Examination. If he only passed in the five subjects required by one particular body, and then for any reason changed his plans and needed to use his certificate to obtain exemption from the examination of some other body, he might find it quite useless to him, unless, of course, it happened that that particular body allowed him to complete his subjects at subsequent examinations.

The above instances relate only to persons who wish to obtain subsequent exemptions by passing one particular examination, namely, the Oxford Senior Local. But the same thing applies to other examinations of a similar kind. Thus the regulations of the Cambridge Local Examinations, the Oxford and Cambridge Joint Board Examinations, and the London Matriculation Examination each contain from four to six pages of closely printed details showing on what exact terms success in these examinations is accepted by University and professional bodies. These regulations are far too lengthy to be quoted here, and much too intricate to be reduced to anything like tabular form. An endeavour was made, as a matter of fact, to produce a table which would show in fairly simple form the requirements of the various exempting bodies; but it appeared to be impracticable.

*At the present moment (July, 1911) a Statute has passed through the preliminary stages at Oxford which, if eventually passed by Convocation, will allow all who take Honours in Mathematics or Natural Science to proceed to their degrees though they have not offered Greek in Responsions.

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In the last chapter we endeavoured to give a conspectus of the examination system as it affects Secondary Schools at the present moment. Having done this, the next question that arises is whether the existing system is a satisfactory one under present circumstances, and whether we can recommend its continuance. We shall devote this chapter to showing why we consider some change necessary.

It is an inherent difficulty of the task that has been laid upon us by the Board of Education that it necessitates a considerable amount of criticism of examining bodies to whom, as has already been mentioned in the introduction to this report, the country owes an immense debt of gratitude for much of the progress effected in secondary education. We are anxious, therefore, to begin our remarks by a clear statement of the great value of their services. They initiated a work of reform at a time when it was sorely needed, and when there existed no other bodies able and willing to do the work. They possessed an academic standing and an impartiality which were above question, and they achieved a right of entry into schools where any attempt at State interference would at that time have been hotly resented even had the State felt itself able to undertake the duty. The fact that some of their methods have been susceptible of abuse, or that it is possible now to see how some things might have been better done, does not detract from the merit of those who gave their energies to remove the evils which they saw around them. That the increased efficiency of the schools may make it both possible and right for them to achieve a greater measure of independence of external examining bodies is no reflection on those to whom much of the increased efficiency is due. That the State has gradually learned its responsibilities towards secondary education, and is now in a position to organise on a more uniform scale the work which hitherto has been left to enterprise not aided by the State, cannot be imputed as a fault to those whose labours have paved the way to fuller development.

Nevertheless, while we acknowledge to the full the admirable work done by these bodies, the fact remains that there are serious defects in the present arrangements which appear to us to justify an urgent call for reform. These defects, of course, are not now apparent for the first time. They have frequently been commented on in the past, and so far as lay in their

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power the examining bodies appear to have done much to remove them as they arose. Something more, however, than improvements in the methods of isolated bodies was needed if real progress was to be made, and it is perhaps difficult to see how, in the conditions which obtained up to some six or seven years ago, reform on comprehensive lines was possible. The most hopeful signs at the present moment are not only that the need for change is perceived in many quarters, but also that means for achieving it are now available. The Secondary Schools are not only more efficient, but possess organisations through which their collective views can be expressed. New Local Authorities, with wide powers over large areas, have come into existence. Above all, the Secondary Branch of the Board of Education, with its well developed secondary inspectorate, has introduced a new and potent factor into the problem. The State is now so organised as to be able to supply both motive power and unifying influence.

While, therefore, we are anxious not to disparage the work that has been achieved in the past, we believe that the time has come for a step forward, and we think that the manner in which these new bodies can assist in the work deserves careful consideration.

It is interesting to note that the possibility of some such evolution as we shall propose was foreseen in the early days of the Local Examinations. Nearly 40 years ago, Edwin Abbott, writing about the examination of first grade schools by the Universities, expressed the view that a time might come when a council established by Government might be necessary to give unity to the independent systems of the various Universities. Edward Bowen, writing at the same time, though from a different point of view, thought that after a further period of 20 or 30 years' experiment, a Minister of Education might bring forward a national scheme of school examinations, and the idea (and no doubt the difficulties too) of Home such future action on the part of the State was familiar (though not always welcome) to other writers of the time, such as Thring and Miss Clough.

Of all the changes in Secondary School organisation during recent years, none is more notable than the growth of inspection, and of the general recognition of its importance as an integral part of good examination. Yet, in the survey of existing examinations which has been made in a previous chapter, no fact is more striking than the separation which at present exists between the principal inspecting and examining bodies. It has been seen that at the present moment the Board of Education does the bulk of the inspection of Secondary Schools, while other bodies do the bulk of the examination.

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Second only to the growth of inspection is the more complete organisation of Secondary Schools. This organisation manifests itself in two ways. In the first place, large numbers of Secondary Schools are now brought directly under the influence and control of Local Education Authorities. In the second place, their various grades of teachers have formed voluntary conferences and associations which bring them into closer contact with each other, afford opportunities for discussing experiments and methods, and generally make possible a concerted and enlightened policy. Yet here again we find the same lack of co-operation between the authorities and teachers of the schools on the one part, and the examining bodies on the other. No doubt the examining bodies do, in varying degrees, come into contact with the teachers, and in the case of the school examinations and inspections lately inaugurated by the Northern Universities, teachers are given a definite position amongst the members of the examining authority. This is a most important development of policy, due, we understand, to the recommendations contained in our report of 1904. Further, as we have pointed out elsewhere, at the request of the teachers examination papers may, in certain cases and under certain conditions, be set on lines suggested by the school staff. But with these exceptions, we think it remains generally true that neither the authorities nor the teachers have any direct voice in the conduct of the external examinations of their pupils.

We do not wish to imply that the majority of teachers are conscious of any objection to this state of things. We doubt if they are. Yet the fact remains that it is inherently improbable that external examining bodies which neither inspect the schools from which their candidates come nor associate with themselves the authorities and teachers of those schools, should keep fully in touch with the schools or keep pace with school developments, especially in times of rapid growth and change. The evidence we have heard shows that this isolation of the examining bodies has in many cases had an undesirable effect, and has tended to hamper and retard the work of the schools. It will be convenient to examine this tendency under various aspects, as it affects (a) school curricula, (b) school methods, and (e) school experiments.

It must be borne in mind that when the Local Examinations, and those of the College of Preceptors, were first started, the curricula of Secondary Schools differed in two important respects from those of a modern school. In the first place, there were fewer subjects taken, and, secondly, the subjects were on the whole more easily tested by paper examination. This aspect of the case was admirably summarised by

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Mr. Bruce. "The difficulty", he said, "of examination by external bodies of the whole of a school in the manner hitherto conventional was further increased by the fact that the curriculum of the schools was much fuller than it had been. In many schools more subjects had been added, and in many, even where certain subjects were not new, they had assumed a much more important position in the curriculum. In the smaller grammar schools and in certain of the larger ones, the treatment of history, geography, and literature was much more serious now than it was a few years ago, and there had been a great development not only in the thoroughness with which branches of natural science were taught, but also in the number of subjects which were included in school curricula under that general title. Manual instruction was another subject which had come much to the front. The fuller curriculum, quite apart from the methods of instruction, meant that examination must be more difficult for an external body if it were to cover the whole ground. The examination also must of necessity be more expensive, and this was a very important point, for the growth in the cost of secondary education during the last few years had been very considerable. Mr. Bryce's Commission took £11 or £12 per head as the cost of maintenance in Secondary Schools not of the highest type; but now an Authority could not hope to attain a reasonable standard of efficiency unless they were prepared to spend at least £14 or £15 per head on a school of the same type. The cost of examination had been going up in the same proportion on account of the fuller curriculum and for other reasons."

It is obvious that the adoption of a wide and modern curriculum such as is now aimed at in schools which are aided by the State and by the Local Authorities, may be seriously endangered if a school as a whole, or its pupils individually, are under any pressure to work for external examinations where the desired certificate can he obtained by success in a limited number of subjects. Subjects which are not required for the certificate, or which are not suitable for examination purposes, may fail to secure adequate attention either from teachers or pupils. They may be equally important, not improbably more important, for the pupil from the point of view of true and complete education. But there is a strong temptation to devote less time and less attention to them, solely on the ground that they are useless for success in the examinations, A good headmaster or mistress may be fully alive to these mischievous results, and may endeavour to avoid them by allotting proper time in the school time-table to the subjects nut required for the external examinations. But circumstances will be heavily against them. Parents and boys are alike anxious for certificates, the Local Education Authority may support them, and the reputation of the school itself may be considered to be at stake. The school authorities in such a

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case will find it hard, if not impossible, to struggle against the combined pressure of so many interests.

The result, of course, is that the subjects which flourish most in schools are those which are most easily tested by the simplest form of examination, namely, by a paper examination, and there is a tendency to neglect those which can only be tested by the more costly methods of inspection and practical examination. In many cases this neglect does not, of course, amount to the actual omission of a whole subject from the school time-table. It may be confined either to a reduction of the time allotted to a subject, or to the omission of certain branches of a subject, such as the practical sides of science and the oral method of teaching modern Languages, or it may merely lead to the subject being taught in a perfunctory or unsatisfactory way, or to its being dropped while the pupils are preparing for a particular examination. But in some cases the neglect goes further than this. Some of our witnesses testified that such subjects as the various forms of handicraft and domestic science were apt to be squeezed out of the curriculum altogether. They are not encouraged by the ordinary external examination, and the lack of encouragement amounts in practice to disastrous discouragement.

It may be added that while the omission of a subject from the examination syllabus tends to limit the time and attention allotted to it in school, the inclusion of a subject does not necessarily secure it from similar neglect. The regulations of many external examinations require pupils to take certain compulsory subjects, and leave others to their own choice. But the four or five subjects thus selected for examination do not cover the whole of the subjects in which pupils should receive instruction so long as their general education continues. Some stimulus is needed to secure that pupils shall not neglect those subjects in which they are most deficient, and this stimulus is by no means always supplied by the majority of external examinations.

We should like to add that we are not unaware of the dangers of a wide curriculum. The pupils' interest in their work may become less real, and there may follow an injurious lack of concentration. The number of subjects that can be studied at once by any boy or girl requires most careful consideration. All that we are contending for at the moment is that when the proper course has been decided upon, one part of it should not suffer from neglect owing to an excess of stimulus applied to the rest.

But the influence of these external examinations does not merely limit the number of subjects to which a school or some of the pupils of a school will give the necessary attention and interest. It may also tend to limit the scope and direction of the

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teaching in those subjects which are offered for examination by the candidates. It is not only that the teachers must follow a syllabus which they have not worked out for themselves, but that they are often not at liberty even to teach this syllabus in their own way. We do not forget that in the case of a few school examinations, schools are allowed to offer special syllabuses of their own. But, as has already been noted, some extra cost is involved in such a plan, and, whether for financial or other reasons, this concession is, with the exceptions already mentioned, little used. In practice many teachers accept the external syllabus and regulate their instruction accordingly. In the case of weaker schools of course such external assistance has frequently been of considerable value in widening a curriculum which might otherwise have remained too narrow. Further, we see that even the better schools may derive considerable advantage from studying, or even following, syllabuses which are the result of successful experiments by the best teachers in the various subjects. But even here there must remain the objection that the instruction is bound not only by the terms of the syllabus but by the nature of the examination papers which the candidates will have to answer. Through his knowledge of the general character of the examination, the teacher may have to confine his teaching to some particular type of questions or range of questions; or, through the regulations of the examination he may have to attempt to cover a wider field than, if left to himself, he would consider wise in the interests of the pupils committed to his care. Instead of following out a syllabus of his own, or at least a good syllabus adapted by himself to the needs of his own pupils, he may be thinking all the time of examination questions against which he must prepare his class. A teacher who yields to the temptation - and the pressure of temptation is very great - to teach a subject for such an examination, surrenders the role of an educator and becomes a "crammer". He is no longer free to use his subject for purposes of training the mind, nor can he utilise properly his own natural gifts. He sacrifices not only his own individuality, but also that of his pupils.

This point was brought prominently before us by several of our witnesses. Miss Burstall, for instance, stated that "Examinations had done harm to teachers in general because they had no freedom, and no one could do his best without freedom. Instead of being able to choose the best methods, they had to think of Junior Locals, Scholarships, and other things." We are aware, of course, of the great advantage which may be derived from providing teachers and pupils alike with some object on which to focus their attention. But if that object is an examination, it is essential that the papers set should bear a more intimate relation to the individual methods of different schools than is now often the case.

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The effects of external examinations on teaching methods are especially marked in the case of modern languages, though no doubt there have also been other influences at work which have hindered the due development of such subjects. Oral tests are somewhat difficult and expensive to organise on a large scale, and have at present not formed an integral and obligatory part of most of the ordinary external examinations in Secondary Schools. The result has been that the introduction of oral methods has been seriously retarded and in some cases absolutely abandoned. Thus Mr. Paton informed us that "there were numbers of cases where the modern language instruction had been started on the reform method, and then after about a couple of years when in full swing that method was dropped in favour of the old style because of the requirements of external examinations."

The injurious effects of examining in Science subjects by paper work alone need hardly be dwelt on. An effort has been made to supplement the necessary paper work by introducing practical examinations in science when possible; but the difficulties and the expense are considerable, though they might be lessened by improved organisation. The fact is that some of the practical science work done in a school lies largely outside the domain of examination as generally understood, and cannot be tested efficiently without some aid from inspection.

But it is not only subjects like modern languages and science in which the instruction is liable to injury from external examinations. Improved methods of instruction, even in such subjects as English and the dead languages, are endangered. It does not seem to be sufficiently realised that English is a particularly difficult subject to teach well, and that nearly all its educational value may be ruined by examination papers set on unwise lines. We feel that a good deal of very careful experiment will be necessary before any agreement can be reached as to what constitutes a good examination in English. The prospect of external examinations has a prejudicial effect also on the teaching of dead languages. If the examination requires set books, the danger is that these will be "crammed". If the examination requires nothing but "unseen", the object of the test can be evaded by teachers who exercise their pupils with short passages from authors from whom passages are likely to be set.

The fact is that paper examinations, though their value varies according to the subject examined, can only test methods of teaching to a limited extent. Teachers are under great pressure, therefore, to give their minds to the results which examinations can test. In the process they may lose their individuality and self-reliance. Their aim is apt to become distorted, and the genuine efficiency of their instruction to suffer.

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We would add here that, just as the pressure of examinations may tend to restrict the curricula of schools in the manner described above, so also it may exert at times a somewhat different tendency and lead to subjects being taught at the wrong times and in the wrong order. A good teacher should be free to decide in what sequence his pupils should attack new subjects, and at what ages they are ripe either for new subjects or for more advanced instruction in them. But his freedom in this important matter is clearly hampered if he is compelled to include subjects in the curriculum of a class, not because the pupils are educationally ready for them, but because they have to be prepared for examinations in which such subjects are required.

It is convenient to deal with the effect of external examinations on experiments in Secondary Schools under a separate heading. But to a large extent the experiments we have in mind are experiments in curricula and methods of teaching, and this section therefore is to that extent merely an amplification of the last two. The main difference, perhaps, is that we are now looking at the subject rather more historically.

We take it for granted that it is not desirable to have all our Secondary Schools moulded to the same type. The callings for which they are to fit their pupils are many and various. Equally various are the methods by which any one type of pupil may be successfully treated. The Board of Education have fully recognised this, and have done much to encourage elasticity of curriculum and the introduction of new methods and interesting experiments. But, as Mr. Bruce pointed out to us, their efforts have not yet met with much success. This lack of energy in initiating wise experiment is no doubt due to various causes. One of the most important of these is the difficulty of securing or retaining a sufficient number of highly trained teachers in Secondary Schools, a difficulty which will hardly be overcome until improved prospects and status encourage young men of ability to take up teaching in Secondary Schools as a life work, and until such a career is at once more honoured and more suitably remunerated. Even in schools where the staff is of a higher calibre, the lack of complete sympathy amongst all the members of it, or the somewhat natural fear of the head teachers that they may disturb the minds of their governing bodies or of the more conventionally minded public, may help in checking the introduction of experimental methods. But when due allowance is made for such difficulties, it is reasonable to suppose that the lack of elasticity is at least partly due to the heavy hand of external examinations, Mr. Paton supplied us with some interesting information on this point. "The external examination", he said, "imposes upon the school a rigid curriculum, of a nature almost

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entirely bookish, which prevents the school from developing on its own lines and adapting itself freely to the needs of its pupils and the community which it serves. It also effectually prevents the special cultivation of some leading subject, which in the hands of a specially qualified and enthusiastic head teacher might be made focal to the whole curriculum, and infuse all the other subjects with a contagious spirit of purpose and interest." In support of this general statement he gave us two examples from his own school, as showing how educational experiments are at the mercy of external examinations.

"(i) The experiment was tried of basing the curriculum of the modern side of the school on German as the first language, with French following afterwards. This was done for certain definite reasons (chiefly educational). It was believed that German would give a grammatical discipline which would, in a way, take the place of Latin (which was omitted from the modern side); that German pronunciation was much easier than French for Lancashire boys; and that the German literature (prose and verse) was a good deal more suitable than the French for early language training. There were also other reasons. But as time went on it was found that owing to the requirements of the Lancashire County Council Scholarship examinations, the Manchester City Council Scholarship examinations, the Cheshire and the Derbyshire Scholarship examinations, and others, the experiment must be given up and French be taken as the first language, with German second.

(ii) In the classical side it was thought that, as the boys had been taking French all up the school, when they carne to the Sixth Form they should have German. This Language was therefore introduced into the Sixth Form. But if the boys were to go to the University, it was practically essential for them to get one of the County Council Scholarships, and they would lose marks in the examinations for these scholarships if they gave up French, which they had learnt so many years, and substituted a language which was new to them. Consequently this experiment also had to be given up, although the boys concerned had a working knowledge of French quite sufficient for their needs, while a few years of German would have been of enormous value to them both in the University and afterwards. They would, after three years in the Sixth Form, have become as proficient in German as in French, and would have known these two languages for the rest of their lives."

Mr. Paton gave as a further instance the way in which the introduction of modern methods of teaching geometry in schools had been retarded by external examinations.

The evidence which is printed at the end of this report is full of statements of the same nature, and need not be repeated here. It goes to show that external examinations as at present

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organised are amongst the causes which retard the introduction not only of experiments that might lead to improved conditions, but even of methods which have actually proved themselves as desirable.

We have dealt above with the restrictive effect which an external examination tends to have upon school curricula, school methods, and school experiments. This restrictive effect is increased when not one but many such examinations are taken in any one school. But in addition such multiplicity has special evils of its own, of which the most important is that it leads to premature disintegration of the classes of the school. Steady Form-work is impossible when various pupils in the Form are constantly being withdrawn for instruction in the special subjects of their various examinations. The organisation of the classes is seriously disturbed, and the energies of the teacher, instead of being concentrated on one aspect of his subject, are dissipated by constant calls for special instruction. Some such disintegration of classes may be inevitable in what we may call "Sixth Forms", though even there much improvement would be possible if the various Universities and Professional bodies could come to a better agreement as to their requirements. But in the lower classes of the school the evil is due largely to the desire to obtain a varied assortment of certificates and examination successes, and is not based on any real practical necessity. At best it secures an ad hoc form of instruction for the candidates for examination at the expense of the neglect of other pupils, and so impoverishes the education of them all.

This evil is no new one. It existed before the days of the Schools Inquiry Commission of 1868, and is alluded to in their report. "When a school has to prepare boys for several different examinations, an adaptation of the school course to suit them all becomes impossible. One boy who is reading for the Army has to be taught one set of subjects; another, who is to be a medical student, has to be taught another. It is easy, if the examinations are very stringent, to push this divergence between the different studies required so far as to make effective organisation of the school, as a place of general education, impossible."* The increase in the number and variety of examinations since those words were written has increased the difficulty to which the Commissioners' Report refers, and has not been compensated for as yet by the attempts which have been made to get equivalent examinations recognised.

*Report of Schools Enquiry Commission, page 324.

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It is not surprising that many headmasters are longing to banish the existing variety of external examinations from their schools so as to save their organisation.

We have alluded above to the fact that there are certain subjects or aspects of subjects in the curricula of Secondary Schools which are often not tested by the usual external examination. But there are other ways in which these examinations fail to provide a complete test of a pupil's training at school. No doubt, such incompleteness is to some extent inherent in all examinations, and we wish to guard ourselves from appearing to criticise certain examinations for not doing what no examinations can be expected to do. We think, however, it may yet be helpful to state in what this incompleteness consists. In the next chapter we hope to be able to make suggestions for meeting it in some degree.

In the first place, we feel that the external examinations usually taken in secondary schools cannot be said to give more than an uncertain indication of the candidates' real mental powers. Some candidates are at their worst in examinations, and in any ease when judgment is based on one examination effort, mistakes are sure to be made. These difficulties are common no doubt to most examinations if taken by themselves, and may often be unavoidable. But in the case of school examinations means are available by which these difficulties can be considerably diminished. We shall show later how by closer co-operation between the examiners on the one hand, and the teachers and inspectors on the other, the certificates given could be made to give a much fairer and more accurate view of the whole of a pupil's mental equipment.

In the second place, most external examinations take no cognisance of the various activities of a pupil's life outside the class-room. This is no doubt a very difficult subject, and the recommendations we make hereafter will show that we have approached it with full realisation of the need for caution. It is well, however, to call attention to the facts of the case.

In few respects has more progress been shown in Secondary Schools of late years than in the interest taken in the social and corporate side of school life. Mr. Bruce pointed out that "one of the most interesting things in the development of Secondary Schools, especially the new ones, in the last few years had been the growing attention given to the development of boys and girls in as all-round a way as possible. Time and attention were given to them outside the class-room, and encouragement given to take up intellectual pursuits and hobbies of their own. All these things had become of real importance, and were recognised to be amongst the

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most valuable parts of a child's education." Mr. Houghton laid stress on the fact that "a school was a social organisation, not merely a place where certain subjects were taught, and it should be tested from every point of view." Dr. Gray considered that "the ideal system of examination should have regard to all the activities of a school . ... In order to appreciate fully the purpose of the school the examiner should live in its atmosphere for a week or two."

Yet, important, as is this side of school life, it lies almost wholly outside the existing examination system. A boy's character, his behaviour at, school, his influence with his fellow pupils, his success as a prefect or monitor - these things matter as much as, or even more than, the other necessary part of school training, intellectual discipline. They are the things which should receive the most anxious thought on the part of his teachers, and which should weigh much with the Universities, or professional bodies, or employers, with whom his future work will lie. Yet there exists at present little or no systematic arrangement by which any record of these aspects of a boy's school career may be made available to those who should be interested in having it. The Army Leaving Certificate examination,* the Oxford and Cambridge School Certificate examinations, and the London University School examinations require attendance and good conduct at an inspected school as a preliminary condition to obtaining a certificate. But the number of candidates who compete for these certificates is relatively very small. In the case of the examinations taken by the majority of candidates no stipulations as to conduct or even attendance at school are made. That some examinations of this kind should be open to all candidates is perfectly reasonable, and no doubt the information supplied by the certificates granted upon them can be, and in fact are, supplemented by private communications between the Universities, professions and employers on the one hand, and the head teachers of the schools on the other. But the very existence of the regular "School Certificates" shows that there is some demand for a certificate which is founded on something more than one examination result.

The idea of connecting examinations with the school record, of course, is not a new one. We understand that already in some schools it is usual to keep some kind of record which recognises the many sides of the pupils' lives, and that many teachers would be glad to see the system developed. Mr. David, for instance, told us that at Clifton "he kept a record of each boy's school career by means of what were termed 'character sheets'. He himself made abstracts from the half-term and end-of-term reports. They were not very formal. He thought that a plan of school records might be worked out for general use in Secondary Schools. In an

*But see footnote, page 69.

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ideal system it would seem desirable that such a record should count in the examination; but some headmasters saw difficulties in the way of doing this, and until it had been tried it was rather hard to say whether it would be practicable." Mr. Paton, in a memorandum which he drew up for us, suggested that "on leaving the school each pupil should take with him a transcript of his school record. This should be an exact and continuous record of his physical development, his intellectual progress, his conduct reports from term to term. It should also mention any service of a public-spirited nature which he has rendered to the school, any out-of-class pursuit or any hobby in which he has achieved distinction, and any position which he has attained in school athletics or other department of school life. It should record any serious interruption of his attendance through illness, and any special disciplinary treatment which may have been necessary. The copy of this school record should be before the examiners, and should be taken into account by them when they were assessing the results of the examination and awarding the passes and failures."

Dr. Forsyth told us that in his school "each pupil had a report book, in which were entered in columns his marks for class-work in each subject, the marks he obtained in the term examination, and the signature of the teacher, and a space was also left, for special notes. At the bottom of each page the Principal wrote, after conference with the teachers and an inspection of the examination papers, some general remarks on the pupil's progress. This latter was a very laborious business in a large school. Each pupil's record was sent to his home at the end of each term for signature by the parent. It remained always available for inspection at the school."

Dr. Fry spoke at some length on the subject. "A school record", he said, "would form a very useful part of an average school-leaving examination; but it was necessary to distinguish between competitive and pass examinations. It could hardly be used, for instance, in an examination for University scholarships. The school record should show the boy's position in class, and the subjects he covered, any prizes he had won, every manifestation of brains he had given, and whether he had been working on a continuous line up till the point at which the inspector found him. The record might be given in the form of a graph, and in the case of a sudden drop the reasons might be given."

It is hardly necessary to add extracts from the evidence of other witnesses to the quotations already given. They are sufficient to show the importance of those aspects of school life which at present go unrecognised in the majority of external examinations, and also the anxiety shown by some of the best teachers to see some remedy provided for this deficiency. The

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extent to which, and the manner in which, we think that the need should be met will be discussed later. It will be seen then that our recommendations do not go so far as the suggestions of some of our witnesses.

The account which we have already given of the manner in which the usual external examinations are conducted in Secondary Schools will have shown that in such examinations little attention is formally paid to the judgment of the teacher. In this lies one of the chief points of difference between the examination system as it operates in Secondary Schools and in Universities respectively. In the latter, though individual teachers are as a rule debarred from expressing any opinion on the work done in a University examination by their own pupils, it is the University teachers as a body who organise and conduct the examinations, and play a large part in the assignment of academic honours and recognition. But in the external examinations in English Secondary Schools, the judgment of the teachers has till lately been but scantily recognised. Care, however, must be taken in this connection not to overlook the informal communications which pass (a) between teachers in Secondary Schools and college tutors at the Universities; and (b) between Secondary School teachers and the examination delegacies and syndicates at the Universities. But, speaking generally, the theory of external examinations in English Secondary Schools is that the pupils should be subjected to a test so withdrawn from any possibility of interference on the teachers' part as to be beyond challenge, independent and impartial. The general acceptance of this theory may be traced to the historical conditions in which our present examination system took its rise. The torpor, and even the ignorance, of many of the teachers in Secondary Schools compelled the setting up of a system of examinations which would stimulate their activity and, where necessary, disclose their ineptitude. But these earlier conditions are now things of the past. Consequently there is a growing feeling that the judgment of the teachers should be more systematically taken into account in the conduct of external examinations in Secondary Schools. Recent developments of our examination system show this new drift in public and professional opinion. At the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, the examining authorities appear to be getting into closer relation with the teachers, and to afford opportunities to the teachers to make representations to those in charge of the examination system. A further and yet more valuable step has been taken by the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Sheffield, in admitting to the Northern Universities Joint Examination

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Board representatives of the teachers in the Secondary Schools concerned.

We are of opinion that this tendency to pay greater regard to the judgment of the teachers in the conduct of examinations is desirable in itself, and is found to be justified by actual results. The teachers respond to the confidence which is reposed in them. As Dr. Fry remarked in his evidence: "An increase in the responsibility of the teachers would improve the morale of the profession. That the teachers were capable of being trusted was shown by the experience of the Admiralty examination for cadets."

It has been suggested in some quarters that the teachers in Secondary Schools should themselves propose a number of questions out of which the external examiners should make a selection in preparing the papers. This is the method adopted in the Abiturienten-examen in the higher schools in the different States of the German Empire. To the advantages and disadvantages of this system we have given attention in the course of our inquiry. It is unnecessary for us to enter into any detailed examination of the history and actual working of the German system.* It will suffice to say that the German system depends in great measure upon a limitation of the number of schools authorised as centres for the Abiturienten-examen. Where the schools so authorised are comparatively few in number, it is practicable to adopt a system of examination which fits each school as closely as a glove fits the individual hand. In England, however, the conditions are different. We have nothing approaching to a State monopoly of secondary education. With us a very large number of schools send in candidates for each of the great examinations. On the whole, these conditions are favourable to variety of educational aim, though much more so in regard to the formation of character than to the acquisition of knowledge. But, whatever view be taken as to the educational merits and drawbacks of the English system, it will be agreed that the number and variety of competing Secondary Schools in England precludes us from adopting a method of examination which would be open to the suspicion of unfairness, and peculiarly liable to misuse on the part of unscrupulous competitors. We would add that, under present conditions in this country, grave objections might be made to a system by which teachers prepare the examination questions for their own pupils, one of the most important of these objections being that it puts the scrupulous teacher in a very awkward position in the interval between the setting of the questions and the examination.

It may be well to mention here that several of our witnesses, when discussing the position of the teacher in our examination

*Reference may be made on this point to a memorandum on "The Leaving Examination as conducted in the Secondary Schools of Prussia", contributed by Mr. M. E. Sadler to Vol. V. of the Report of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education, 1895.

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system, referred to the Accrediting System which is being developed in some parts of the United Stales of America. Having had no direct evidence on the working of this system we are not prepared to report on it in any detail.* It represents of course the opposite extreme to the English plan, and, at least so far as the transfer of pupils from School to College and University is concerned, substitutes the recommendation of the teacher for an external examination test. It has already been noted in a previous chapter that a similar system has been adopted in a limited number of cases for appointments in the Army under the Army Council's new scheme, and no doubt there are other instances in which a similar device might be found advantageous. But while we think that our own system errs, largely for historical causes, on the side of an undue distrust of the teacher, we consider that there are many reasons which make the adoption of an Accrediting System on a general scale impracticable in this country. We are of opinion that what is needed is something between these two extremes. We shall suggest in the next chapter the limits within which we consider that the teacher's share in external examinations should be widened. We may so far anticipate those suggestions as to state here that in our opinion the teachers' share in external examinations should at least include the right to have their estimates of their pupils' abilities considered in all doubtful cases before the examination results are decided, and the power of making formal representations as to the suitability of the examination papers to the syllabuses of their schools.

We have already referred in a previous chapter to the lack of connection between inspection and examination in the majority of Secondary Schools. One result of this separation is that the public are deprived of any sound criterion by which they may judge of any individual school as a whole. It might appear at first sight that sufficient evidence as to the general efficiency of any school was provided by the Board of Education's List of efficient Secondary Schools. But for several reasons this List is an incomplete guide, even if it be assumed that its existence and its meaning is known to the general public, which we can hardly suppose to be the case.

*For detailed accounts of the working of the Accrediting System in the United States, see pages 107-120 of "Impressions of American Education in 1908", Sara A. Burstall, M.A., Longmans, Green & Co.; and Professor T. Gregory Foster's article in the reports of the Mosely Educational Commission to the United States of America, pages 117-119.

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In the first place, it must be remembered that no schools are eligible to be put on the Board's List unless they fall within the category of schools as defined by Articles 1 and 2 of the Board's Regulations for Secondary Schools. Only those schools can comply with these articles which "offer to each of their pupils a progressive course of general education of a kind and amount suitable for pupils of an age-range at least as wide as from 12 to 17", and in which "(i) an adequate proportion of the pupils remain at least four years in the school, and (ii) an adequate proportion of the pupils remain in the school up to and beyond the age of 16." The Committee recognise the advantage and propriety of confining the term Secondary to schools within this category. But they cannot fail to be aware that there are many schools, such as those known as Preparatory Schools, in which the instruction is of a secondary nature, so far as it goes, but which are ineligible for inclusion in the Board's List because their pupils leave as a rule at too early an age. The Committee would suggest that the Board's List might be of greater use to the public if it allowed for the inclusion of a special category of Preparatory Secondary Schools which appeared by inspection to be efficient, and from which a reasonable number of pupils were transferred direct to Secondary Schools properly so-called.

In the second place it must be remembered that State inspection is not compulsory. The Board's List therefore only includes those Secondary Schools which, besides falling within the category of Secondary Schools as defined in the last paragraph, have voluntarily asked for inspection by the State, except, of course, in cases of Endowed Schools whose Schemes make such inspection necessary. Schools, for instance, which require neither the advertisement of inclusion in the List nor the grants of which such inclusion is the necessary condition, and which prefer to retain complete independence of State or local control, are under no obligation to apply for State Inspection. Some of these schools, of course, are of the very highest grade, and the fact that the names of such schools are omitted from the Board's List, makes it clear to the public that mere absence from the List is no proof of inefficiency. On the other hand, some schools are not included in the List because, though they have applied for inspection, the Board are not satisfied that they reach the necessary level of excellence. But as absence from the List may be due to such totally distinct causes, it does not in itself convey much information to the public.

Further, even the inclusion of a school's name in the List, and the consequent mention of this fact in the school prospectus, supply the public only with rather limited information. It assures a parent that the school has reached a certain standard fixed by the Board. But of the relative value of the different schools on the List it tells him nothing. Further, for all he knows, the school may be practically inefficient and already

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threatened with removal from the List. The one thing which could be of use to him, namely, the last full-inspection report of the Board's Inspector on the school, is not as a rule available for him.

In default therefore of any official guide as to the merits of the possible Secondary School to which a parent would send his children, he has to seek such information as he can gather privately or from the school itself. It is open to him to visit or correspond with the school, to make inquiries from his friends, and possibly to observe the character of the pupils attending the school. But even if he has the opportunity of making such inquiries, he only arrives at a judgment which is largely a matter of opinion. The one definite thing to which he can look is the list of examination successes published in the school prospectus, and it is not surprising that he should be unduly influenced by it. But his enforced reliance on such guidance brings many evils in its train.

In the first place, the parent himself, as a rule, has no means of estimating the value of examination successes. To decide at all accurately upon their relative importance would baffle an expert, and is far beyond the powers of the ordinary parent. "Great importance", Mr. Phillips told us, "was attached by parents to a school's list of examination results. They considered that a school with 30 successes must be better than one with only 10, although as a matter of fact the latter result might really be much more creditable, because the examination might have covered a much wider range of subjects than those comprising the minimum. A ' Local' certificate might represent really valuable knowledge, but the public were not able to discriminate."

Mr. Stephens pointed out that "it was not easy for the average parent to form an estimate of a school from its examination results, particularly in view of the many ways in which these might be published." "There was a danger lest successes in examinations at this early stage (i.e., at the age of 14 or 15) might be misleading, and some parents had", he thought, "quite a mistaken conception of their value." These opinions of Inspectors were supported by Mr. Bruce, who said that "it was one of the unfortunate aspects of the existing University examinations that it was very difficult for the public to estimate what was meant by the various passes and distinctions. It required a careful analysis of the subjects taken and the combinations."

But the parent is not only misled by lists of examination successes when he is choosing a school for his children. He is apt to be seriously misled as to his children's attainments, and to arrange for their future on a very erroneous estimate of their abilities. As Mr. Paton pointed out, "the endorsement of a certificate with the name of a University of national repute

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raises quite a false assumption of academic attainment."* Dr. Fry, speaking of the inefficiency of some of the middle-class schools, considered that "this condition of things was very often fostered by the examinations, and by the supreme ignorance of the British parent, who thought his boy remarkably clever yet had not really the slightest idea of the standard of what he had done. Successes in inferior examinations often misled parents as to their children's ability, those who passed junior examinations often proving to be remarkably ignorant."

Mr. Acland made the following statement to the Committee in this connection: "I have known parents say to friends of my own, and even to myself, that the achievement of their boy, in the earlier years of his school course, in something which I know to be a wholly inadequate test of the boy's real value, has made them feel that they must change the whole character of that boy's career, that they must save money and alter all that they had intended in order to enable this extraordinary young genius to have a fair chance. I do not want to say more than that the supposed discovery of genius arising out of one of these many distinctions and honours is often absolutely illusory, and the unfortunate parents are wholly misled; but it is part of the system."

If the absence of a sound criterion for judging the efficiency of a school as a whole tends to force parents to judge them by a test which is both partial and misleading, the same is to a large extent true of the pupils themselves. The average pupil, anyhow the average boy, requires a motive to work, and it is vital to his proper education that he should be supplied with a sound one. Such a motive cannot be supplied by a system which gives a false perspective to a boy's school life, offering him rewards and honours for examination successes, but passing by the real foundations and objects of his education. To quote once more the Report of the Schools' Inquiry Commission: "If boys at school are induced to view examinations as the be-all and end-all of school life, it is probable that the good which they do in stimulating study will be very dearly purchased." Or, as Mr. Paton put it, "the boy who learns for an examination is seldom educated in the true sense of the term." He has a low ideal of school life put before him. He is encouraged to cultivate "an examination frame of mind," a thing which is incompatible with the true spirit of education.†

*This danger was foreseen at the time of the establishment of the University Local Examinations, but it was deemed (we think justly) to be outweighed at the time by the advantage of utilising the influence of the Universities in raising the standard of instruction in the more backward Secondary Schools.

†The general effect of excessive or misdirected examinations on school life is well put in the following extract from the report of a French Inspector: "J'ai souvent encore las sensation que notre ecole est triste, encore lu sensutiou que notre école est triste, [footnote continues on next page]

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Lastly, the stress laid on a false criterion of a school's efficiency puts dangerous temptation in the way of the teacher. He knows the mechanical test by which the public is likely to judge his worth, and in many cases he surrenders at discretion. This is not true, of course, of the best schools or of the best teachers, But it is unfortunately true in just those cases in which the need of a higher stimulus towards improvement is greatest. Even in the weaker schools, the teacher may know the better, but may be constrained by circumstances to follow the worse. His only choice may be to sacrifice either his ideals or his livelihood. In either case his usefulness as an educator will be impaired if his training degenerates into cramming, and if he lends himself to a system in which his class as a whole suffer in their general training while the chosen few are exploited for the reputation of their school.

The absence of co-operation between the various examining bodies has already been alluded to in Chapter II. We should like at this point to lay special emphasis on one of its unfortunate consequences.

It has already been noticed that it is a very difficult matter to equate the various external examinations taken in Secondary Schools. It is notorious amongst teachers that some of these examinations, even those which to the public appear to be of a similar character, are easier than others. The natural result is that the various bodies which accept these examinations as exempting successful candidates from their own admission

Footnote continued.

morne, monotoue, sans mouvement, sans vie, sans Ie moindre rayon de poésie. Trop fréquemment je la trouve froide, peu impressionante, peu éducative, incapable de prendre l'enfant par tout le fond de son être, de faire vibrer, si l'on peut dire, toutes les fibres de son àme. ... On rapporte presque tout à la préparation des examens, ce qui fait que l'enseignement se rapétisse en prenant un caractère trop pratique, trop utilitaire, et qu'on oublie ainsi le but essentiel de l'éducation qui ne doit viser qu'aux choses du deduns, à l'àme, à sa formation, à sa culture." M. Rayot, Bulletin départemental de l'instruction primaire de Hautes Alpes, 1905.

To this may be added the following: "Moreover, for reasons already stated, the knowledge which is acquired for examinations operates less as culture than that which is obtained under other circumstances. And when the examination is a compulsory one, there is a servile and ignoble influence breathing about it, since it acts not on the hopes, but on the fears, and holds disgrace and degradation before the eyes of the candidate. Such examinations may be necessary, but they never can be more than a necessary evil; and that system would, indeed, be unworthy a great and highly-civilised nation, whose machinery of education was all of this structure." Whewell, "On the Principles of English University Education", page 60.

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examinations are compelled to compile intricate regulations dealing with the conditions under which the various examinations will be accepted. This question has already been dealt with in detail in the last chapter. Much has been done in the last few years to simplify these complications, but the fact remains that the position is still far from satisfactory. The levels of attainment reached by different pupils at any one age will of course always differ widely, and it is not supposed that one set of examination papers will be equally appropriate for them all. But there should be no insuperable difficulty in arriving at a standard which the average pupil should reach at a stated age, and taking this as the criterion by which alternative examinations should be gauged. To secure such a standard two things are essential. In the first place, close co-operation is required not only amongst the examining bodies, but also between them and the schools. Secondly, it must be understood that the standard is to be fixed on purely educational grounds. At the present moment the first condition cannot be fulfilled, as no machinery exists for co-ordinating the work of the various bodies and persons concerned. As regards the second condition, it may be assumed that the examining bodies endeavour to allow no considerations, other than educational ones, to weigh with their decisions as to passes and failures. The fact remains, however, that, though in many cases they are dealing with schools in practically the same category, their standards do differ. Whether this is the result simply of different estimates of the capabilities of the candidates or of other causes, we are not in a position to say. But much confusion arises from it, and it is difficult to see how any remedy can be found while the present isolation of examining bodies exists.

So long as the pupils of any one school are intending to enter upon different careers when they leave, it is almost inevitable that there should be some conflict between the interests of their general school education and those of the various Universities or professions to which they are proceeding. These latter bodies not unnaturally demand that candidates for admission should be qualified by previous training for the studies which they will subsequently have to pursue, and they usually apply this general principle by requiring a certain level of attainments in stated subjects, which of course differ with the different bodies. The school which is responsible for the early training of these candidates has, therefore, to provide special courses for pupils with different objects in view, and

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has also to cater for pupils who are going straight into commerce or business and whose education therefore must be rounded off at school. The difficulty of organising a school as a place of general education under such circumstances has already been alluded to. The logical sequence and coherence of the curriculum is broken up, the time available for methodical instruction and mental training is reduced, specialisation is prematurely introduced, and the value of the finished product of the school is lowered. It has already been admitted that part of this difficulty is inevitable. It could, indeed, be met by organising special schools as special training grounds for separate professions. That, however, is a solution which is not only impracticable on a general scale but also, if widely adopted, very undesirable on many grounds. It only remains to be seen, therefore, whether the difficulty cannot be largely reduced. We think that much could be done in this direction, but only if there were a willingness to co-operate in discovering the best means of effecting it, and also to adopt some plan in which there should be a certain amount of give and take. The bodies which look to the schools for their material must be brought to realise not only the effect of their individual requirements, but also the effect of their combined demands. Further, they must be asked to appreciate the fact that the pupils in whose careers they are interested do not constitute the whole school, and that the remaining pupils, who are often in a large majority and who will enter a great variety of avocations [calling away from an employment] after leaving school, must have their interests considered too. The influence of any one University or profession cannot legitimately claim to be the supreme influence in any school which has such conflicting interests to serve. On the other hand, while we fully admit the advantages of a good general education, we think that the schools cannot merely legislate for themselves and settle the complete course of their pupils' studies, without having some regard to the needs and views of the Universities and professions.

We shall suggest later a scheme by which the legitimate claims of pupils, schools, Universities and professions respectively may as far as possible be safeguarded. For the moment we may say that there are two general principles which we think should be observed. The first is that in the case of pupils of average ability, there should be little specialisation before the age of 16. In other words, the schools should be more or less supreme in deciding upon the pupils' course up to that age, providing them with a broad liberal education, though allowing, of course, as far as possible, for the development of any special aptitudes.* After that age the schools should be willing to work more directly in the direction desired by the Universities and

*The question of school curricula and their relation to examinations is discussed in greater detail in Chapter IV. See pages 111 and 116.

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professions. But these latter bodies should be asked to confer together and with the schools, so as to reduce their interference with the normal school course to a minimum, and so as to arrive at a clear perception of what are the attainments and the qualities which it is really most to their advantage to demand of the students coming to them. The somewhat elastic system of division into "sides" which already exists in many schools points, we believe, to a simple method by which all that is really necessary in the way of opportunities for differentiated training can be provided.

We would add that though we consider that a good general education should be sufficient to secure admission to a University, we should also agree that it should not bind the University to admit students indiscriminately to all courses of study. Some differentiation based upon the subjects in which the students had shown reasonable proficiency might well be made when the time came to settle the course of their University studies. Yet even here considerable latitude should be allowed, and it should not be assumed that a student who wishes to follow some particular course of study must necessarily have shown any previous proficiency in it. To give an instance of what we mean, from a somewhat different sphere, we may note that medical students can be officially registered as such without any knowledge of science. The only obligatory subjects in the admission examination to the profession are Latin, English, and Mathematics. The responsible medical authorities, in fact, only ask for evidence of sufficient liberal training, mainly in the Arts. The whole of the necessary training in Natural Science can be begun, and often is begun, at a later age.

If the Universities and professions would agree as a whole to adopt this as their normal attitude to their candidates for admission, we believe that they would secure better and not worse material from the schools. They would find that schools which possessed freedom to develop within reasonable limits each in their own way, would produce for them the most capable and intelligent pupils, those who had really had the best education and whose whole faculties had been brought out in the most rational way. "It is of far more importance to have the mind well disciplined than richly stored; strong rather than full."

But the Universities and professions would not only gain by getting a less one-sided product from the schools. They, and the Government Service also, would clearly gain by the reform of a system which tends to drive boys and girls out of schools into cramming establishments. At present there comes a time when the competition for the rewards of examination is so fierce, and the necessary training is so specialised, that the schools are unable to prepare candidates successfully without surrendering all claim to be regarded as places of general education. The schools will disorganise

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themselves to a considerable extent in their endeavour to retain pupils and do their best for them. But there is a breaking point, and where it is reached the pupil must go.

Of all the professions, that of the Civil Service has probably led to the greatest amount of "cramming" of pupils of Secondary School age, and may be taken as an instance in point. Whether rightly or wrongly, it has been asserted by the organisers of private tuition that there are great numbers of Government posts which no candidates, except those of extraordinary ability, can hope to obtain by examination direct from school. The matter is referred to in the evidence of Mr. Hammond, Secretary and Registrar of the Civil Service Commission, and Mr. Mair, the Chief Examiner. It is clear from their evidence that efforts have been made in recent years to suit the Civil Service Examinations to the curricula of Secondary Schools. But the Commissioners cannot control the keenness of the competition, the result of which has been to cause large numbers of their most successful candidates to leave school, give up their general education, and all the advantages of the corporate life at school, and spend a period of their youth in pure cramming. This is so even in those examinations in which the Commissioners have made special efforts to suit their tests to the curricula of the Secondary Schools. Thus Mr. Hammond told us that in "the competition for Junior appointments in the Admiralty and certain other offices the age of examination was 18 to 19½. The salary commenced at "£100 a year, and might rise to anything up to £1,200. The last three competitions for this grade had been analysed.

In the last competition (held July 1909) there were 33 successful out of 282 candidates. Of these 33, nine had been to crammers and seven had prepared privately. Some had been to France and Germany, languages being an important part of the examination.

In the competition of December 1905 there were 151 candidates, of whom 42 were successful. Of the latter, 26 had been to crammers and three had prepared privately.

In the examination of June 1906 (the first one held in this class), 16 out of 40 candidates were successful. Nine of the 16 had been to crammers and three had prepared privately."

In a word, out of the 91 successful candidates in competitions specially devised to attract boys from Secondary Schools, no less than 57 had left school and gone to "crammers" or private preparation.

It may be added that it would appear that the need for special preparation is felt even more strongly amongst candidates for posts in the Second Division of the Civil Service. Some figures given in the Forty-Fifth Report of the Civil Service Commissioners, quoted as a foot-note to Mr. Hammond's evidence on page 135, show this very plainly. Out of 135 successful candidates who attended the competition for Second

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Division Clerkships in September 1900, without having been in employment prior to the examination, only 34 came direct from school, while the remaining 101 - three-fourths of the whole - attended "after special preparation".

It is no doubt true that most of those boys had received the bulk of their education at school, and had only been to "crammers" for a comparatively short period. It may also he true - we certainly have no reason to doubt it - that the Civil Service Commissioners secure on an average a high class of candidate. But we cannot believe either that they always get the best or that what they do get would not have been better if the last year at school had not been forfeited.

We have given the Civil Service as an instance merely because owing to its popularity it exemplifies on a very large scale the fact that examinations tend to defeat the very objects of those who conduct them. It cannot be to the advantage of any University or profession that the schools from which their applicants for admission come should be injured by the disorganisation which is due to many special classes. It is still less to their advantage that applicants should be taken from school altogether during the critical period of their training to undergo a course of simple cramming because their parents believe that this is the only road to success.

We should like to add here that we are quite aware that there is a good side to "cramming". At its best it stands for wonderfully efficient teaching, and demands on the part of the student a concentration of attention that may be a very useful experience for him. Six months of it for a boy who has had a long and possibly unstimulating course of teaching at school may prove a valuable mental tonic to him. But the teaching, though it may be very thorough, must from its very purpose be narrow when "the classes are arranged for specific examinations and the curriculum confined to the examination requirements", as the prospectus of one of the largest of these establishments has it. Such teaching does not claim to be educative, nor does it supply the pupil with that all-round mental and moral training which is the special virtue of a good school. It is especially to be deplored when it removes from school influences pupils whose school career is in any case all too short.

It must be admitted that while it is easy to point out these difficulties it is by no means easy to find a remedy for them. We can think, for instance, of no scheme for the selection of candidates for State appointments, which the public would accept, which does not include some form of competitive examination. Further, it seems probable that the keenness of the competition will tend rather to increase than diminish in the future. While admitting these difficulties, however, we believe that they could be considerably reduced. The matter is referred to again in Chapter V. (See page 139).

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Many of our witnesses laid stress on the physical and mental overstrain caused by examinations. Collections of observations on this subject do not, however, appear as yet to have been made. The evidence before us related mainly to girls, and among them to cases where the examinations were competitive and of frequent occurrence. Complaints, no doubt, are sometimes heard of the injury done to boys who are entered for competitive examinations involving anxiety as to their whole future career, and the case of the boy whose brain is worked out before he enters upon the real business of life is not unknown. But probably the average boy has a greater power of resistance to pressure than the average girl. Johnson long ago remarked that a boy cannot be taught faster than he will learn.

Our witnesses told us that they believed girls to be at once more ambitious and conscientious, working harder than boys, and indeed working harder than they need; that they react more quickly to the stimulation of their surroundings; and, further, that they are naturally less fitted to stand mental or nervous strain. Of the results of recurrent competitive examinations on girls, we find some evidence drawn from personal observation. Mrs. Scharlieb, M.D., stated that "as the result of her experience of a great many girls of school age and a little over, and of young married women, she was of opinion that examinations as at present conducted were very bad for girls ... The strain was increased directly a competitive element entered into the examination. In the case of scholarship examinations, for instance, the girls were very apt to overwork themselves. They became nervous and did not take sufficient rest, allowing their work to run into time that should be devoted to sleep. They could not be induced to put away their books at night. After working all day at lessons, homework was continued until 10 or 11 o'clock, and on top of that some girls took their books to bed with them so as to be able to study directly they woke in the morning. It was perfectly impossible for girls to be well under such circumstances ... Most of the girls she saw were day scholars or else girls at boarding schools brought to her during the holidays. She found a great many of them suffering from considerable mental and nervous trouble. In excessively bad cases (such as that of a girl coming from a neurotic stock) the effect of the stress of school life was very clearly marked; but it was found also in a lesser degree in girls of a different type. There were a sufficient number of such cases to make it certain that the present examination system was a serious danger to the physical well-being of young girls. Putting aside the naturally neurotic girls, there were

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many perfectly sound in bodily health who were yet injured by the strain. The neurotic ones, of course, suffered first and most, but the others also suffered. Of course, it was not possible at present to estimate the proportion of girls who suffered from overwork at school; but in a few years, under medical inspection, evidence upon this point might well be available. ... A great part of the mischief was caused by the constant recurrence of examinations. It was not so much the work itself, but the constant preparation for examination. The removal between the ages of 14 or 15 and 18 of this constant preparation for examinations would result in a much stronger race of women. The results of the strain not only interrupted and damaged the school career of these girls, but also injured them afterwards. They remained more nervous than they would have been, and, therefore, did not get on so well as young married women. The only cure for the present state of affairs in the case of a large number of girls living at home was to abolish these examinations altogether, as in many of the homes the mothers were unable to control the amount of work done by their daughters. The girls said the work was necessary, and the mothers were helpless. It was different in a boarding school, where the girls were thoroughly well looked after by a mistress who understood - and they did not all understand. The education of girls was not in itself wrong, but the conditions under which it was given were wrong. It would be a very great reform to substitute for the present system of examinations one qualifying leaving examination at the end of school life, with possibly one other examination at about the middle. But these examinations should not be competitive."

Miss Cock, M.D., told us "she had seen definite cases of girls being injured by preparation for examinations, not having learnt to manage themselves and not having received the assistance toward restraint that they should have had ... The way in which competitive examinations harmed young girls was by preventing their proper sleeping and eating, and by making them excitable and nervous. Sleep was generally (but not always) the first thing to suffer, and the work was injured enormously by that. The excessive strain and the anxious state of mind of the examination week itself, especially in the case of girls who continued to cram all through that time, was an important factor in the question."

Further, Miss Cock informed us that she saw no harm in the ordinary routine examinations of a school if properly conducted, and, in fact, considered that girls who had been trained to take such examinations quietly were less injured by competitive examinations later. She also considered that the overstrain of examinations as a rule only affected those girls who had to earn "their own living, i.e., whose future depended on their success

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in the examinations. The majority of the girls were not affected at all."

Mr. Houghton, late Inspector of Higher Education in the West Riding of Yorkshire, speaking of competitive examinations, informed us that "in the case of girls the overstrain was sometimes very serious."

Miss Burstall, Headmistress of the Manchester High School for Girls, told us that "there are occasional sad cases of girls going to college so worn out by the cramming they have gone through that they do no good when they get there. Even junior scholars are very often tired when they enter school at 11 or 12 years of age, and need a year's rest. This is not the fault of the Elementary School, because the same thing is noticed in regard to girls coming from private schools; while even in the case of certain Foundation Scholarships, competed for within this school, girls become 'stale' owing to their being crammed at home. It is the ambition to get the scholarship that causes them to exert themselves beyond their powers. These girls usually recover, with care, after about a year."

Miss Gadesden said that "anyone who had been through college was bound to have seen the bad results of overstrain upon certain temperaments." Miss Cock, in speaking of girls working at school for scholarships, stated that "when they at last got their scholarships, college life was less useful to them than it should have been. ... Those who did not actually break down frequently suffered from loss of freshness and interest in their work."

This evidence must clearly be allowed due weight. But we are not prepared to regard it as conclusive. An important piece of evidence on the other side was laid before us in the form of Mrs. Henry Sidgwick's "Health Statistics of Women Students of Cambridge and Oxford."* These Statistics furnish "authentic and detailed information as to observed facts in connection with the effect of a University course of study on the health of women, and contain a great deal of very valuable information about the earlier scholastic careers of such students. In all cases the health of the students under consideration is compared when possible, with that of the sisters nearest to them in age who did not go to the University. One of the results of the inquiry was to show that "throughout life [i.e., from three years of age upwards] the students in the aggregate maintain a higher standard of health than their sisters." Further, "this superiority appears before going to College, and therefore before College can have had any effect." After making every allowance for possible errors in the figures on which the conclusions were based, Mrs. Sidgwick herself concluded that "the superiority of the students' health over

*"Health Statistics of Women Students of Cambridge and Oxford, and of their sisters." Mrs. H. Sidgwick; Cambridge University Press, 1890.

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that of the sisters is real." It is pointed out that there are two possible explanations of this. Either the desire to go to College is the natural result of a higher average of physical vigour, or it may be that the more healthy members of a family are, on the average, expected to obtain remunerative work and accordingly prepare themselves for it, which the others do not. Still, even if it is admitted that the students as a whole are drawn from the more vigorous members of the various families, there appears to be little evidence in the figures that their studies injure them in any special way. The most that can be said is that there is "a temporary falling off during College life of about 5 per cent in good health compared with either health at entering, or present health." Perhaps the most interesting table in the book for our present purpose is Table xvii, which gives the number of examinations taken by students before going to College and by sisters. The following is an abridged form of this Table, omitting all details as to the various categories of students:

From the list of examinations included in this table, it is clear that they would have been taken, as a rule, by candidates between 14 and 18 years of age. Yet during these years the students' health was appreciably higher than that of their sisters, as shown by the following figures taken from Table iii:

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It may be pointed out that, for various reasons, Mrs. Sidgwick's evidence is not, perhaps, strictly comparable with that of our own witnesses. But her inquiry is clearly a very serious contribution to the subject and her conclusions carry great weight.

After a due consideration of the question we feel that we can only say that the question of overstrain due to examination needs precise investigation under existing conditions. The medical knowledge of school children which is now being gradually accumulated will help in this direction. But it must be remembered that the evidence of medical advisers such as those who appeared before us, accurate as no doubt it is, comes from persons whose opportunities for forming a judgment consist rather of observing cases where breakdown has actually occurred, than of studying whole classes of girls. Further, such breakdowns may be due to a variety of physical causes. They are sometimes the result of a pathological state due to some organism with which the child has been infected and the presence of which has not been recognised, such as the tubercle bacillus or the organism of rheumatic fever. Or breakdowns may be due to unobserved defects of physical structure, or to defects which might have been presumed had a sufficient family history been known. Such breakdowns might have been brought out by quite different circumstances, and even when apparently caused by mental strain at school may be due to the fact that in addition to school work and examinations girls often have serious home duties to perform, and sometimes are anxious or tired owing to "public service" duties at school. Again, it is often not so much the mental labour caused by examinations that is harmful, as the anxiety with which girls face an ordeal upon which their career may depend. The training of Elementary School teachers may be cited as an example of this complicated pressure of anxieties, intensified in their case by the fact that their time for preparation is limited. Yet when every allowance is made, and even if it is admitted that the pressure of examinations must be taken to be not very different from that of the other anxieties of life, there remain a certain number of individual cases of breakdown among girls, especially amongst those who are going to be teachers, directly brought about by multiplicity of examinations. In view of the course of physical development in girls, the incidence and pressure of such work upon them should be very carefully considered.

We are confident that much of the existing examination pressure can be removed both from boys and girls, anyhow in their earlier years. We shall make recommendations to this effect later on. We feel bound, however, to admit that we do not see how educational reform alone is going to cover the whole problem. In many cases what we call the pressure of examinations is really the pressure of social and economic

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causes - causes which impose on young people a sacrifice of energy, immediate enjoyment, and even health. We can do something possibly to conduct our examinations on more intelligent lines and to make the preparation for them more interesting and instructive. But it lies outside the province of the examiner to remove the pressure of economic rivalry that gives its sting to the competitive examination.

It may be convenient here to state explicitly what is implied in much of the earlier part of this chapter, namely, that the examination system in this country has hardly kept pace with recent developments in the best Secondary Schools. This statement is not inconsistent with our belief that in many cases the examination system has compelled schools to adjust themselves to it, and has therefore tended to retard and impede the introduction and adoption of newer methods. As has already been noted, many influences have been at work in recent years which have tended towards the improvement and development of Secondary Schools, influences too powerful to be wholly counteracted by the shackles of external examinations. In saying this we would wish to guard ourselves from appearing to imply that it has been solely due to the way in which the external examinations have been conducted that they have fallen behind the times. We have no doubt given instances to show why we believe that in some cases particular external examinations have had a retarding influence on Secondary Schools. But what we are now thinking of is rather the anachronism of any system of examinations which fails to come into line with the new forces at work in Secondary Schools.

Many of these new forces were admirably set out by Mr. Bruce in his evidence, and may conveniently be summarised here. In the first place, the number of pupils in State-aided Secondary Schools has increased enormously in recent years, the number on whose account grants have been paid having trebled even in the last seven years. This has greatly increased the actual bulk of the examination work and with it the tendency on the part of the examining authorities to seek relief from over pressure by uniformity, and the temptation to resort to mechanical methods. Secondly, there has been a great widening of the curriculum; in many schools more subjects have been added, and in many, even where certain subjects were not new, they have assumed a much more important position in the curriculum. Thirdly, the methods of instruction have altered considerably, and have become in many cases more practical. Fourthly, there has been a growing movement in favour of elasticity in the curriculum

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and of the power to try experiments in the curriculum and in the methods. Thus, even on the academic side of school life alone, the increase in the number of pupils and the increased width, depth, and elasticity of the curriculum, has made the conduct of examinations much more difficult and much more expensive. Further, increased attention has been given to the non-academic side of school life, and rendered the test of paper examinations alone increasingly unsatisfactory. Tile necessities of the times have begun to call for more appropriate methods both of judging the value of the whole work of the school, of conveying this judgment to the public, and of giving assistance in further improvements. Means must also be devised whereby greater freedom is secured to the schools, and whereby the utmost educational use is made of the time during which pupils remain at school. We do not believe that these necessary improvements can be made so long as the existing system of external examinations remains as it is, and to that extent we believe that the system has failed, and if unaltered must continue to fail, to keep abreast with developments in the organisation and expansion of Secondary Schools.

We cannot close this chapter, however, without adding that we are well aware that it is one thing to point out blemishes, and another to find a remedy for them. We realise fully that the problem before us bristles with difficulties, and we make no claim to have found a solution to all of them. The most we hope to do is to point out the principles on which we think that future action should be based, leaving it to the concerted action of others gradually to work out the details of a practical scheme.

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A consideration of the facts and criticisms which have been given in the previous chapters of this report has led us to the conclusion that some reform of the existing system of external examinations* in Secondary Schools is urgently needed. We regard this, in fact, as the central point of the problem which has been referred to us by the Board of Education. We shall endeavour, therefore, in the present chapter to lay down the general principles on which we consider that these external examinations should in future be conducted.

Before doing this it will be convenient if we summarise what we believe to be the more important effects of examinations (1) on the pupil, (2) on the teacher.

(1) The good effects of examinations on the pupil are (a) that they make him work up to time by requiring him to reach a stated degree of knowledge by a fixed date; (b) that they incite him to get his knowledge into reproducible form and to lessen the risk of vagueness; (c) that they make him work at parts of a study which, though important, may be uninteresting or repugnant to him personally; (d) that they train the power of getting up a subject for a definite purpose, even though it may not appear necessary to remember it afterwards - a training which is useful for parts of the professional duty of the lawyer, the administrator, the journalist, and the man of business; (e) that in some cases they encourage a certain steadiness of work over a long period of time; and (f) that they enable the pupil to measure his real attainment (i) by the standard required by outside examiners, (ii) by comparison with the attainments of his fellow pupils, and (iii) by comparison with the attainments of his contemporaries in other schools.

On the other hand, examinations may have a bad effect upon the pupil's mind (a) by setting a premium on the power of merely reproducing other people's ideas and other people's methods of presentment, thus diverting energy from the creative process; (b) by rewarding evanescent forms of knowledge; (c) by favouring a somewhat passive type of mind; (d) by giving an undue advantage to those who, in answering questions on paper, can cleverly make the best use of, perhaps, slender attainments; (c) by inducing the pupil, in his prepara-

*The term "external examinations" is perhaps somewhat ambiguous. We think our meaning will be clear if we state that unless the context requires a wider interpretation of the expression, we use it in reference to examinations such as the "Locals" which, though used for other purposes, are primarily educational in their aim.

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tion for an examination, to aim rather at absorbing information imparted to him by the teacher than at forming an independent judgment upon the subjects in which he receives instruction; and (f) by stimulating a competitive (and, at its worst, a mercenary) spirit in the acquisition of knowledge.

(2) The good effects of well-conducted examinations upon the teacher are (a) that they induce him to treat his subject thoroughly; (b) that they make him so arrange his lessons as to cover with intellectual thoroughness a prescribed course of study within appointed limits of time; (c) that they impel him to pay attention not only to his best pupils, but also to the backward and the slower amongst those who are being prepared for the examination; and (d) that they make him acquainted with the standard which other teachers and their pupils are able to reach in the same subject in other places of education. On the other hand, the effects of examinations on the teacher are bad (a) in so far as they constrain him to watch the examiner's foibles and to note his idiosyncrasies (or the tradition of the examination) in order that he may arm his pupils with the kind of knowledge required for dealing successfully with the questions that will probably be put to them; (b) in so far as they limit the freedom of the teacher in choosing the way in which he shall treat his subject; (c) in so far as they encourage him to take upon himself work which had better be left to the largely unaided efforts of his pupils, causing him to impart information to them in too digested a form or to select for them groups of facts or aspects of the subject which each pupil should properly be left to collect or envisage for himself; (d) in so far as they predispose the teacher to over-value among his pupils that type of mental development which secures success in examinations; (e) in so far as they make it the teacher's interest to excel in the purely examinable side of his professional work and divert his attention from those parts of education which cannot be tested by the process of examination.

It will be seen that the dangers of examinations, and especially of external examinations, are considerable in their possible effects both on pupil and on teacher. We have no hesitation, however, in stating our conviction that external examinations are not only necessary but desirable in Secondary Schools. But we are equally convinced that if the admitted advantages of external examinations are to be secured and the dangers of them minimised, such examinations should be subjected to most stringent regulations as to their number, the age at which they are taken, and their general character.

The fundamental principles which we think must underlie any improved system are as follows:

(i) Examinations which are conducted by external examining bodies and of which the primary object is an educational one, should be brought into intimate connection with inspection, the existing system of

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inspection being modified and developed so as to meet the new needs.

(ii) The existing multiplicity of external examinations (including those of Universities, and professional and other bodies), the claims of which at present so frequently interfere with the best work of the schools, should be reduced by concerted action.

(iii) All external examinations should be so conducted as to assist and emphasise the principle that every Secondary School should provide, for pupils up to an average age of 16, a sound basis of liberal education, which, though not necessarily of the same type in all schools, would serve as a foundation upon which varieties of further education could be based.

Returning now to the three main principles enumerated above, we come first to the connection between examination and inspection. We have seen in a previous chapter that the two functions are to a great extent conducted by different bodies, examination being conducted mainly by separate examining bodies, and inspection being conducted mainly by the Board of Education. So far as this means that both inspection and examination are at present conducted by persons who are constantly employed in such work, the system, no doubt, is a sound one. Both inspection and examination are functions which

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can only be performed efficiently by persons who have considerable experience of them. Where the present system appears to us to fail is that the labours of inspectors and examiners are too independent of each other. We think that the first step towards the improvement of external examinations is to bring inspection and examination into organic and intimate connection. The details of any scheme for securing this connection must be left for future discussion between the Board of Education and the examining authority. We would suggest, however, that it would be necessary to group the inspectorate in such a way that each district contained inspectors who were not only thoroughly conversant with the needs of their schools, but were also competent to conduct expert inspection and practical and oral examination in the various subjects of the school curricula. It may be assumed that the main part of this inspectorate would consist of the Board's inspectors, whose numbers would have to be strengthened for the purpose. But it could also be reinforced by experienced members of other approved bodies of inspectors where such exist or come into being. This inspectorate would, of course, co-operate with the examining authority; but something more than mere co-operation between inspectors and examiners is needed. It is not sufficient, for instance, that the examiners should see the inspectors' reports on the general working of the school, or that the inspectors should be shown the examiners' reports on the examination. We think that inspection should form an integral part of the examination itself, and that the two functions of inspection and examination should, in a certain number of cases, be combined in the same person, and co-ordinated by one authority. Such persons, whom, for want of a better word, we may call interview-examiners, would not be only examiners or only inspectors. They would in fact resemble the chief examiners now selected by the Board of Education front their inspectorate for the conduct of the Board's own examinations. As to their personnel, they would either be inspectors who were accepted by the examining authority to assist them in conducting certain parts of their examinations, or experienced members of the staff of the examining authority who, on account of their practical experience in the duties of inspection, were accepted by the Board to assist them in conducting part of their inspections. The actual details as to personnel could, of course, only be settled when the constitution, etc., of the examining authority was settled. The main thing is that the appointment or selection of some such officers should be agreed upon. We attach very great importance to this point, as we believe that it is only by these means that that organic combination of inspection and examination can be secured which, in our opinion, lies at the root of the general improvement of external examinations on educational lines which we are so desirous of promoting.

We come now to consider (i) how the multiplicity and variety of external examinations in Secondary Schools may be reduced;

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(ii) what should be the character of such external examinations as can be approved under a reformed system; and (iii) at what age such examinations should be taken. It will be convenient to take these three points more or less together.

As general guiding principles in the consideration or these three points, we make the following recommendations. We will first state them briefly, and subsequently explain their object and discuss any difficulties which appear to arise from them:

(i) The first external examination to be taken normally by a pupil in a Secondary School, save for what may be found necessary in the form of admission or scholarship examinations, should be one which would be a suitable test of the general attainments of an average pupil of 16 years of age.

(ii) This examination should be of such a kind that success in it may be regarded as a guarantee of a good general education in a Secondary School. It should not be simply a guarantee of a certain amount of mental attainment. What seems to be wanted is something which recognises the whole body of the school's work and of the pupil's energies. The examination, therefore, must not only be specially devised to meet the whole of the needs of the schools. It must also be confined to such pupils as can reasonably claim to have had a Secondary School education. To make good such a claim we think that pupils should comply with two conditions. They should in general have reached the class in which the average age of the pupils is 16, and they should have been in attendance for at least three years in one or more approved Secondary Schools after the age of 12. We would suggest that the examination should be called the Examination for the Secondary School Certificate,* so that its name may convey a perfectly clear idea to the public of what it really is.

(iii) This examination should be, in a sense, quite distinct from any of the external examinations now conducted in Secondary Schools. It need not, however, be an entirely new examination conducted by entirely new examining bodies. It must remain a matter for future conference whether any or these bodies would adapt any of their existing examinations and bring them into line with the new principles we recommend, retaining their independent organisations but admit-

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ting the combination of inspection and agreeing to co-ordinate their standard by means of some central council. This is largely a matter of machinery, which we shall discuss in the next chapter. For the moment it is sufficient to make it clear that we recommend that the existing variety of external examinations should be replaced by what we have termed the "Secondary School Certificate Examination", but that we use this term to mean either one examination, by whomsoever conducted, or several examinations which, though conducted by different bodies, are of the same character and standard, are guaranteed to be so by some approved central council, and are generally accepted as genuine equivalents.

(iv) The only other external examination to be taken by the ordinary pupil in a Secondary School (subject to such exceptions as will be referred to later on), should be one which would be suitable to the attainments of pupils of an average age of 18 or 19.

It is, of course, obvious that to forbid any external examinations to be taken in Secondary Schools by pupils who have not reached an average age of 16, and who have not been in attendance at one or more approved schools for three years, raises several serious difficulties. It appears that many, if not most, of the pupils in the Secondary Schools on the Board's List of Efficient Secondary Schools, leave school before they are 16 years old, and that even of those who remain till 16 many have not been at a Secondary School for three years.

To forbid these pupils to take any external examination would debar them from obtaining a certificate which would be of use to them in obtaining admission to their future studies or career. Further, in the case of schools where the leaving age was low, and where in consequence a very small percentage of the pupils would stay long enough to take an external examination, it would be impossible to apply this very necessary test of efficiency. We must now examine these difficulties, and see to what extent they are genuine and require to be met.

Official figures showing the ages at which boys and girls leave Secondary Schools are given in Table 47 of the Board of Education's Statistics for 1908-9,* and relate to pupils who left Secondary Schools on the grant list during the year ending July 31st, 1909. Taking the case of those pupils only who remain at school till 12 years of age and over, we find that of such pupils the average leaving age in England was

*Since this paragraph was adopted by the Committee, the Board's Statistics for 1909-10 have been published. The percentages given in these later statistics do not vary appreciably from those of the previous year which are quoted above.

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15 years 5 months for boys and 15 years 11 months for girls. Further, out of the pupils who remained at school after reaching the age of 12, 62.5 [per cent] of the boys and 45.4 per cent of the girls left schools in England before they became 16 years of age.

As regards the average duration of school life after 12 years of age, that of boys and girls in England is 2 years 7 months. No less than 69 per cent of the boys and 70.4 per cent of the girls in grant-earning English Secondary Schools had a school life of less than 3 years, after 12 years of age.* It may be added that these figures refer only to pupils other than pupil teachers.

We quite appreciate the caution which accompanies Table 47 in the Board's Statistics, and are anxious not to make unfair or unjustifiable use of the above figures. It seems perfectly clear, however, that though the figures for individual schools or types of schools might differ considerably from the averaged totals, the number of boys and girls who leave school before they become 16 is very large. In the case of boys in grant-earning schools, it appears to be more than half the whole number who remain at school after they are 12 years old. In the case of girls, it is slightly under half. Further, it is clear that a large majority, in fact more than two thirds of the whole, of the pupils in grant-earning schools in England have a Secondary School life of less than three years' duration after reaching the age of 12.

When, therefore, we recommend that the first external examination that shall be allowed in recognised efficient schools shall be confined to pupils of an average age of 16 who have been not less than three years in one or more efficient Secondary Schools, we are quite aware that we are making a recommendation which would at present exclude large numbers of Secondary School pupils altogether from its influence, and that large numbers of pupils would leave school without obtaining the School Certificate that would be based on this examination. We believe, all the same, that our recommendation is a proper one, and that for several reasons. There is practically no profession or University which demands that its entrance examination shall be passed when the candidate is below 16 years of age. No injury, therefore, is done, as a rule, to candidates for such careers by forbidding them to take external examinations at an earlier date.

There might be cases, however, in which the new regulation might cause hardship. Many pupils leave school at about 15 to go into industrial or commercial careers. There may be no entrance examination to such careers, but employers may ask, and are beginning increasingly to ask, for some certificate as evidence of general school attainments. Further, even when

*In the case of a pupil who attended more than one Secondary School, the period spent in the last school only has been taken into account in the table from which the above figures are taken.

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such certificate is not to be used for practical purposes, the possession of it causes a not unnatural gratification both to pupils and their parents, and the hope of securing it is a helpful, and, in reason, a proper, stimulus to work during school life. We think, therefore, that while the shorter a pupil's time at school the greater the need for securing that time from interruption, some arrangement should be devised whereby these younger pupils may be provided with a certificate which will serve as evidence of that amount of education which they have received and be of service to them in securing employment. We are prepared to recommend, therefore, that a certificate which might be known as the Secondary School Testamur* might be issued to those pupils who are not able to remain at school long enough to obtain the Secondary School Certificate. In order that this Testamur may cause the least possible interruption of school work, it should be based on (a) success in the usual internal school examinations, (b) the school record.† No special examination of any sort would be required. In order, however, that the Testamur might have the value which attaches to the certificate of a standardised examination, it should be countersigned by the Board of Education, acting through their Inspectors. This examination is dealt with in greater detail on page 150. It is sufficient to add here that great care should be taken to keep the Secondary School Testamur clearly distinguished both in name and value from the Secondary School Certificate.

If this Testamur were provided, the fact that the age and attendance conditions which we recommend for the Secondary School Certificate Examination are such that at present they would exclude many pupils from its benefits, would be, in our opinion, by no means wholly a disadvantage. We believe that the result would be to secure a far more effective attendance at school, and to impress upon the public the real meaning of secondary education, and the need for much more continuous study on secondary lines. We believe that there is a tendency already towards the lengthening of school life, and that our suggestions would give a stimulus in the same direction. At the same time we believe that even the pupils who continued to leave school before 16, though they would not earn a large array of certificates as at present, would spend their short time at school much more profitably, as they would devote the whole of it to education without the disturbing influence of external examinations.

It must, of course, be a matter for the Board of Education to decide whether they consider the time is ripe for a move of this sort, and, if not, what modification, temporary or otherwise, in our age conditions they think necessary. Our plan is based

*See footnote on page 106.

†As to the sense in which this term is used, see page 118.

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admittedly on a state of progress which has hardly been achieved at the present moment. But there seem to be indications that advance will be fairly rapid in the near future, and if any reform of the examination system is to be undertaken, we feel that it should be based not so much on the existing level of Secondary School conditions as on that to which the schools may reasonably be expected to rise. Indeed, a reformed examination system which assumes an advance in the efficiency of Secondary Schools will be one of the most powerful levers in securing that advance.

There is a further hardship which might be caused by the Secondary School Certificate Examination, which it may be convenient to dispose of here. It may be supposed that if our recommendations were adopted, the Secondary School Certificate would gradually earn a reputation which would make it the most readily accepted passport to most future careers. But it is certain that, having regard to the present organisation of secondary education, the children of work people and others, however promising, are, through economic conditions, in constant danger of having their secondary education cut short. If the Secondary School Certificate were, in the main, confined to certain categories of pupils in recognised efficient Secondary Schools the careers of many capable children might be prejudiced as the direct result of the precedence given to that Certificate. This is a genuine objection, and it must be met. We think that the adoption of the following recommendations would provide the necessary safeguards. In the first place we think that Local Education Authorities should increase their provision of bursaries to assist promising pupils over difficult periods. They should also make arrangements to allow Free Place and Scholarship holders in Secondary Schools, whose parents are forced to move to other parts of the country, equal opportunities of attending recognised Secondary Schools by the transference of such Free Place or Scholarship. Secondly, we would propose that candidates from types of Secondary Schools not at present recognised as Secondary by the Board of Education should be eligible to receive the Secondary School Certificate if they complied in other respects with the regulations of the examination. Thirdly, we would recommend that candidates who, even so, could not make themselves eligible to compete for the Secondary School Certificate, in its complete form, but who, after attending other schools or classes, or after private study, had attained the standard of the examination, should be admitted to the examination as external candidates. The certificate, however, given to successful candidates of this type should be clearly distinguishable from that awarded after an approved course of education in a Secondary School, though arrangements should be made to endorse on such certificates a record of any attendance at schools or classes which the candidate had been able to make. We are not prepared to

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recommend a title for such certificate, but amongst other titles the following have been suggested, namely, the Secondary Education Certificate, the Secondary Subjects Certificate, and the Certificate of Further Education. Lastly, we would recommend that Professional bodies, Universities, Local Authorities, and others, should accept this latter certificate as an alternative qualification in the case of applicants for appointments or for exemptions from other examinations.

But having disposed of the question of hardship to individual pupils, there is a further difficulty in connection with the schools themselves. Is it clear that if the first external examination allowed in a Secondary School were confined to those classes where the pupils had reached an average age of 16, there would be any means left of gauging the efficiency of the lower forms? We believe there would. To begin with, the way in which the pupils of 16 acquitted themselves in their examination would be a fair clue to the value of the instruction in the lower forms. But in any case, the lower forms would be subject both to internal examinations and to inspection. We believe that, as a rule, the use of school examinations such as we recommend later, together with proper inspection, should provide the Board of Education and the Local Education Authority with all the information they want as to the state of the lower forms. The Board should, of course, reserve power to subject to an independent examination the lower forms of schools which seemed for any reason to require some special test.

The second general recommendation which we made above in connection with the Secondary School Certificate Examination was that it should be of such a kind that success in it might be regarded as a guarantee of a good general education. This raises the very important question of the range of subjects which it is expedient to require a candidate (a) to study during his course at the Secondary School, and (b) to submit for examination. It is clear that these two requirements need not be identical. The obligatory course of study may well be wider in range than the examination at its close. But the two requirements must necessarily be in some relation to one another in order to guard against the danger of the neglect of those subjects of instruction in which the candidate would not be actually examined for his certificate. The prevention of this neglect is one of the strongest reasons for a closer combination of school inspection with school examination.

The Board of Education's Regulations for Secondary Schools permit great varieties of curriculum. They require the curriculum to provide instruction in the English Language and Literature, in at least one language other than English (with the proviso that, by special permission of the Board, languages other than English may be omitted from the curriculum), in geography, in history, in mathematics, in science, and in

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drawing. A curriculum including two languages other than English, but making no provision for instruction in Latin, is approved only when the Board are satisfied that the omission of Latin is for the educational advantage of the school. Instruction in science must include practical work by the pupils. The curriculum is required to make adequate provision for manual instruction, singing, physical exercises, and organised games. In schools for girls, the curriculum must include provision for practical instruction in domestic subjects; and an approved course in a combination of domestic subjects (which include needlework, cookery, laundry-work, housekeeping, and household hygiene) may be substituted, in the case of girls over 15 years of age, partially or wholly, for science and for mathematics other than arithmetic. An even larger measure of freedom is secured by the further regulation of the Board that individual pupils or special classes may, with its approval, follow a curriculum varying from that approved for the rest of the school.

We regard the freedom permitted by these regulations as educationally wise and administratively expedient, though we trust that permission given to individual scholars to follow courses which differ from those of the rest of their class is only granted to older scholars and then only with great discretion. We should therefore deprecate any form of examination requirement which would curtail the variety of curricula now sanctioned in English Secondary Schools. Provided that the instruction given is thorough and stimulating and that each pupil has a reasonable opportunity of access to a school furnishing the type of curriculum adapted to his or her aptitudes and needs, we feel that variety in courses of study conduces to the general welfare of national education, to the vigour of the teachers' work, and to the advantage of the individual pupils.

In bringing its influence to bear upon the curriculum of English Secondary Schools the Board of Education has attempted a double task. Where undue specialisation was practised, it has endeavoured to correct this defect; on the other hand, where the curriculum was scrappy, it has encouraged greater concentration of purpose upon the central needs of a liberal education. It has refrained, however, from any precise definition of the range of instruction which a Secondary School should provide, and it has not bound down each individual Secondary School to one type of curriculum. If (as we think desirable) this freedom is to be preserved, the requirements of the Secondary School Certificate Examination must be made capable of adjustment to very different types of secondary education.

In Germany, in the earlier years of the nineteenth century, when the Prussian system of Secondary Schools was remodelled by the State, the essentials of a liberal education were defined in such

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a way as to exclude the purely modern types of school curricula. Later experience has led the German authorities to widen their original definition and to extend equal recognition to classical, semi-classical, and non-classical curricula. Their conception of secondary education in its strictest sense is, however, still largely influenced by the earlier definition. English opinion, on the contrary, is tending more and more to include in the conception of a liberal education, of whatever type, school activities of various kinds, including practical work, as factors of essential importance. We ourselves incline to this view of what should be aimed at in a liberal education, provided that care be taken to insist upon intellectual thoroughness in a sufficiently wide range of scholastic subjects. What that range should be in each type of Secondary School is a question which must necessarily be discussed by the examining authorities, the various bodies which should be asked to accept the Secondary School Certificate, and by the Board of Education, when they meet in conference. It is therefore unnecessary for us to go further into detail on a subject which will be more advantageously discussed at a later stage.

Having thus reviewed the main principles which should underlie the system of external examinations in Secondary Schools, we will now proceed to describe the manner in which we should like to see the Secondary School Certificate Examination conducted.

(i) We have already mentioned that inspection should form an integral part of the examination, and we have recommended that the inspectorate in any district should be so strengthened and grouped as to include persons who were competent to inspect the various subjects of the school curricula and to conduct practical and oral examinations in such subjects as required them. It would be of considerable use if means could be found for providing all the inspectors and interview-examiners in each district with some headquarters where they could meet either for consultation or for the discussion of examination papers or reports.

All the schools of the district which were taking the Secondary School Certificate Examination would be placed under this local group of inspectors, who would during the period previous to the examination make themselves thoroughly conversant with the needs and peculiarities of the different schools.

There are, no doubt, the elements of danger in this suggestion. We believe that many teachers have come to lean unduly on the support of external examinations. We should not be doing much to make them more self-reliant if we merely substituted one prop for another, and so arranged things that in future the teachers should lean too much on the inspector. This very real danger must be faced from the start. It must be plain from the beginning that when the interview-examiner

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visits a school for examination purposes, he is there to learn what is being done, and not to dictate or advise.

Moreover, care must be taken to prevent the new arrangements imposing any undue addition to the clerical labours of the staff. Much of the information which the interview-examiner will require will be found in the time-tables and syllabuses which are already supplied to the Board of Education. He should have access to these and not require the staff to supply him with additional copies.

(ii) For purposes which will be apparent later on, a reasonable amount of the written work produced by intending candidates during the year previous to the examination, together with the record of their scientific experiments, and the manual or artistic productions both of boys and girls, should be preserved at the school for the use of the inspectors and interview-examiners, together with the marks assigned to such work by the teachers.

(iii) The examination itself, though mainly (a) written, should also be partly (b) practical and partly (c) oral.

(a) In the case of the written work, the examination papers should be appropriate to the approved syllabus of the school, and care should be taken that they do not restrict any approved experiments in methods and instruction.

In practice this recommendation must be carried out with considerable discretion. It is obvious that it is not necessary for every school to have its own separate examination paper in every subject. We imagine that for ordinary purposes school syllabuses would be found to fall naturally into a few categories in each subject, and that not more than perhaps half a dozen separate papers would be required in each subject for all the schools. The number would probably vary according to the subject, and in some subjects one or two papers might be found sufficient. But as a safeguard we think that teachers should have the option of supplying the examining authority with full syllabuses of any subjects in the teaching of which the school was making any special experiments, and should be able to claim that the examination papers should be so drawn up as to meet the special requirements of the case, provided that the syllabus were approved, and also that the subject or the way in which it was taught really required special treatment. When such a claim is admitted, we think that special examination papers should be prepared without extra cost to the school.

Precautions must be taken to see that the normal papers are suitable to normal schools. We recommend that before any examination papers are actually set, they should be revised by special committees representing the different groups of subjects, and including interview-examiners and members with experience of teaching in Secondary Schools. It should be the first aim of such committees to keep the examination

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as educational as possible. Anything in the nature of a "tricky" paper should be scrupulously avoided. The object is not so much to find out what the pupils do not know, as to discover whether they have learned to think and to express themselves intelligently. It is wiser to set straightforward and simple questions, and require good answers, than, as sometimes happens, to ask for recondite information and give marks for small fragments of it. Above all, the examination papers must be of such a nature that they can be taken by the pupils without undue diversion from their ordinary work. We do not mean that we think the examination should not be specially prepared for, but that such preparation should only entail a careful revision of the work done at school during the previous year or two. It should not necessitate an abandonment of the approved school course, and a hurried attempt to master the tricks which it is supposed will circumvent an unknown examiner.

(b) In the case of such subjects as handicraft, drawing and needlework, the examination should include, or might even mainly consist of, inspection of the classes during instruction and of the pupil's work during the previous year. The interview-examiner who was responsible for any such special subject in a school would visit it at some time to be arranged with the authorities of the school, inspect the pupil's work, and conduct such practical examination as was considered necessary, finally making such report or list or marks as the examining authority required.

(c) In science subjects, though there is a place for paper work, some practical test must form an integral part of any real examination. It may not be necessary in every case to set the pupils to do a formal piece of practical work. But at least the examiner should have the opportunity of seeing them at work in the laboratory during term and of examining their notes and records. The actual nature of the test, in fact, may well be left to expert scientists to decide upon, so long as the practical side of the work forms a real part of the complete examination. In modern languages, the examination should include an oral test. These practical and oral examinations might be conducted at such times previous to the written examination as might be arranged between the schools and the interview-examiners. The latter would prepare similar reports or lists of marks to those suggested in the previous paragraph.

We have assumed in the last two paragraphs that such practical and oral tests as we consider to be highly desirable in theory could actually be carried out in practice if they were properly organised. It is only right, therefore, to point out that the labour and expense and other difficulties of such tests on a comprehensive scale would be considerable. These difficulties are pointed out in detail in Mr. Dale's evidence.* We

*See page 453.

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feel that for the moment we can only leave the matter over for future discussion by persons with experience of this kind of examination. It may be found difficult in some cases to organise a system under which a numerical mark could be fairly allotted to every candidate in every subject that was best examined by oral or practical methods. But even if this were so, and we quite see the force of Mr. Dale's arguments, we think that with careful organisation a good deal of what we want could be secured. At the least the examining authority could be provided with some evidence as to the oral or practical work done in a subject by each candidate, and such evidence should be taken into consideration before the final decision as to failure or success was made. The actual weight to be given to this evidence in settling examination results would be a matter for future discussion. For ourselves we consider that sufficient importance ought to attach to it to act as a guarantee that no candidates who obtained the Secondary School Certificate could have neglected their practical and oral work at school. Even this, though it is much less than we hope may eventually come from our recommendations, would link up the Secondary School Certificate Examination with important sides of school life which at present are too much ignored by external examinations.

(iv) When the examination was complete, the results, viz. the marks of the written answers and the interview-examiners' reports and marks, whether based on inspection or on practical and oral tests, would be sent to the examining authority. It would be the duty of the examining authority to collate these various results and to come to a final decision upon the complete record of each candidate.

It should be added that it should be the duty of the teachers to forward to the examining authority their estimates of the respective merits of their pupils in each subject, and the authority should consult these estimates in those cases where they had some doubt whether a candidate should pass or fail, any marked discrepancy between any of their own results and those of the teachers being made the subject of special inquiry.

(v) The examination should not be concerned only with picked pupils. The whole class should be presented. In no other way is it possible to judge fairly of the work of the school as a whole, or to ensure that the "tail" of a class shall receive the proper amount of attention.

(vi) As regards the subjects of the examination, without going into any detail on points which must be left to the consideration of some other authority, we would make the following suggestions. We think that while considerable latitude in organising school curricula should be allowed, it is desirable that after the curriculum of the school has once been approved, candidates from that school should be examined in

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each of the subjects which they have studied in the last year, or perhaps two years, of their approved course, and should be expected to obtain a fair aggregate of marks on the examination as a whole. Unless this is done there must always be a danger that young pupils will be allowed to drop useful but uncongenial subjects with a view to over-specialisation in their favourite subjects at too early an age, whether for their own supposed advantage or for that of the school. Further, we think that candidates should be expected to reach a given standard in a stated number of the principal subjects of their curriculum. The fact that they would have to be examined in all the subjects of their last year or so, and to reach a certain aggregate of marks on the whole examination would probably make it possible to leave them considerable freedom in choosing the individual subjects in which a qualifying mark had to be obtained, subject, however, to such regulations as the examining authority would from time to time lay down.

There is always the chance, no doubt, that if the conditions of the examination were left very wide, the certificate might not be accepted unconditionally by all the Universities and professional bodies in lieu of their own matriculation and preliminary examinations. Every effort therefore should be made to reach some reasonable compromise, which, while not interfering with what was considered educationally best for the schools, would meet such requirements of these bodies as experience showed to be based on really sound foundations. Our own view is that the Secondary School Certificate, if organised as we suggest, would, as a rule, give these bodies all they need in the way of a guarantee of a good all round education at a recognised school, and that in a few exceptional cases any further requirements could be met by a supplementary examination in one or two special subjects. In most cases there would not be any legitimate reason for asking a successful candidate to take the whole examination again if he did not happen to have passed in the exact combination of subjects required by some particular body for purposes of exemption. The Universities and professions should of course be consulted when the details of the examination were being thought out.

(vii) As regards the standard of the examination, we have already mentioned that we think it should be suited to the attainments of pupils of the average age of 16. Here again the Universities and professions must be consulted when the practical question comes up for consideration.

(viii) On the result of the complete examination, certificates would be awarded to successful candidates by the examining authority. They should bear the counter-signature of the Board of Education.

(ix) When the examination was complete, we think that two reports upon the work of candidates from each school should be drawn up by the examining authority. The first

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should be forwarded to the school authorities, the Local Education Authority, and the Board of Education. It should be in such a form that it could be published, and its publication should, in fact, be obligatory on the school, either as a separate document or as part of the annual report of the school as might be found most convenient. The second report should be more detailed than the first. It should be regarded as strictly confidential, for the private use of the school authorities, the Local Education Authority, and the Board of Education.

(x) The Secondary School Certificate Examination should be something more than a kind of stocktaking of a candidate's abilities on a given date. It is only fair to the candidate that a certificate on which his future career may largely depend should give credit for good work done prior to the examination, especially for work which cannot justly be estimated by examination methods. Moreover, a certificate which took note of such work would convey much more valuable information to a University, professional body, or employer than would a certificate based solely on examination results. At the same time, what is commonly known as a pupil's school record must be used with considerable discretion. The record of a pupil's school career - and the distinction is of great practical importance - really consists of two quite distinct parts. There is, firstly, the record of character and conduct - what we might call the moral record; and secondly, the record of school work done - the scholastic record. These stand on a very different footing, and must be considered separately.

(a) As regards the "record of character and conduct" we consider, of course, that the training of character forms an integral part of any sound education. Further, we are anxious that the Secondary School Certificate should be regarded as evidence of something more than academic attainments. At the same time, we are not prepared to recommend that the issue of a School Certificate should be in any direct way dependent upon the record of a pupil's behaviour at school. We consider that any such plan, attractive though it may appear at first sight, would present great difficulties in practice, and might frequently result in injustice to individual pupils. A mere record of facts, which might include records of scrapes and troubles into which a pupil had fallen, but which, so far as they involved any moral turpitude, he might have sincerely regretted, could not without risk of grave injustice be allowed to deprive him of his certificate when he left school. On the other hand, any attempt on the part of his teachers to weigh the good with the bad, and to make the issue of a certificate dependent not on the facts of a pupil's behaviour but on the teachers' final estimate of them, would also lead to great

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difficulties. Such a plan postulates on the part of every teacher such a perfect discernment of character and such an absence of unconscious bias as could hardly be often found.

Though, however, we do not think that the issue of a Secondary School Certificate should depend directly either on a pupil's record of conduct at school or on his teacher's estimate of it, or even that any entry as to his conduct should be made on his certificate, it should be remembered that, if our recommendations were followed, this certificate would only be obtainable by a pupil who had qualified for it by attendance for a period of at least three years after the age of 12 at one or more approved schools. Thus no pupil would be able to obtain a certificate unless he had been for some time under the influence of a good school, and unless his character and conduct had been at least sufficiently good to justify the school in retaining him. We do not think that anything further than this can be recommended. We are of opinion, however, that if a pupil who has gained a Secondary School Certificate has distinguished himself at school in any intellectual studies or pursuits lying outside the approved course of training, or in school government or in certain out-of-school activities, a statement of such facts should be made on his certificate by his head teacher, subject to conditions for such endorsement laid down by the examining authority.

(b) Coming now to what we have called the pupil's scholastic record, we consider that it both can and should be taken into account before the final decision is made as to the issue of a Secondary School Certificate. This is plain from what we have already said above. Without unnecessary repetition, we may sum up our view by stating that we think that the examining authority, when assessing the results of the Secondary School Certificate Examination, and deciding on the candidate's success or failure, should take into account (a) the interview-examiners' reports on his previous work as suggested in (ii) and (iii) above, and (b) their marks for practical and oral examinations. Further, in all border-line cases, the examining authority should compare their own estimate of a candidate, as shown by the aggregate marks allotted to him by the examiners in the various subjects, with the teacher's estimate, any marked discrepancy between the two estimates being made the subject of special inquiry.

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attention. In the last chapter we referred to the suggestion that teachers in Secondary Schools should themselves propose a number of questions out of which the external examiners should make a selection in preparing the examination papers, and we gave our reasons for our conclusion that the setting of the papers should be left entirely to the external examiner. It is not that we distrust the teacher, but rather that we do not wish to place the scrupulous teacher in an awkward position. If he knows for some weeks beforehand what questions are going to be set, he is clearly in an invidious position in preparing his class for the examination. As we want the examination to cause the minimum of interference with the school course, we think the teacher will be better off if he is ignorant of the actual questions selected for the examination. He really gets all he wants when he knows that the examination papers will be appropriate to the school syllabus.

There are, however, two respects in which the special knowledge of the teacher needs to be utilised in a satisfactory system of external examinations. In the first place the teachers should have the power of making formal representations to the examining authority as to the suitability of the examination. In most cases we think this could be most conveniently done by giving teachers a definite representation on the council of the authority, as is done in the case of the Northern Universities' Examination Board. Secondly, the teacher should have the right to submit to the examiner his own estimate of the relative merit of the pupils in his class, and the examiner should be bound in all border-line cases to consider this before making his final decisions. Where the examiner and the teacher are both really competent, it is not likely that their respective estimates would show many divergencies. But when they did there would be a clear case for further consideration by the examiner, and both the examiner and the teacher would probably learn a good deal by the investigation. The teacher especially should find this a valuable means of checking his own estimates of his pupils, and also the value of his own teaching. The teacher should also keep for the information of the examiner a record of the work and progress of individual pupils and a reasonable amount of their written exercises. This record will be of considerable value both to teacher and examiner in any border-line or disputed cases.

It may be added that any such co-operation between teacher and examiner implies a mutual attitude very different from that which often obtains. The not infrequent, and perhaps not unnatural, attitude of the teacher towards an external examination is simply to get his pupils through. He and his pupils are frankly playing hide-and-seek with the examiner. Our system postulates a very different and, we believe, an infinitely preferable attitude, one in which the teacher and the examiner are working in friendly co-operation for a common object.

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(xii) We have already mentioned above that we think that the Secondary School Certificate Examination should in the main be qualifying and not competitive. Its object, so far as the pupils are concerned, is to provide them with a certificate showing that they have had a good general education and have reached an average standard suitable for their age.

For this purpose all that is really needed is a simple certificate to say that the candidate has passed the examination, and this is what we should like to recommend, anyhow as the ideal at which to aim. Under present circumstances, however, it may be necessary to do somewhat more than this. For practical purposes candidates may need some evidence as to the subjects in which they have passed, or in which they have shown special knowledge. To save them from further examinations, therefore, we are prepared to agree that some method of differentiating successful candidates may have to be adopted. We do not think it would be either necessary or advisable to publish the names of successful candidates in classes or in order of merit. It may, however, be necessary to give marks of distinction for special merit in individual subjects. For this purpose it might be necessary to allow the use of two grades of examination papers. But we think that such a plan is to be avoided if possible, especially as the same object could probably be obtained by having one set of papers which contained a certain number of advanced questions of which a proportion must be adequately answered by candidates for marks of distinction. In any case we deprecate the publication of separate lists of candidates who obtained such marks.

The only objection to such a simple form of class list would be that it would be of little or no assistance in diminishing the number of scholarship and other competitive examinations now taken by pupils of an average age of 16. In order to meet this point, the Universities, professional bodies and Local Authorities should be approached and invited to confer with the Board of Education and the authorities of the schools, to see if they could not agree as to the conditions under which, and the extent to which, the Secondary School Certificate Examination should be used for scholarship or other competitive purposes. We see no reason why the examiners should not supply the marks of individual candidates in confidence to authorised persons (as is already done in the case of some external examinations), or why such marks should not supply all the data that a Local Authority, for instance, would require in the awarding of its scholarships. We have the greater hope that something of this sort might be done, as we notice a desire in many influential quarters for such a reform of the scholarship system as will pay less attention to the results of one academic trial of wits and more to the continuous record of a boy's school career and to his actual need for financial help. The details would

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have to be worked out later. Much, no doubt, would depend on the efficiency of the Secondary School Certificate Examination and the confidence which it inspired. But the possible developments of the system should be borne in mind from the beginning, so that there may be a clear aim always in sight.

(xiii) We consider that ultimately this examination should, as a rule, be taken by all pupils of the necessary standard in all Secondary Schools, whether such pupils intend to remain longer in the school or not. It should, however, be within the discretion of the Board of Education to allow schools in which the general leaving age was 18 or over, and which focussed their aim on rounding off their course of instruction at that age, to omit the Secondary School Certificate Examination at 16 if it could be shown that that examination formed an undesirable break in the school course, and if the Board were satisfied that inspection, without formal examination at 16, provided a sufficient test of the efficiency of the school up to the age at which the later external examination was taken. We consider, however, that the occasions for such exceptions would be somewhat rare.

(xiv) The Secondary School Certificate should not be issued to any pupils under 16 years of age without the special approval of the Board of Education. In the case of candidates of 16 years of age and over who gained the certificate, those who left school immediately afterwards would have the certificate issued to them at once. In the case of those who remained longer at school, we are inclined on the whole to think that no practical object would be gained by withholding the issue of their certificate till they actually left. As an inducement, however, to successful candidates to continue their education after obtaining their Secondary School Certificate, we recommend that any further period of attendance at school should be endorsed upon their certificates when they leave. Such endorsements should be made by the head teacher and countersigned by H.M. Inspector on behalf of the Board of Education.

We may pass now to consider what further external examination should be taken by pupils who remain at school for one or more years after the date at which they take the Secondary School Certificate Examination.

The number of such pupils in schools aided by the Board of Education or by Local Education Authorities is relatively small. Of the total number of boys and girls over 12 years of age in Secondary Schools on the Board's List, only 8.5 per cent were over 16 and under 17 years of age, according to the Board's statistics for 1908-9, while only 2.6 were between 17 and 18, and 1 per cent were over 18. These figures,

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however, are not a correct index of the importance of the subject. We are dealing now with the most valuable years of some of the best material in the Secondary Schools, and we attach the highest importance to the way in which these years are enriched or impoverished by the use of external examinations. If we deal with the matter somewhat more briefly than was possible in the case of younger pupils, it is mainly because, to a large extent, the general principles which we have suggested for the earlier examination apply to the later, and need not be repeated.

The following are the points in connection with this later examination to which we think special attention should be drawn:

(i) In the first place, we consider that it would not be wise that pupils who remain at school for one or more years after taking the Secondary School Certificate Examination, should have no further external examination. We think that some test of the school work done by pupils between 16 and 18 or 19 years of age would be appropriate, not only for those who are proceeding from school to the University, but also for those who are intending to follow a professional or commercial career after leaving school. We recommend therefore the establishment of an examination which might be called the Secondary School Higher Certificate Examination. In standard this examination should be two years in advance of the Secondary School Certificate Examination, and should be open only to candidates who had been in attendance at one or more recognised Secondary Schools for a period of not less than four years.

(ii) We assume that in future the majority of pupils who remain at Secondary Schools till what may roughly be called University age will most probably have passed the Secondary School Certificate Examination, and will have spent their subsequent years at school in higher or more specialised work. This being so, candidates who enter for the later examination should, as a general rule, take fewer subjects than in the case of the Secondary School Certificate Examination. Whereas the general note of the earlier examination should be breadth without specialisation, the examination papers of the later examination should be less general and should be based upon a course of more specialised, but not narrowly specialised, instruction. We must not be understood, however, to imply that, even in the later school course, specialisation should be carried too far. Pupils, for instance, who are specialising in mathematics or science should not be allowed to drop all literary subjects. Further, the

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later examination should be of a less uniform type than the earlier one.

This later examination should, as in the case of the earlier examination, be connected with inspection so far as the subjects of the examination allow such connection.

The scholastic record should play an important part in the external examination of older pupils. The record of the course of study in the highest forms should be specified with some detail, especially where the curriculum of such forms is of an unusual type. Such a record would be of special value, for example, to a College Tutor, to an engineering firm, and to any business firm which provided scope for pupils of higher training.

While we feel obliged to content ourselves with making general rather than detailed recommendations in connection with the external examination of older pupils, there is one point on which we wish to lay some stress. We realise that it is a great convenience that pupils in Secondary Schools who intend to proceed to a University should take, while at school, an examination which is accepted for Matriculation purposes. Further, we are aware that many pupils are able to pass such an examination one, two, or even three years before they leave school, and are fit to take a more advanced examination at the end of their school course. It seems clear that an appropriate examination should be provided for such pupils. They require the stimulus that a good examination gives, and they deserve the credit which attaches to their attainments. Moreover, we see no reason why success in an examination taken at this period of school life should not excuse a candidate from part of the University examinations which he would otherwise have been required to pass. But at the same time we feel that, for various reasons, there are considerable objections to the plan by which pupils in secondary schools take university examinations which form part of a degree course. In the case of Matriculation examinations we think it is far preferable that pupils who are going to a University should take an equivalent examination which in the main is also suitable for the other pupils in their class. To the school use of subsequent degree examinations, the objection is that it leads to confusion between University and School education. We are anxious to encourage as many pupils as possible to obtain a real University education, and we think that one of the main inducements to do so is removed if Univer-

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sity degrees, or parts of degrees, can be secured by pupils in Secondary Schools. Boys and girls who pass an intermediate examination at school are sometimes deluded into the idea that they have had a University education, and both they and their parents are apt to think that it is not necessary to go further. We think therefore that it is educationally unwise to allow in Secondary Schools any University examinations which form part of the normal degree course. We do not of course wish to keep advanced pupils marking time till they go to the University. Some good examination of an advanced kind should undoubtedly be provided for them, and success in such an examination might well qualify them, when they reach the University, to take up their University studies at a more advanced point, though without shortening the normal period of University life. But the examination should really be a school examination, and should have nothing in its nomenclature to give a false impression of what it really is.

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In the last chapter we enumerated the changes which, in the light of the evidence given to us in the course of our inquiry, we believe to have become necessary in the arrangement of external examinations in Secondary Schools. The number of these examinations should he reduced. Their pressure upon the early years of school life should be relieved. In their management the experience of teachers actually working in the schools should be more systematically taken into account. The award of certificates should be made in fuller knowledge of the inner life of the schools and of the methods of teaching employed in them. And the machinery of external examination should be so readjusted as to provide, what does not now exist, a generally accepted test of the school work of pupils at about sixteen years of age, a test so devised as to furnish a guarantee of their having received up to that point the sound liberal education upon which their more advanced studies, whether at school or college, might be based. Changes so made as to secure these reforms would lessen the bewildering complexity of the present arrangements; would open the way for improvements in the teaching in many secondary schools; would give wider scope to the initiative and originality of teachers; would make the examinations a better criterion of the abilities of the pupils and of the vigour of the educational life of the schools; and, by concentrating the first external test upon the work of the pupils at the point which must in the great majority of cases mark the close of their secondary school life, would set up a well-defined standard of educational attainment, a standard which would be a serviceable guide to parents and employers, an incentive to the energy of pupils and teachers, and an inducement to prolong the average period of secondary education.

But the cardinal point of any plan of effective reform must be the combination of the system of inspection with the system of external examination. Without this there can be no remedy of present defects. As things now stand, inspection and examination are independent of one another. The results of inspection are not taken into account by the examiners, and the findings of the examiners are not sufficiently available for the guidance of the inspectors. It is clearly desirable that these two bodies of experience should be brought together and more fully utilised for the good of the schools. As, however, the inspectors (with a few exceptions) work under the direction of the Board of Education, and as the examiners (again with few exceptions) work under the direction of other authorities, no

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combination of their labours will be possible without administrative changes involving many difficult questions of educational policy. Finding that some changes of this kind have become advisable, we have discussed three plans of reorganisation, namely, (i) a system of external examinations controlled by provincial authorities, (ii) a system of external examinations organised by the Board of Education, and (iii) a system of external examinations held under a widely representative Examinations Council. We will now proceed to submit these for the consideration of the Board, but we may say at once that we regard the third of these plans as being, under present conditions, decidedly preferable to either of the others, and we shall therefore recommend it for acceptance.

The first plan for controlling the incidence of external examinations and for rendering them educationally more effective by a reduction in their number and by their closer combination with inspection, is to establish, in lieu of the present arrangements, a new system of examinations under the direction of provincial authorities, each such authority representing an area of convenient size. Such provincial examination boards would (it is suggested) be constituted under schemes framed with due regard to local conditions and (like the schemes under the Education Act of 1902) submitted to the Board of Education.

As in each case the financial responsibility involved would mainly fall upon the Local Education Authorities in the area concerned, representatives of those Authorities would in each case form the majority, presumably the considerable majority, of the examination board. The schemes, however, would doubtless also provide for the representation of the teachers, both men and women, in the schools which would be examined by each of the new boards, and also for the representation of the Universities, especially of those most closely associated with the area in question. The Board of Education would presumably arrange that those of its inspectors who were stationed within the limits of each new provincial area, as well as those who were otherwise engaged in the inspection of Secondary Schools within the district, should work in intimate relationship with the examining board of the province. The Local Authorities, dispensing with the services of the existing examining authorities, would require all Secondary Schools aided by them to accept the new provincial examination as the test of their work. All the Secondary Schools in the district, therefore, except those which, being of a non-local character, might prefer to retain their connection with the Oxford and Cambridge Joint Board or with some other examining body, would take their place in a locally unified system and would enter their

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pupils for its examinations alone. A precedent for the establishment of such provincial examining authorities is found in the Central Welsh Board, which, however, has its own body of inspectors independent of those working under the Board of Education. The Central Welsh Board consists of 80 members, 47 of whom represent local education authorities, 17 the Universities, and 10 the teachers, the other 6 members being co-opted. The income of the Board amounts to about £8,000 per annum, towards which the county governing bodies provide a little under £5,000 and the Treasury £1,200.

It is clear that such a localised system of inspection and examination would in some respects be administratively convenient. It would bind together the great majority of the public Secondary Schools within the limits of each province by means of unified regulations for their inspection and examination. It would promote united action for the furtherance of secondary education on the part of the Local Authorities representing the various districts within the limits of the province. It would appeal in some degree to the feelings of local patriotism and to local pride in educational excellence. It would impress upon the public mind, within each provincial area, a definite idea of the intellectual standard which is set before the Secondary Schools and to which each of them should be enabled to conform by the provision of all adequate staff of teachers and of the necessary equipment. The certificates issued by the provincial examining board would be quickly recognised by parents and employers within the district as affording evidence of a desirable standard of educational attainment. The Secondary Schools would thus enjoy in an increasing degree the support of local opinion and would find parents predisposed to prolong the secondary education of their children in order that they might obtain the certificate which local custom would be not slow in recognising as a testimony of fitness for admission to responsible employment. Moreover, a provincial examining board, entering upon a new work of no embarrassing complexity and dealing with local conditions with which its members would be familiar, might render valuable service to national education by adopting in its system of examination new experimental methods upon which an examining authority dealing with schools in every part of England might hardly venture, in consequence of the greater intricacy of the conditions with which it would have to deal.

On the other hand, a further consideration of this plan discloses difficulties which preclude us from recommending its acceptance. To map England out into new provincial areas, for the boundaries of which those of no existing authorities furnish a precedent, would be in itself no easy task. In order that the work of the new boards should be based upon adequate experience, the area assigned to each of them would need to be sufficiently large to include a

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representative variety of schools. But in the more sparsely populated districts this would involve areas of more than easily manageable size, corresponding to no existing unity of local feeling and precluding the possibility of any of the members having any intimate knowledge of the whole of the region assigned to their care. If, on the other hand, the provincial districts were so mapped out as to include in each case the areas of no more than a few contiguous Local Authorities, the new examining boards would be very numerous and it would be exceedingly difficult to secure equivalence of standard in their respective awards. The general level of education in the secondary schools in some areas would be higher than in others, and there would thus be different standards for examination in different parts of the country, a defect which even a central standardising committee, if one were established, would find it difficult to remedy. As a result it may be feared that the Board of Education, the Universities, and the professional bodies would continue to discriminate between the value of the certificates given by different provincial examining authorities, and that some of the evils of the existing system would be reproduced in another form. It is true that the success of the Northern Universities' Examination Board confirms the view that in some parts of England it would be possible to map out a provincial area which would be at once sufficiently populous and sufficiently unified in local feeling. But the conditions which prevail in Lancashire, Cheshire, and the West Riding of Yorkshire are especially favourable to the establishment of a joint examining authority and do not exist in some other parts of England, over the whole of which, if the scheme of provincial examining boards were adopted, the formation of new areas would have to proceed without delay.

To these objections it should be added that it would not be to the advantage of the intellectual standards of Secondary Schools to substitute, in the control or their examinations, the experience of Local Authorities for that of the University bodies which now supervise the system. Just as there are defects in an examination system which in some of its parts represents too exclusively the experience and requirements of Universities, so would other defects reveal themselves in a new system which gave throughout the country as marked a predominance to the influence and demands of the Local Authorities. But the gravest objection to the plan lies in the fact that it would ignore the national aspect of secondary education. A purely geographical division of schools is not a scientific division. Schools fall more properly into categories based upon educational type rather than on territorial distribution. They may be separated from each other by the whole length of the country and yet be organised on similar lines and with a similar purpose. A provincial system would rather weaken than strengthen secondary education from a

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national point of view if it deprived the more important schools in each area of opportunities of comparing the standards of their work with those of corresponding schools in other parts of the country. If, on the other hand, these schools (or others doing work of a special character) were exempted from the control of the provincial examining boards, the authority of the latter would be weakened and the tendency towards mechanical uniformity in the treatment of the remaining schools would be increased.

Again, from the point of view of administrative convenience, the plan of establishing provincial examining boards involves practical difficulties which could not be easily met. In order to combine the system of inspection with that of examination, the provincial authorities would either have to rely exclusively upon the judgment of the inspectors of the Board of Education or (as is the case in Wales) to appoint a body of inspectors of their own. In the first case the difficulty of combining the services of the Board of Education's inspectors, whose work is planned on national lines, with the requirements of an exclusively provincial system of examination would be embarrassing. In the second case, as the provincial board's inspectors could not wholly supersede the inspectors of the Board of Education, the schools would be subjected to the perhaps conflicting demands of duplicate bodies of inspectors.

These reasons have led us to reject the plan of establishing a system of provincial examining boards. We recognise the value of decentralisation and reluctantly discard the thought of local experiment; but we have found that in the examination of Secondary Schools the enforcement of an acceptance of a provincial area as the unit of administration throughout England is open to objections which outweigh the advantages likely to follow from the adoption of such a course.

A second plan which we have carefully considered is the establishment of a system of Government examinations for Secondary Schools. Such a system would be organised under the authority of the Board of Education. In its general lines it would probably follow the plan of the Leaving Certificate Examination conducted by the Scotch Education Department. For such parts of its examinations as were carried on wholly or partially by means of inspection, the Board would command the services of His Majesty's Inspectors. For the written part of the examinations, it would appoint examiners possessing a special knowledge of the work of secondary education, and in doing so would doubtless draw in large measure from the number of experienced examiners who work at present under the existing authorities. In order to obtain further assistance from expert opinion in conducting its examinations, the Board

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might see fit to appoint an advisory council, to which questions as to the scope and standards of the examination could from time to time be referred for consideration and report. But the control of the examination and the determination of all questions of educational policy arising in connection with it would lie with the Board of Education alone.

The introduction of such a system would not necessarily mean the immediate supersession of the external examinations now usually taken in Secondary Schools. The abandonment of those examinations and the substitution for them of a new test provided by the State could only be enforced, under present conditions, in the case of schools receiving aid from the Board of Education or seeking its recognition of their efficiency. And even within the limits of this category of Secondary Schools the Board of Education might prefer, in some cases, to leave, at any rate for a time, the existing arrangements undisturbed. It is not unlikely, however, that in the great majority of public Secondary Schools the Government examination would, by more or less rapid stages, supplant those of the agencies which are now engaged in this branch of examining work.

It is unnecessary for us to describe in detail the machinery which might be set up for the purposes of a Government examination of Secondary Schools. The practicability of such an examination is shown by the experience of Scotland, and, though the greater magnitude of the operation which would be necessary in England would entail difficulties with which the Scottish administrators have not had to deal, the organising methods of the Scottish Education Department indicate a way in which the English Board of Education might address itself to its more complicated task.

From some points of view the establishment of such a Government examination by the Board of Education would further the interests of our Secondary Schools. It would be easier to combine examination and inspection if both were under the direct control of the same authority. In the general results of the examination as a whole the risk of variations of standard would be almost eliminated. As all the practical details of inspection and examination would be under the control of one office, it might be found possible to introduce economies which a more divided management could not hope to secure. The certificates issued under the authority of the Board of Education, after inspection and examination conducted by itself, would set an official seal upon the results of secondary education, and attest in a signal way the national importance of the work of Secondary Schools. By dealing with the whole of secondary education throughout the country (or, at least, with such part of it as came under the supervision of the Board ) the central authority would be able to adjust its examinations to the needs of various groups of schools according to their educational type. It would not be hampered by geographical

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limitations in dealing with a problem which is essentially national in character. It would he embarrassed by no competition. The whole responsibility for the wise conduct of the examinations, and for their effect upon the secondary schools, would be fixed upon the Board. For the first time the whole of the work of tits English Secondary Schools, in so far as they sought recognition from the State, would be treated as an organised part of national education.

But, great as these ad vantages would be, we are convinced that they would be far outweighed by the dangers involved in any highly centralised control of English secondary education in its present phase. The hands of the Board are already full with the work which has devolved upon it in consequence of the rapid educational developments of the last ten years. To impose upon the central authority at this juncture the complicated task of organising and conducting a system of examinations in every recognised Secondary School in England would involve no inconsiderable risk of substituting a too mechanical uniformity of test for the freedom which the best schools may justly claim, and which in some degree is permitted to them by the present arrangements. We may conjecture that the Board itself is in no way inclined to add to its present responsibilities that of controlling the details of the examinations in Secondary Schools. And we think that any such reluctance on its part is founded on a true perception of the present needs of English secondary education.

By means equally efficacious and economical, but less drastic and less wasteful of existing experience, it would be possible to secure a closer union between inspection and examination, a reduction in the number of examination tests and the postponement of external examinations until the pupil has reached the close of the first stage of his secondary education. The establishment of a central Examinations Council, widely representative in character and entrusted with powers necessary for the purpose of carrying out the main principles laid down in this Report, is the third plan which we have considered in the course of our inquiry, and it is this which we recommend for acceptance as combining the least sacrifice of experience and of good-will with the best security for wise and effective reform.

The Examinations Council should include representatives of the Universities, of the Local Authorities, and of the teachers, men and women, in different types of school, as well as of the official experience of the Board of Education itself. But as the regulations of the Council would affect directly or indirectly many national interests other than those which are solely educational, the new body should be so constituted as to comprise a limited number of persons of practical experience

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especially of the requirements of professional, industrial, and commercial life. The function of the Council would be the supervision of all external examinations in recognised Secondary Schools. It would lay down regulations as to the scope, time, and method of these examinations. It would control their organisation, fix the fees to be charged for admission to them, and approve the examiners. In all Secondary Schools aided or recognised by the Board no external examinations would be permitted except those held under the authority, or with the approval, of the Examinations Council. The headquarters of the Council would be in London and within convenient reach of the offices of the Board of Education. The Board's inspectors would work in close co-operation with the Examinations Council, one of whose chief duties would be to co-ordinate the results of inspection with those of examination.

The establishment of an Examinations Council on such lines would secure in all essential points the advantages of centralised authority and of diversified experience, both of professional and local needs. It would bring order into the present confusion. It would replace multiplicity of standards by unity of control. It would set up, in lieu of the present bewildering variety of examinations and certificates, a clear and progressive series of tests and awards, under the supervision of a body which would be authorised by the State, representative of educational experience and associated with (though not administratively controlled by) the Board of Education. The plan would thus co-ordinate administrative effort and professional knowledge. It would have regard to the educational interests of the whole country, and secure consideration for the needs of different types of school. It would bring the knowledge and the influence of the Board of Education into the planning and administration of a reformed examination system, without laying on the Board the burden of its detailed management, and with such avoidance of the dangers of centralisation as would avert embarrassing opposition and invite the friendly co-operation of the bodies already engaged in the work.

The scheme would also lend itself to judicious experiment in accommodating methods of examination to those parts of the school curriculum which, from the nature of their subject-matter, are especially liable to injury from the application of a too mechanical or uniform kind of test. The wide experience which the Council would have at its command would furnish guidance in the trial of such experiments, while the extensive range of its operations would afford opportunity for the further adoption of such new methods as experience might show to be desirable. The unification of examining authorities in the hands of a widely representative council, so far from entailing any rigid uniformity in methods of examination, would admit of judicious variety in the treatment even of individual schools whose circumstances justify the trial of exceptional arrangements.

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The plan which we are now considering has the further advantage of so combining the work of the inspectors with the conduct of external examinations as to facilitate the establishment of that earlier certificate for which we have suggested the name of the Secondary School Testamur. It is not proposed that this Testamur should be issued under the supervision of the external examining authority. But the importance of maintaining in proper relation to each other the standards upon which the Secondary School Testamur and the Secondary School Certificate would be respectively awarded makes a close co-operation necessary between those who will have the responsibility of awarding the School Testamur and the body which will fix the standard of the Secondary School Certificate Examination. Such co-operation would be fully secured by the work of an Examinations Council established, in intimate relation to the Board of Education, but, so far as the conduct of secondary school examinations is concerned, independent in determining the method of examination and the standard of award.

We do not anticipate administrative difficulties in the actual working of such a system. It is true that the greater part of the reports of the inspectors would be submitted to the Examinations Council as well as to the Board of Education, but this would involve no duplication of work or, in the circumstances of the case, any conflict of authority. From the new arrangement, which would bring the judgment of the inspectors to bear upon the conditions of examination, the Board of Education and the schools would alike gain much in practical convenience and in unity of educational purpose. The plan which we recommend for adoption, so far from increasing the likelihood of friction, would remove some of the causes most likely to produce it. The Board of Education would have a representative body which it could always consult upon questions as to the efficiency of individual schools or of the adaptation of secondary education to the needs of the time. The Examinations Council, on the other hand, itself representative of the Universities, of Local Authorities, of teachers in the schools, and of persons of industrial and commercial experience, would find the official knowledge of the Board of Education indispensable to the discharge of its duties and accessible to it through the intimate relations which would necessarily subsist between the two bodies. Each would so clearly gain from the experience of the other, and concerted action between the two bodies would be so material to the convenience of both, that reliance may be placed upon the smooth working of a system which would carry with it every incentive to friendly co-operation and provide constant opportunity for interchange of opinion upon matters of educational policy affecting the courses of study and the methods of teaching in the schools.

As a further illustration of the value of the work which could be done by an Examinations Council so formed as to be

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widely representative of the different bodies of experience concerned, it should be added that no other body would have equal influence in bringing the examinations designed for pupils remaining at school for a further period after passing the Secondary School Certificate Examination into close adjustment with that earlier test. These later examinations must always play an important part in fixing the standards and guiding the studies of higher secondary education. For the reasons given in the last chapter, it is desirable that they should be free from some of the restrictions which must be imposed on the Secondary School Certificate Examination if the latter is to provide a guarantee of a sufficiently wide preliminary education. But the conditions of the later test cannot be satisfactorily determined without reference to the results of the Secondary School Certificate Examination. It is expedient therefore that one and the same body should have under its general supervision the earlier and later examinations alike. But the objections which would be felt to placing the complete control of the Secondary School Certificate Examination in the hands of the Board of Education would be intensified by a further proposal to give the Board control over what we have termed the Secondary School Higher Certificate Examination as well. We have already indicated that the changes requisite in the arrangements now at work as regards the later examination are not so great as those which are concerned with the Secondary School Certificate Examination. The establishment of a system of Government examinations for Secondary School pupils of about 16 years of age might therefore, in present circumstances, lead rather to a breach between the two different types of Secondary School than to a greater unity of educational administration. A representative Examinations Council, however, by drawing together in one executive body the representatives of Universities with those whose knowledge mainly lies in the grades of education more remote from University requirements, would enjoy opportunities of keeping the higher examinations in close adjustment to those of the preceding stage. This consideration confirms the view that the establishment of an Examinations Council is, in the present state of educational feeling, preferable to the adoption of either of the other alternative plans.

In order to prepare the way for the constitution of an Examinations Council with the powers and duties above described, we suggest that, as the first step, the Board of Education should invite the principal bodies which conduct examinations in Secondary Schools to a conference whose business it would he to discuss (1) the means by which the external examinations now conducted by those bodies may be

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brought into intimate connection with the system of inspection without imposing inspection by two independent authorities upon any school; (2) the means by which the various examinations may be brought to equivalence of standard according to their respective grades, with due regard to that variety of requirement which is beneficial to the schools; and (3) the means by which the experience of the existing examining bodies could best be made available for the guidance of the new representative authority when established for the supervision and control of all external examinations in recognised Secondary Schools.

We have every reason to believe that the existing examining bodies would be ready to give their careful consideration to any plan which aimed at introducing improvements in the work which they have so much at heart. The evidence given to us by Dr. Keynes, formerly Secretary of the Cambridge Syndicate for Local Examinations, justifies the hope that it may be possible to find, by mutual consent, methods of closer co-operation between inspectors and examiners. He said that "the best arrangement seemed to be for the Universities to examine and for the Board of Education to inspect; but, if that were done, there should be close co-operation between the two. It was essential, for instance, that the inspectors should know exactly what examinations were being taken in the school and should acquaint themselves with the character and working of such examinations. They might then do a great deal to ensure that the schools made the best use of the examinations. They should also have access to all reports issued by the Universities. The Syndicate's detailed reports gave a good deal of information about the work of each candidate in the Local examinations in each subject of examination, and these reports should be open to the inspectors to see. Without such information an inspector might easily be misled as to the value of the work which a school was doing. On their side, the Syndicate would be glad to receive suggestions from the inspectors and to enter into co-operation with them." We believe that if a conference were held between the Board or Education and the existing examining bodies it would be found possible, by mutual consent, to take the first steps towards such a settlement as our inquiry has led us to recommend.

To this proposal of a conference between the Board of Education and representatives of the various bodies now conducting the external examinations in Secondary Schools we attach especial importance, as indicating the course of action most likely to lead to a removal of grave defects in

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the present working of the examination system in English secondary education. But, independently of this, there are five other points in regard to which the influence of the Board might now be exerted with good results.

The evidence given in the course of our inquiry has disclosed the fact that much of the harm which is inadvertently being done to the education of pupils in many Secondary Schools, by over-concentration of effort in securing success in external examinations, is due to the pressure of mistaken opinion. It is a reasonable thing that a school should be judged in part by the ability of its pupils to reach certain intellectual standards prescribed by independent authorities and competently tested by impartial examinations. But the results of the latter are not in themselves sufficient evidence that a school provides the course of intellectual training which affords the most lasting benefit to the pupils, or gives to them the best preparation for the tasks of later life. What is really needed by parents, by governing bodies, and by Local Authorities responsible for Secondary Schools, is a guarantee of the excellence of the whole process of training imparted by the school and of the methods of teaching and discipline which it employs. In such a guarantee the actual results of external examination are but one factor, important but not in themselves determinative of the true merits of the school. At present, however, in some parts of English secondary education, the results of external examinations, apart from inspection, possess a conventional value which induces, and often virtually compels, teachers to devote a disproportionate amount of thought and energy to preparing their pupils for success in them. The publication of these examination results in newspapers and in prospectuses (though it would be unreasonable to blame those concerned for adopting these customary forms of advertisement) enhances the evil by giving additional importance to what is often imperfect evidence of the intellectual efficiency of a school. The effects of thus giving undue prominence to the results of external examinations (often more trivial in standard than parents and the public understand) are doubly unfortunate. Many of the teachers, finding that their professional credit depends upon the success of their pupils in examinations, are fettered by false standards in a work which especially calls for freedom and variety of initiative. Governing Bodies and parents, on the other hand, are encouraged to content themselves with what appears to be sufficient evidence of the schools' intellectual efficiency, but which in reality diverts attention from the details of that process of intellectual training which is of far greater importance than success in passing an examination. This too frequent misjudgment of the intellectual results of school work is largely due to the fact that there has been until recently in

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England no systematic inspection of Secondary Schools. But the organisation of an inspectorate under the Board of Education has already gone a long way towards removing this defect, and the way is now open for such a combination of inspection with examination as will afford a test both of the general excellence of a school's work and of the attainments of its individual pupils. Steps might therefore now be taken by the Board to draw the attention of Local Authorities and of the public to the desirability of combining the examination system in Secondary Schools more closely with the methods of inspection, and to the inadequacy of a purely external examination test; as sole evidence of the value of the work which is done by a school. The publication of a special report on this subject by the inspectors of Secondary Schools would draw attention to the question and materially help in guiding public opinion to a juster estimate of what is required as a guarantee of the schools' efficiency in the wider sense of the word. The attention of Local Authorities might also be called to the question by an official memorandum from the Board. Without any disparagement of the value of external examination, regarded as part of a wider test of the intellectual excellence of the work of a Secondary School, much we believe could be done in these ways to remove present misconceptions and to give a new focus to public opinion.

The establishment of a closer connection between inspection and the present forms of external examination would involve a re-grouping of the secondary school inspectorate of the Board and a considerable strengthening of its numbers. If a representative Examinations Council were established for the supervision and control of external examinations in all recognised Secondary Schools, and if the award of certificates in those examinations were made dependent in part upon the results of inspection, the working of the new system would throw upon the inspectors a continuous and detailed responsibility in respect of a large number of schools which do not at present fall under their supervision. It may be found expedient, therefore, not only to organise the secondary school inspectorate in provincial divisions, but to provide each division with a permanent headquarters in the district assigned to its care. The keeping of the records of inspection in a form convenient for immediate reference by the members of the inspectorate in the area would necessitate the employment of a clerical staff localised at each divisional headquarters. In each of these headquarters there would gradually accumulate a mass of useful information as to the work of the Secondary Schools of the district, and this information would be valuable not only to the inspectors concerned, but to the Local Education Authorities and the governing bodies of schools. The provision of a central office and headquarters for the inspectorate in each division (especially

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if it were found possible to provide in this way a common centre for the work of the inspectors of Elementary and Secondary Schools and for the inspectors working under the Technological Branch of the Board) would help in unifying experience gained by the inspectors in the different types of school in the district and would facilitate the smooth working of the new system of examinations.

The successful operation, however, of any method of school inspection and examination depends not only upon the good judgment of the inspectorate and the efficient services of the examiners, but, to a far greater degree, upon the vigorous initiative of the teachers in the schools. Unless there is a strong intellectual interest among the teachers, showing itself in desire for improvements in methods of instruction and in constant endeavours after increased efficiency, the elaboration of methods of inspection may be found to lessen the vitality of school work instead of stimulating and enhancing it. The real life of education lies in the ability and character of the teachers and in the spirit of the schools, not in the machinery for their supervision or in arrangements for testing their results. The building-up of an improved system of inspection and examination without corresponding regard to the need for improvement in the staffing of the schools would be a one-sided development, which would produce disappointing results in national education. We cannot, therefore, conclude these recommendations without a reference to the need for improvement in the professional prospects of many of the teachers in English Secondary Schools.

The influence of the Civil Service Examinations upon the courses of study and upon the methods of teaching in some Secondary Schools is already considerable, and seems certain to increase. It is desirable that the effects of these examinations upon the schools should be carefully watched, and that equal opportunities should be offered as far as possible to candidates entering from schools other than Secondary or after a period of private study. The Civil Service Commissioners and the Board of Education have each at their command a large body of experience which throws light upon the condition of the schools, regarded as places of preparation for the public service. But there appears to be no systematic interchange of experience between the Commissioners on the one hand and the various Government education offices in the different parts of the United Kingdom on the other. It deserves consideration whether some closer co-operation should not be secured, possibly by means of a small standing committee, between the Commissioners and the Education Departments concerned.

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By the terms of our reference we have been obliged to approach the question of Examinations with special regard to the educational needs of the Secondary Schools. But throughout our discussions we have never lost sight of the claims of those children who are at present prevented by economic reasons from taking advantage of the full course of secondary education. To exclude such children from access to higher education and from admission to the professions by insisting on a form of school training which they could not afford would be hurtful to the national interest, as many of them are qualified by natural ability to take advantage of further educational opportunities and a high place in professional life. Such access has always characterised English education, and examples of its effect and of the passage from Elementary Schools to the Universities and thence to the highest places in the professions are to be found throughout English history. We are of opinion that everything should be done which can encourage and extend such progress from Elementary Schools. We have therefore proposed, among other recommendations, that opportunities for secondary education should be enlarged by the supply of a sufficient number of bursaries, scholarships, and maintenance allowances, so that pupils of promise should be enabled to take advantage of the full course of secondary education; that certain types of school specially accessible to Elementary School pupils, but not recognised as Secondary by the Board, should be recognised as qualifying their pupils, under certain conditions, for the receipt of the Secondary School Testamur and for admission to the privileges of the Secondary School Certificate examination; and lastly that pupils who, even so, could not become eligible for the Secondary School Certificate should be admitted as external candidates to the examination, and should be given a certificate which should be regarded as an alternative qualification.

In addition to suggesting the provision of these direct safeguards, we would suggest that these other types of school should be developed so as to enable all their pupils to qualify for the privileges of recognised Secondary Schools, a development which would involve the raising of the present leaving age and the removal of existing limitations. We believe that the result of our recommendations would be an improvement in the Secondary Schools, which would in turn lead to an improvement in the Elementary Schools which prepare for them, and would thus better the condition of elementary, as well as secondary, education throughout the country.

In the course of this chapter we have recommended the establishment of a widely representative Examinations Council

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which would supervise all external examinations in recognised Secondary Schools throughout the country, and we have further suggested that, as the first step towards the formation of such a Council, the Board of Education should invite representatives of the various examining authorities to a conference for the discussion of the administrative questions which are involved in any such change of the present system.

We earnestly hope that by means of such a conference it will be found possible to reach an arrangement on the general lines suggested above. We shall not, therefore, in this report make any detailed suggestions as to what steps we should recommend the Board or Education to take if the proposed Conference could not agree upon a line of concerted action. We desire, however, to make it plain that in such an event we do not consider that the Board would be relieved from the obligation to proceed in the matter of reform. We have already stated that the final responsibility for the number and character of external examinations in Secondary Schools on the Board of Education's list should lie with the Board. With regard to the method of administration to be adopted, we have indicated that we do not recommend administration by the Board of Education alone, but prefer the formation of a representative Examinations Council for this purpose. This recommendation holds good even in the event of the conference not arriving at any agreement.

It must be remembered that this subject of examinations in Secondary Schools has already once before been referred to us by the Board of Education. The recommendations which we made seven years ago (in 1904), though not unfruitful in certain indirect ways, were to a great extent nullified by the absence of any subsequent driving power. The main proposals which we then made were never embodied in practical action. We cannot contemplate the recurrence of such an unsatisfactory state of things, and trust that the Board will accept our view that they are under all circumstances responsible for seeing that the necessary reforms are carried out.

A. H. D. ACLAND     (Chairman). C. W. BOWERMAN. SOPHIE BRYANT. JAMES CHAPMAN. REGINALD S. CLAY. ISABEL CLEGHORN. CHRISTOPHER COOKSON. F. H. DURHAM. J. EASTERBROOK.

THOMAS C. FITZPATRICK. HENRY F. HIBBERT. ALBERT MANSBRIDGE. NORMAN MOORE. J. L. PATON. H. R. REICHEL. M. E. SADLER. GEORGE SHARPLES. MARGARET J. TUKE. CHRISTOPHER TURNOR.

ARTHUR H. WOOD (Secretary).

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(1) The evidence submitted to the Committee, and the discussions thereon, undoubtedly demonstrate that the present practice of allowing pupils in Secondary Schools to take so many of the examinations of various bodies, professional and otherwise, is an evil which it is desirable, if possible, to remedy, but the proposals of the Committee's report will lead to evils of another and even more serious character; evils which will certainly inflict grave injustice on the children who are prevented, for various reasons, from taking full advantage of a Secondary School course in a recognised Secondary School. These proposals would be less objectionable if there was uniformity of practice with regard to higher education in the four countries - England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; the objection might be still further lessened if secondary education was free to all and provision made for the maintenance of pupils of poor parents who had shown themselves fitted to continue their education, but who, from want of funds, were prevented from doing so.

(2) Under the suggested proposals many pupils in England would be at a great disadvantage as compared with pupils of the same class in Wales, Scotland, or Ireland. In Wales a complete system of secondary education is gradually being built up and provision is being made so that most of the brighter pupils in the Elementary Schools may continue their education in Secondary Schools. In Scotland there is no age restriction, beyond which children may not attend Elementary Schools, and the leaving examination provided under the Scottish Board of Education is not restricted to children attending Secondary Schools. In Ireland also there is no restriction on the age up to which children may continue their education in Elementary Schools. In England, except under very special circumstances, all children are excluded from Elementary Schools at 15 plus.

(3) The recommendations of the Committee to which strong exception is taken are those relating to the establishment and use of an exclusive certificate - the Secondary School Certificate for certain pupils in recognised English Secondary Schools to the detriment of all others. These proposals suggest that no pupil in England (they would not apply to Scotland or Ireland or to Wales), unless he has been attending an approved Secondary

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School for at least three years and eventually for four years, shall be allowed to take the Secondary School Certificate. There is a further condition that the certificate should not be issued to any pupils under 16 years of age, and it can only be taken by pupils in a class where the average age is about 16. Such conditions must have a serious restrictive effect. There is ample evidence in the report that the majority of pupils in Secondary Schools leave before reaching the age of 16, and very many do not attend for three, much less four years. These children, in addition to those from the Elementary Schools, even if they continued their education after leaving the day school, would be prevented from obtaining the Secondary School Certificate.

(4) If it was not the intention of the Committee, the effect of their proposals in practice will be, to substitute this Secondary School Certificate for all other certificates taken by young people for entrance into places of higher education, the professions, or other employments where the passing of an examination has been adopted as a method of selection, In fact, the report says: "It may be supposed that if our recommendations were adopted the Secondary School Certificate would gradually earn a reputation which would make it the most readily accepted passport to most future careers." If this is admitted, then it will be seen that, eventually, the proposals of the Committee will practically deprive all pupils, who have not had opportunities to take this Secondary School Certificate, of their chances of entrance into higher schools of education, into professions, or into employments where such a certificate is considered essential. The result in practice will be that the majority of young people even in Secondary Schools and all the brighter pupils in Elementary Schools will have their path to promotion barred.

(5) The Committee's report deals specially with those pupils who leave the Secondary Schools before reaching the age at which they may qualify for the Secondary School Certificate. It is suggested that for those who leave the Secondary Schools at about the age of 15 a certificate which would be known as the Secondary School Testamur might be issued to such pupils. The Committee say:

"If this Testamur were provided, the fact that the age and attendance conditions which we recommend for the Secondary School Certificate Examination are such that at present they would exclude many pupils from its benefits, would be, in our opinion, by no means wholly a disadvantage."

"We believe that the result would be to secure a far more effective attendance at school, and to impress,

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upon the public the real meaning of secondary education, and the need for much more continuous study on secondary lines. We believe that there is a tendency already towards the lengthening of school life, and that our suggestions would give a stimulus in the same direction."

(6) It is admitted that the Secondary School Certificate, even with the establishment of the Secondary School Testamur, might cause further hardships to pupils who are not eligible for either. It is further admitted that if these certificates were in the main confined to certain categories of pupils in recognised efficient Secondary Schools, all those boys and girls, who, for one reason or another were unable to attend such schools, or if they did attend them and were unable to remain at them for the required period, would be seriously handicapped in competing with holders of the certificate. The Committee realised the existence of this danger, and there is little doubt that the reality of these evils has been borne in upon the Committee with greater force as the discussions have gone on. They have stated the difficulty as follows:.

"There is a further hardship which might be caused by the Secondary School Certificate Examination which it may be convenient to dispose of here. It may be supposed that if our recommendations were adopted, the Secondary School Certificate would gradually earn a reputation which would make it the most readily accepted passport to most future careers. But it is certain that, having regard to the present organisation of secondary education, the children of workpeople and others, however promising, are, through economic conditions, in constant danger of having their secondary education cut short. If the Secondary School Certificate were, in the main, confined to certain categories of pupils in recognised Secondary Schools, the careers of many capable children might be prejudiced as the direct result of the precedence which might be given to that certificate. This is a genuine objection, and it must be met."

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Secondary School Certificate if they complied in other respects with the regulations of the examination. (This only meets the case of private schools of the Secondary School type.) (3) That candidates, who could not make themselves eligible to compete for the Secondary School Certificate in its complete form, but who after attending other schools or classes, or after private study, had attained the standard of the examination, should be admitted to the examination as external candidates. (That the alternative certificate is to have a distinct name from that of the Secondary School Certificate vitiates its value.) (4) That Professional Bodies, Universities, Local Authorities, and others should accept this latter certificate as an alternative qualification in the case of applicants for appointments or for exemption from other examinations. (Unless this can be guaranteed, proposal No. 3 will be quite useless.)

The evil of excluding children from the Elementary Schools is fully recognised by the Committee's report. It says:

"To exclude such children from access to higher education and from admission to the professions by insisting on a form of school training which they could not afford would be hurtful to the national interest, as many of them are qualified by natural ability to take advantage of further educational opportunities and a high place in professional life. Such access has always characterised English education, and examples of its effect and of the passage from Elementary Schools to the Universities and thence to the highest places in the professions are to be found throughout English history."

The establishment of an alternative certificate does not mitigate the evil; on the contrary, it will accentuate it. To have two certificates, one the Secondary School Certificate and the other the Secondary Education Certificate, or by whatever other name it may be known, side by side, will be misunderstood by those who will have to deal with the appointment of young people to various offices and for entrance into the professions. There can be no guarantee that the alternative certificate will be recognised. On the contrary, in all probability contempt will be poured on the alternative certificate, and the young boy or girl who held it would probably be better

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off without any such certificate at all. In fact, the report itself appears to pour contempt on it. The report says:

"The certificate, however, given to successful candidates of this type should be clearly distinguishable from that awarded after an approved course of education in a Secondary School, though arrangements should be made to endorse on such certificates a record of any attendance at schools or classes which the candidate had been able to make."

(8) It might be possible, under a universal system of free Secondary Schools throughout the British Isles for a scheme of this kind to be attempted, but the time is not ripe for drastic suggestions on the lines of the Committee's report. In fact, the time suggested for such a change appears to be singularly inopportune. Steps are being taken on all hands, just now, to improve the higher education of the children of the workers in other than Secondary Schools (1) by improvements in the evening continuation schools, (2) by the establishment of central schools, and (3) by the extension of the age for compulsory attendance at Elementary Schools. This is not the time to discount higher education which is not given in a Secondary School. The recommendations of the Committee practically tell the public that, in the future, any continuation of the education in other than approved Secondary Schools is of little value so far as the advancement of their children is concerned.

(9) It may fairly be asked what in the meantime should be done to lessen the admitted evil of the multiplication of examinations in Secondary Schools. So far as schools recognised by the Board of Education are concerned, the matter is largely in the hands of the Board. A condition of grant or even of

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recognition might be the limitation of the number of examinations taken at any particular school. Special precautions might be taken by the Board to prevent examinations being taken merely to produce advertisement for the purpose of inducing parents to select particular schools which show a large number of successes.

MARSHALL JACKMAN.

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We have explained in the Introduction to our Report our reasons for dealing with the remaining subject-matters of our reference from the Board in a less detailed manner. The questions of internal examinations during school life and of examinations at entrance to school are not only much less complicated in themselves but are relatively of less vital importance compared with the problem of external examinations. Intrinsically, however, the two questions with which we shall now deal deserve the most careful attention. This is true even at the present time, but will become even more so if and when Secondary School pupils are freed from all external examinations until they are about 16 years of age.

Internal examinations, though no doubt capable of much improvement in certain instances, are in fact a well recognised part of the machinery of all schools. They help the pupils by encouraging them to revise their work and by giving them an opportunity of discovering what they have really assimilated and what they have only half learnt. They help the teacher by showing him where his teaching has failed and where it has succeeded. They serve to confirm the knowledge already obtained by the pupils, to eradicate misconceptions in the minds of individual members of the class, and to prepare the way for further instruction. Further, the discussion and revision of examination papers in class is capable of being made the basis of most useful lessons, in which the pupils are trained to criticise themselves and to learn from each other.

The details of the organisation of internal examinations will vary in different schools, and we do not propose to prescribe what we consider to be the only, or ideal, methods, but merely to describe those which we believe have been found most satisfactory in some schools.

Internal examinations vary in importance and frequency according as they are oral exercises, periodical tests, or terminal examinations. The first are of constant and daily use. The second may be used at weekly, fortnightly, or monthly intervals, according to the subject; for example, mathematical subjects require much more frequent paper tests than do some other subjects. Lastly, the terminal examination takes place in some schools three times a year; but, in others, experience is held to show that it is sufficient to hold two in each scholastic year - one at Christmas and one in July. This examination should take about a week near the end of the term. We believe that any tendency to slackness after the examination is over

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can be effectually counteracted by giving importance, as we have already indicated, to the revision of the papers by the pupils. As a rule, the terminal examination will be, for the most part, written, but towards the lower part of the school the written papers will be shorter and fewer. Whether every pupil is to be examined in all his subjects will depend on the character and importance which has been given to the periodical tests during the term, and on the records which have been kept of them.

The examination, to have its full educational effect, must be conducted altogether by the school staff. No internal examination should be held merely to obtain results, either for the award of prizes or for any other purpose. Every examination paper set and worked can be made to help forward the general course of instruction, and to be of real educational value.

As to the distribution of the work between the members of the staff, the method will vary from time to time. It is sometimes found very useful for the head-teacher to set the papers in one particular subject throughout the school and to examine them. As to the other teachers, no general rule should be laid down; a teacher will not always examine his own class, nor, on the other hand, will he always be required to examine any but his own. It is often well to arrange that each teacher shall examine the effects of his own teaching. In this way the maximum educational advantage may be obtained, teachers and learners being brought into a mutually stimulating relation. At other times teachers might be interchanged for examination purposes. When there are two main examinations in the year, it is found a good plan, in the one which precedes promotion, to let each class teacher examine the work of the class immediately below that which he is himself instructing. In this way he obtains direct acquaintance with the work which leads up to his own, and also with the capacity of the scholars who are shortly to come under his own instruction. It is important, that a teacher should be able to instruct learners who are new to him in terms of knowledge already acquired by them.

A short report, with statistics, should in the more important cases accompany each set of papers marked, and these reports with the actual worked examination papers should be at the service of the Inspector when required. He will need them specially in connection with the award of the Secondary School Testamur, as described below.

Some subjects, e.g., Drawing or Manual Work, may not often require a set terminal examination at all: the term's work will be available for the purpose of the award of final marks. It is not necessary to enter into details as to the method to be adopted for the practical examinations in Science and the oral examinations in Languages, although both should be important parts of the work.

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Internal examinations are of obvious importance, and are much used in deciding questions of promotions and prizes. We think, however, that for these purposes the marks or other estimates of ordinary form work, day by day, or week by week, should be taken into account as of not less importance than examination results.

It has already been mentioned that we are prepared to recommend the issue of a Secondary School Testamur to pupils who have to leave school before they are able to take the Secondary School Certificate Examination, and that the issue of this Testamur should be based (a) on internal examinations, and (b) on the other parts of the pupil's scholastic record.

It is important to bear in mind that this Testamur should be both in name and in fact something distinctly lower in value than the Secondary School Certificate. It must on no account rival the Certificate, which alone is to be regarded as giving independent evidence of a satisfactory minimum of education in a Secondary School. We do not anticipate that the Testamur will be recognised as an alternative to any part of any University or professional examination, nor do we recommend that any attempt should be made to secure it any such recognition.

As regards the way in which the Testamur would be earned, we would first of all call attention to the fact that no examination for it, other than the ordinary internal examination of the school, is required at all. These internal examinations would be taken in the natural course by every pupil, and the records of the examinations would be preserved for some few years. It would probably not be necessary to keep the actual worked papers for more than a year. Should any pupil leave school before he took the Secondary School Certificate Examination, and apply for the issue of a Testamur, his head-teacher would collect the papers he worked at the last internal examination, together with his marks, his place in the examination, and such records and samples of his previous work at school as might be found desirable. He would send these, together with his own recommendation, to H.M. Inspector, who would decide whether the candidate had reached the necessary standard.

We recommend that this Testamur should only he available for pupils who (i) are not less than 15 years of age, (ii) have an adequate record of continuous attendance at one or more recognised Secondary Schools after the age of 11 (but see next paragraph), and (iii) reach a standard which, in the opinion of H.M. Inspector, is not more than a year behind that of the Secondary School Certificate Examination. The head-teacher should be responsible for the entries on the Testamur, which should therefore bear his signature. It should be counter-

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signed by the Inspector on behalf of the Board of Education. Some common or alternative forms of Testamur could probably be devised, and, with the suggested co-operation of the Board's Inspectors, some equivalence of standard as between different schools and districts could be kept, or, at least, such a guarantee given as would induce the public to allow due weight to this evidence of general education.

As regards (ii) in the above paragraph, the Committee do not wish to confine the Testamur exclusively to pupils in Secondary Schools. They think (1) that the Testamur might he given to pupils in schools which were specially recommended by the Local Education Authority or H.M. Inspector as giving education of a secondary type to pupils up to 15 years of age, and that (2) short attendance at recognised Secondary Schools might be compensated for by previous attendance at other schools, provided it could be shown that such previous attendance had been at schools which might fairly be reckoned for such a purpose.

The Board of Education would presumably keep a record of Testamurs issued, but it appears undesirable to publish any list of successful candidates.

It has already been mentioned that these Testamurs are only to be issued to pupils who leave school before they are able to obtain the Secondary School Certificate. They would not be awarded to any pupil until his withdrawal from school was finally settled, nor would they be issued to any pupils who remained at school and passed the Secondary School Certificate Examination. We think, however, that a pupil who obtained a Testamur and subsequently passed the external equivalent of the Secondary School Certificate Examination, should have the fact endorsed upon his Testamur.

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During the last few years, the question of examinations at entrance to Secondary Schools has assumed a much greater importance than was previously the case. This is due to several causes. In the first place, many new schools have come into being, while many old ones have been reorganised and enlarged, and in consequence the number of pupils proceeding to Secondary Schools has considerably increased. Secondly, the regulations of the Board of Education have required that in all fee-charging schools in receipt of grant, a number of "free places" must be offered at the beginning of each school year to pupils entering from Public Elementary Schools, and competition for these free places has involved a great extension of examinations for pupils at the beginning of their Secondary School career. Further, the number of scholarships tenable at Secondary Schools, and open to boys and girls of about. 12 years of age has increased considerably since the establishment of the new Local Authorities under the Education Act of 1902, and the examinations for these scholarships serve as entrance examinations in the case of such pupils.

There is one feature in these admission examinations which differentiates them from most of those which we have considered in the course of this report. Their general principles were not evolved under circumstances which differ considerably from those of the present time. They are not incomplete adaptations of a former system. Rather they were in the main originated to meet requirements more or less identical with those of today. Moreover, these admission examinations have generally been under the control of the individual schools which used them, and there has been no external influence to interfere with their ready adaptation to changing needs. It appears, therefore, that while not incapable of improvement they are more in harmony with modern views and modern circumstances, and less in need of any serious alteration. We do not think it is necessary therefore to deal with them at any great length.

Examinations for boys and girls at entrance to Secondary Schools fall into several different categories. There are (i) examinations which are conducted simply to enable the head teacher to decide into what class the new pupils should be put; (ii) examinations to decide whether the applicants reach a necessary standard of attainments, or to decide which pupils shall be admitted when there are more applicants than there are vacancies; (iii) Examinations for "free places"; and

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(iv) examinations for entrance scholarships. Though distinct in theory, one examination is of course frequently utilised in practice for more than one purpose. When there is a competitive admission examination at any school, no further examination for "placing" is required. Scholarships, free places, and other similar privileges may be, and often are, allotted on one and the same examination. It even happens in some cases that only one examination is used for scholarships, free places, admission and "placing". It is necessary, however, that the different objects of entrance examinations should be borne in mind.

Examinations held purely for the purpose of "placing" pupils would appear to be uncommon. They would be confined mainly to schools in which there was no admission examination either qualifying or competitive. In any case they are concerned only with questions of school organisation, and are naturally dealt with by the staff of the school.

Admission examinations, whether qualifying or competitive, are conducted in a variety of ways. Most of the Public Schools impose such examinations on applicants for admission, and though in some cases the examination is a mere formality, especially in the case of younger pupils, in others it amounts to a serious competitive examination. Most of the schools demand a personal interview with the applicant, which in some cases takes the form of a simple oral examination. In order to lessen the inconvenience caused by bringing so many boys from their preparatory schools for examination at the Public School which they wish to enter, a Common Entrance Examination is conducted under the auspices of the Head Master's Conference. Some forty or fifty Public Schools, including Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Clifton, Charterhouse, Marlborough, and Westminster, have adopted this examination. The examination is held either at the Public School for which the boy is entered, or as an alternative at his preparatory school under certain conditions, the papers being the same in either case, and the examinations being synchronised. The answers, however, are in all cases looked over by the authorities of the Public School for which the candidate is entered and the standard for admission is determined in every case by the Public School in question.

In the case of Secondary Schools which are on the list of schools receiving grants from the Board of Education, it appears that it is the general practice to leave all questions of admission examinations, when unconnected with free places, scholarships, etc., to the discretion of the head teacher, though in some cases the assistance of an external examiner is added. In the case of a Secondary School provided by a Local Authority such external examiner may be the Secretary or one of the Inspectors of the Authority. Examinations for "free places", however, though often conducted by the head teacher, are treated much more formally. When conducted by the staff,

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there would appear to be considerable supervision exercised by the governing body, while in many cases the examinations are put under some specially constituted examining body. Some of the Local Authorities have established examining boards, which consist partly of representative teachers from the Secondary and also the Elementary Schools in their area, and partly of the Authority's officials. In other cases questions of "free places" are decided upon the results of examinations which are held in connection with examinations for entrance scholarships. But whatever form the examination for "free places" may take, it must conform to the rules laid down by the Board of Education in the appendix to their Regulations for Secondary Schools. These rules are quoted below.*

In the examinations for entrance scholarships there is found greater variety and naturally greater formality. The examinations are conducted sometimes in individual schools by the staff under the authority of the governing body, with or without the aid of external examiners; sometimes by the trustees of special endowments; sometimes by Local Authorities. In the latter case the examinations are held at convenient centres, and

*"6. In any examination held as an entrance test of candidates for free places the following rules are to be observed:

(a) The Governing Body of the School will be responsible for the conduct of the Examination, but it is desirable that some person who has had teaching experience in a Public Elementary School should be associated with the Head Master and Staff of the Secondary School in conducting it, and that the Examiner should receive and consider a report on each candidate from the Head Master or Head Mistress of the Elementary School from which he or she comes.

(b) Candidates under 10 or above 13 years of age need not be accepted.

(c) Candidates between 10 and 13 must only be required to qualify in English and Arithmetic, in which subjects they should be required to reach the standard of the class in the Secondary School in which the average age is nearest their own, but in order to test the relative merits of the candidates further questions may be set in any of the subjects specified in Article 2 of the Code of Regulations for Public Elementary Schools.

(d) Candidates should as a rule be under 12, and the free places offered may he restricted in the first instance to candidates between 10 and 12, provided that any places not so filled up are then open to all qualified candidates between 12 and 13. Candidates over 13, if accepted, may properly he subjected to a severer test in respect of both subjects and standard within the limits of Article 2 of the Code, in order to prove their fitness to take a place in the Secondary School corresponding to their age.

(e) Where there are more duly qualified candidates than places the award shall be determined by competition among them.

(f) The examination may be partly oral. The record of marks and all written papers must be preserved by the Governing Body for six months after the Examination, and must be open to inspection by the Board."

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are conducted either by all Examinations Board or a Scholarship Committee specially established for the purpose, or by some recognised external examining body. Of the latter, the most important is probably the Joint Scholarships Board, instituted by the Incorporated Association of Head Masters. The Minor Scholarship examination conducted by this Board is intended for candidates about 12 years of age, and is so arranged as to conform generally to the scheme of work common to public elementary schools. In 1908 the examination was used by the education committees of 17 counties, 2 county boroughs, 6 non-county boroughs, 2 urban districts, and by 22 other bodies, such as charity trustees and governors of Secondary Schools. One hundred and thirty-one centres were used altogether, and 5,161 candidates were entered for examination. It may be added that some of the bodies which use this examination for scholarship purposes also use it for allotting "free places".

Whatever examination is used for purposes of entrance scholarships, it appears to be usual for the awarding authority to insist either on an oral examination as well as the written one, or at least on a personal interview. In the case of a few large rural counties this interviewing is done by examiners who go round to the schools from which the candidates come, and examine them there. In many cases the financial circumstances of the applicants' parents are taken into account, pecuniary assistance in the way of scholarships and maintenance allowances being restricted to parents whose incomes do not exceed a declared limit. Further, considerable attention is paid to the recommendations of the head teachers of the Public Elementary and other schools from which the applicants come, in some cases the scholarship examinations being open only to those who have received a nomination from their last school. Lastly, many awarding authorities exact an undertaking from the parents of applicants for scholarships that their children shall remain at school for a definite length of time, in order that the money spent upon their education shall not be wasted by a premature close of their school career.

Generally speaking, we do not recommend any radical changes in the general principles which underlie the present system of examinations at entrance to the majority of the Secondary Schools which come within our reference. These principles are no doubt more completely and more efficiently observed in some cases than in others. But, as seen at their best, they appear to be soundly conceived and intelligently worked. What seems to be required is that, in cases where the arrangements are at present inadequate, care should be taken to bring those up to a better level. We will indicate therefore the

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points which we think are essential factors in an efficient system of examinations at entrance to school:

(1) When dealing with the examinations taken in Secondary Schools by pupils of 15 years and upwards we laid great stress on the need for some uniformity of standard and organisation. It seems necessary therefore to make it plain that in our opinion no such need exists in the case of entrance examinations. The intellectual level of different Secondary Schools will not always be the same, and the standard of attainments necessary for admission to different schools will not always be the same either. The object of the admission examination of any individual school is to see that a pupil is fitted to profit by the instruction in that school, and this is a matter which the staff or the governing body of each school can best decide for themselves. Further, even in the allotment of free places and scholarships, no uniform minimum of ability can be fixed by some central authority. The material supplied by the preparatory schools in the various districts will not be uniform in value, and different standards will be needed for success in examinations which are intended to sift out the best candidates in different districts. We are not implying, of course, that there is not an absolute minimum standard below which no candidate for admission to an efficient Secondary School should fall, but only that above this absolute minimum there will be gradations which can only be fixed properly by each individual school. No inconvenience will be caused by diversity of standards in examinations at this stage of a pupil's career, as success in these examinations will not be used for any extra-scholastic purposes.

(2) This diversity and multiplicity of entrance examinations would no doubt cause great confusion if the examinations differed considerably in their general requirements. Care must be taken to ensure that such differences do not occur. All that is required is that entrance examinations to Secondary Schools should be based as far as possible on the curriculum of the schools from which the candidates come. Further, a multiplicity of entrance examinations would he undesirable if it necessitated numerous or distant journeys on the part of candidates. In view of the comparatively simple object of these examinations there should be very little difficulty in making arrangements for combined examinations at local centres, or for the examinations to be conducted in the preparatory schools. This is already done in some cases, as noticed above.

(3) All examinations taken at entrance to Secondary Schools should be of a very general and unspecialised nature. Any form of special preparation for pupils at this early stage of their education, even for entrance scholarship examinations, is to be strongly deprecated. The rule laid down by the Board of Education that candidates between 10 and 13 years of age for free places should be required to qualify only in English

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and Arithmetic has our approval. Under no circumstances should a Secondary School be called upon to admit a pupil who cannot read the mother tongue intelligently, write legibly, and spell with fair accuracy.

We would add that in examinations for "placing", each pupil should as far as possible be asked what he has done in the various subjects and be examined on that. Examinations of this kind are liable to fail in their primary object if they make use of set papers for all candidates alike. In the case of large numbers of candidates, individual treatment may become rather difficult. But the head teacher of a school should be able to manage this with the help of his staff. They will certainly find it worth while in the long run.

(4) It is important to bear in mind that, many children cannot do themselves justice on paper. The manipulation of the pen is still, in most cases, an anxious effort; the powers of expression are unformed. It is therefore important that beside the written examination there should be viva voce questioning. But it must be remembered that the difference of temperament in children, the shyness or some and the nervousness of others, makes the oral test by itself somewhat fallacious. Some quite intelligent children may give the impression of slowness and heaviness. It is important to check the results of oral examination by a certain amount of written work, and by the previous school record of the candidate.

(5) It has already been noted that there exists considerable variety in the way in which the different kinds of examinations at entrance to school are organised. We see no reason why this variety should not be continued. It must, for instance, be a matter for local arrangement whether the examinations are conducted by officers of the Local Authority, by special examiners or examining boards, or by the staff of the school. Moreover, schools which are not in receipt of grants from the Board of Education are under no obligation to hold examinations for free places or to make their entrance examinations conform to the regulations of the Board. Again, examinations for candidates from Elementary Schools who desire "free places" need not necessarily follow the lines of examinations of candidates from other forms of school. For these and other reasons, it is clearly necessary to leave considerable freedom and variety of treatment to the different schools.

Whatever the organisation of the examinations may be, however, an important element in all examinations for "free places" should be the report of the teachers of the Elementary Schools from which the candidates come, and, so far as it can be arranged, this element should also be secured in the case of other candidates from Elementary Schools and of candidates from other preparatory schools.

(6) Pupils do not of course all enter Secondary Schools at the same age, and this diversity of ages may cause some slight

[page 158]

difficulty in the organisation of entrance examinations. According to the Regulations of the Board of Education candidates under 10 or above 13 need not be accepted in an examination for "free places", and in the allotment of such places the preference may be given to candidates under 12. As regards scholarships, many awarding authorities also make regulations as to age. The object of these regulations is presumably to secure some guarantee that pupils who are aided out of public funds should enter Secondary Schools at an age when there is a favourable prospect of their being able to continue to receive secondary instruction for an adequate number of years. Owing to the fact that children's intelligence ripens at such different ages, it is not desirable to fix any one hard and fast rule as to the best age for transfer to a Secondary School. It would seem more desirable to lay down a rule that the parents of all children who receive "free places" or scholarships would give a guarantee that, unless unforeseen circumstances occur, the children will remain at the Secondary School for a stated adequate period after their 12th birthday. If this were done, we think that in examinations for "free places" it should be permissible to exclude from the examination children under 11 years of age. For children above 13 we consider that the Board's rule that they may be subjected to a more advanced examination is a sound one and should be continued.

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Any description of the present state of external examinations in Secondary Schools falls naturally into two divisions. In the first place, it is necessary to describe each of the existing examinations taken by itself; and in the second, to describe the relation of these various examinations to each other, and the effect of their combined action on the schools which prepare for them. In Chapter II of this Report we have dealt with the present state of things from the latter point of view; but in view of the great length to which a detailed description of the separate examinations must necessarily extend we have thought it best to give this in a separate memorandum.

In this account of the existing external examinations in Secondary Schools, it has been found convenient to divide them into the following groups:

(1) "Local" and "School" examinations (including the inspection of schools by the examining bodies);
(2) University examinations (i.e. examinations which form part of a degree course);
(3) Civil Service Examinations;
(4) Army Entrance Examinations;
(5) Navy Entrance Examinations;
(6) Preliminary examinations of Professional bodies (including the Board of Education's Preliminary Examination for the Certificate);
(7) Examinations in Special Subjects, such as Music, Drawing, Science, Commercial Subjects, etc.;
(8) Examinations conducted by Local Education Authorities;
(9) Scholarship Examinations;
(10) Entrance Examinations.

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course of their special and professional training are ignored. A summary of the examinations which are included in our consideration will be found in Appendix C, together with figures showing in statistical form the age and number of the candidates in the year 1908, and the date at which each examination was started. It is obvious that there are cases in which it was rather doubtful whether any particular examination should have been included in this list or not. In such cases of doubt we have added an explanatory note as a warning.

It may be explained that, for the most part, this statement is based on the published regulations of the examining bodies, supplemented in some cases by the evidence of witnesses. Where these sources of information have been insufficient, special inquiries have been addressed to the examining bodies, and we have to record our indebtedness to these bodies for the readiness they have shown in supplying us with the particulars needed. At the same time we desire to make it clear that, while these bodies have been good enough to assist us in this way, they are not in any way responsible for the manner in which the information with regard to the various examination is stated in this memorandum. Statistics as to the numbers of candidates at the various examinations have been given, where available; they do not all refer to one and the same year, but have in each case been brought as far as practicable up to date. It is possible that in some cases later figures than those given might have been obtained by application to the bodies concerned, but we have not felt justified in troubling them again for this purpose.

Finally, we would add that while the greatest care has been taken in setting out the conditions of the examinations, we cannot of course guarantee that some small inaccuracies may not have crept into this statement. Moreover, in view of the fact that frequent changes take place in the regulations of the examinations, it is important that candidates or others desiring information in regard to any particular examination should in every case consult the latest issue of the regulations themselves. It should be remembered that the purpose of this memorandum is to give a general description of the system of external examinations in Secondary Schools as a whole, and not to provide a substitute for the detailed regulations.

The examinations conducted by the Oxford Local Examinations Delegacy fall into three groups: (i) those which are really local examinations, i.e. examinations at local centres, on which certificates are given; (ii) those which are really school examinations, i.e. examinations held in schools on the school syllabuses, no certificates being given; (iii) Combined School and Local Examinations, i.e. examinations which are held at schools,

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but in which the examination papers are those used simultaneously in the Local examinations, certificates being given to those pupils who are candidates for them, and satisfy the examiners. The examinations in the first group are four in number, viz. (i) the Preliminary Local Examination; (ii) the Junior Local Examination; (iii) the Senior Local Examination; (iv) the Higher Local Examination. The examinations in the second group follow the varied requirements of each school that asks for such examinations. The examinations in the third group are three in number, viz. those in which the candidates wish to obtain (i) the Junior School Certificate; (ii) the Senior School Certificate: (iii) the Army Leaving Certificate.

We will now take these examinations in order.

The Preliminary, Junior, and Senior Local Examinations of the Oxford Delegacy are conducted under one set of regulations and may be treated as a whole. The Higher Local is on a different footing; and can be treated later by itself.

The Preliminary, Junior, and Senior Examinations are held in July of each year at Local Centres. A supplementary Junior and Senior Local is also held when needed in March. A local centre is only appointed on the application of a Local Committee, who must be prepared to undertake all the expenses which are occasioned by the examination being Local, i.e. by the candidates being examined at that particular centre instead of going to Oxford for the purpose. Examinations are held only at centres from which the amount received in fees reaches a certain minimum. Each committee appoints a local secretary, who acts generally as their agent. Centres are, as a rule, intended for all the candidates in the locality; but they may be confined to the pupils of a given school. The examination at such a school, however, remains a Local examination, and does not become a School examination. The number of local centres in England and Wales for the examinations of the Oxford Delegacy in 1910 was about 350; but the number of towns in which these centres were situated was only about 250, it being no uncommon thing for several centres to be appointed in the same town. It will be seen by a reference to Appendix B that these local centres are distributed over the whole of the country.

Candidates pay two separate fees, one to the Delegacy, and one to the Local Committee to defray local expenses. The fees to the Delegacy for ordinary candidates are as follows: for the Preliminary, 10s. 6d. [52p½] a candidate; for the Junior and Senior, £1 a candidate. The fee paid to the Local Committee varies according to the circumstances of the locality. Special fees are required for special papers on approved alternative

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syllabuses, and for oral examinations in modern languages, and are described later.

The subjects comprised in the examinations are as follows:

In the Preliminary Local -

In the Junior Local the list of subjects is generally the same as that of the Preliminary, with the addition of Music, Bookkeeping, and Political Economy. Further, the History syllabus includes Ancient, General, and Foreign History, as options; Physics takes the place of Heat, and Domestic Economy is amplified and entered as Hygiene. Chemistry includes practical as well as theoretical work.

In the Senior examination, the list of subjects is very similar to that of the Junior. The Elements of Logic is added to the Political Economy section; Experimental Science is omitted; and Domestic Science* and Needlework* are added.

The syllabuses of the various subjects of examination are left fairly wide; but the following limitations may be noticed. In Religious Knowledge the syllabus for all three examinations consists entirely of set books. In History, candidates have the option of various periods, but they have the opportunity of showing knowledge of English History outside the period which they select. The English syllabus consists of English Composition, English Grammar, and English Literature. Neither Composition nor Grammar are compulsory, but appear as a matter of fact to be generally taken. The English Literature syllabus only contains various options in set books, except in the Senior Examination in which candidates may take a paper on General Literature* with a large choice of questions. In Latin and Greek, and (except in the Senior Examination) in French and German, set books or unprepared translation may be taken at the option of the candidate, higher marks being given for the latter. There are no set books in modern foreign languages for Senior candidates, who must offer unprepared translation and free composition as part of their examination. In Political Economy certain text-books are recommended. In Music, Drawing, Mathematics, and Science subjects, syllabuses are issued, but they are of a very general character.

It should be added that candidates in schools may offer themselves for an oral examination in French or German on payment of a special fee of 2s. 6d. [12½p] a candidate, provided that

*These are new subjects for 1912.

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the minimum payment from anyone school is £1, and that the travelling and hotel expenses (if any) of the examiners are paid. Success in the oral examination does not count towards a "Pass" in the language, but is mentioned on the certificates of successful candidates who pass in the written work. It is also taken into account in deciding questions of Honours and Distinctions. The number of candidates who take the oral examination is not published, but unless the percentage of failures is quite unlike that in any other part of the examination the number must be very small. The following are the numbers of candidates who in 1908 passed the written examination in French or in German; passed the oral examination, and also obtained a certificate: French: Seniors 67, Juniors 51, Preliminary 0; German; Seniors 11, Juniors 3, Preliminary 0. In Science subjects there is no practical examination in the Preliminary Examination. In the Junior and Senior Examinations, candidates cannot pass in Chemistry, nor in the Junior Examination in Experimental Science, without satisfying the examiners in the practical part of the examination. The practical examination, however, can only be taken where the laboratory accommodation of the Centre allows of it. There is no practical examination in any other Science Section, nor in Music, but the paper in Physics assumes that candidates have been through a course of experimental instruction.

It should be mentioned that the syllabuses of the various subjects of the examination are prepared and issued by the Delegacy. They are not directly related to the curricula of the schools. But the Delegacy have informed us that they have from the first been in full communication with the schools that habitually send in their pupils for the examination, and that the developments of the original system which have taken place have all been of a nature to render closer the connection between the Delegacy and the schools. This connection, however, appears to be only of an indirect character in the majority of cases, as the teachers take no part in the examinations. The Delegates are prepared, however, to consider applications for alternative syllabuses and special papers, subject to extra payment being made for setting and printing the paper. This charge is not less than £2 2s. [£2.10] for each paper. There is also an Advance Fee of £2 for a special Senior or Junior paper, or £10 10s. [£10.50] for a special Preliminary paper, but if more than one such paper be supplied the advance fee is only £2 for each paper after the first. A group of schools may combine to make a joint application for special papers, provided all the candidates concerned are entered at the same Local Centre. We have no information as to the extent to which these special papers are applied for in the case of the examinations under consideration, but we believe it to be very small. In practice nearly all the candidates follow the examination syllabus of the Delegacy and take the ordinary papers.

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As regards choice of subjects, candidates have an almost unfettered option. To obtain a certificate in either of the three examinations, candidates must pass, at one and the same examination, in at least five sections. In the Junior Examination they must also pass in Dictation. All candidates (unless they or their parents object) must, by the Statutes of the University, be examined in at least one of the divisions of Religious Knowledge. In the Senior Examination a candidate may not take more than one of the three following subjects, viz. Book-keeping, Needlework, and Drawing. With these exceptions, candidates are at liberty to take any combination of subjects they like, subject, however, to the exigencies of the time table, which, speaking generally, may limit the options slightly within each subject, but has little effect on limiting the choice of subjects as a whole. In practice, however, though the candidates have the option of devising eccentric combinations of subjects, it is not found that they do so. The subjects actually chosen by the 8,362* candidates who entered for the Junior Local Examination in 1908, arranged in the order of the candidates' preference, are as follows, the numbers in brackets showing the number of candidates who took each subject:

Arithmetic (8,249).
English Language and Literature (8,215).†
History (8,151).
Religious Knowledge (8,092).
Geography (7,626).
French (7,301).
Mathematics (6,632).
Drawing (5,519).
Physics (say 2,000).†
Latin (1,947).
Botany (1,467).
Chemistry (1,161).
Experimental Science (644).
Political Economy, etc. (say 600).†

†In these cases the exact figures cannot be ascertained from the tables published by the Delegacy, as the number of candidates taking the different divisions of a section are given instead of the number of separate candidates who took the section as a whole. Thus, in the section called English Language and Literature, the number of candidates who entered for the section is not given, but only the numbers who entered for each of the three divisions: Composition (8,180), Grammar (6,623), and Literature (8,215). It appears from these figures that, practically all the candidates took both Literature and Composition, and that three-quarters of them took Grammar as well. In the section called Political Economy, etc. there are three divisions: Political Economy (295), Elementary Politics (238), and Historical Geography (150). No candidate may combine the first two divisions, so that at least 533 separate candidates must have taken this subject. We have assumed [footnote continues on next page]

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Hygiene (586).
German (424).
Higher Mathematics (411).
Book-keeping (373).
Greek (258).
Music (182).
Italian or Spanish (35).

A very similar result is obtained by an analysis of the subjects taken by the 9,384* candidates at the Senior Local in 1908. The following list shows the subjects in the order of the candidates' preference, with the number who took each:

English Language and Literature (9,191).†
Arithmetic (9,156).
History (9,070).
Religious Knowledge (8,794).
Geography (8,196).
French (6,249).
Mathematics (6,035).
Drawing (5,956).
Physics (say 2,500).†
Botany (1,491).
Latin (1,216).
Chemistry (991).
Political Economy, etc. (say 850).†
Hygiene (607).
German (453).

†See note † on preceding page. Similar remarks apply to these subjects in the Senior Examination, the figures for the separate divisions being as follows: English: Composition (9,104), Grammar (5,123), Literature (9,191). Political Economy, etc.: Political Economy (389), Politics (103), Historical Geography (725). Physics: Mechanics (632), Heat (1,179), Sound, Light, and Heat (934), Electricity (656).

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Higher Mathematics (271).
Book-keeping (230).
Greek (226).
Music (208).
Italian or Spanish (29).

The number of candidates using these examinations is very large, and recent years have seen an enormous increase, particularly in the numbers who take the Senior Local. From 1,940 in 1900, the number of Senior candidates had risen to 10,980 in 1909. The number of Junior candidates has also increased, though not so rapidly, being 4,479 in 1900 and 8,751 in 1909. On the other hand, the number of Preliminary candidates, which rose to its highest (4,256) in 1904, has since then steadily decreased, being only 3,438 in 1909.* This decrease is owing mainly to the action of the Board of Education. Section 5 of the Regulations of 1904 forbade scholars in the first or second year of the course (except by the express permission of the Board) to sit for any external examination except one which comprised the whole school, or one held solely for the award of scholarships or exhibitions. In the current Regulations, this prohibition is applied generally to all pupils under 15 years of age. Local Authorities also appear to be moving in a few cases in the same direction.

As regards the ages of candidates, the Preliminary Examination is confined exclusively to candidates below 16 years of age. Further, only candidates under 14 are eligible for Honours or Distinction. In the Junior and Senior Locals there is no limit of age for ordinary candidates, but candidates are not eligible for Honours or Distinction unless they are under 16† or 19 years of age respectively.

The results of each of the three examinations are published in two lists, Honours and Pass. In both cases the names of the successful candidates are given together with the name of their school and its Principal. In the Honours lists the names of candidates are arranged in three classes, the first two in order of merit‡ and the third in the order of their Index Numbers

*See note * on page 164.

†Raised to 17 for the 1912 examinations.

‡In and after 1911, the names of those in the Second Class will be placed in "not more than five Divisions".

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under the several Centres. The following table shows the number or candidates who obtained Honours in the year 1908:

In the Pass Lists are included the names of all other successful candidates. They are arranged in two divisions in numerical order under the several Centres. In the first division are the names of candidates not over 14, 16,* or 19 for the Preliminary, Junior, and Senior respectively. In the second division are the candidates over those ages, who receive Over-age Certificates. At the end of the Pass Lists are separate lists of candidates who (having obtained certificates) earned distinction in individual subjects. The names are given in order of merit. The following table shows the number of distinctions obtained in each subject in each of the three examinations in 1908:

*Raised to 17 for the 1912 examinations.

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In addition to the Division Lists, Supplementary Tables are published giving particulars as to the subjects in which each candidate satisfied the examiners. Unsuccessful as well as successful candidates are included in these lists, but the subjects which candidates took, but failed to pass in, are not shown. The Delegates are also prepared, on payment of a small fee, to inform heads of schools of the manner in which their pupils acquitted themselves in the several subjects, and also to place their pupils in order of merit, among themselves, in each subject and on the whole examination. In no case, however, are the actual marks obtained by the candidates made known.

The results of the examinations are also used for various other purposes. The Certificates are accepted, in varying degrees, by Universities and Professional bodies, as exempting the holders from various other examinations. A list of the exemptions granted to successful candidates at the Oxford Locals is given in Appendix D on pages 329 ff. In a few cases scholarships and prizes granted by schools or public bodies are awarded on the strength of the Senior and Junior Locals. Lastly, the Delegates themselves award four scholarships, each tenable for one year, as follows: One of £30 to the Senior boy candidate who is placed highest in the Honours List; one of £30 to the corresponding girl candidate; one of £10 to the Junior boy candidate who is placed highest in the Honours List; and one of £10 to the corresponding girl candidate.

The Higher Local Examinations are held twice a year, in July and November. The July Examination is held at the same time as the other three Local Examinations, and at any local centre where satisfactory arrangements can be made. The November Examination is held at Oxford and at other places appointed by the Delegates after application has been made on behalf of candidates wishing to be examined.

A fee of £1 10s. [£1.50] is payable to the Delegates on the first time of entry, and of £1 on each subsequent occasion, in addition to local fees.

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The subjects of the examination are divided into 11 sections, viz.

The choice of subjects open to candidates for certificates is much more restricted than in the case of the Preliminary, Junior, and Senior Locals. Arithmetic is obligatory for all candidates. For an ordinary certificate a candidate must pass in three other sections, of which one must be either Languages, or Mathematics, or Natural Science. For an Honours Certificate the rules are the same as regards obligatory sections, but candidates who pass in only three sections (in addition to Arithmetic) must obtain a First or Second Class in two of the three sections. Those who pass in four sections must obtain a First Class in one of them.

Another point which differentiates the Higher Local from the Preliminary, Junior, and Senior is that candidates need not pass in all the subjects required for a certificate at one and the same examination.

As regards the syllabuses, they are on an altogether higher plane, both as regards the quality and quantity of the work demanded, than those of the Senior Locals. In Modern Languages knowledge of the outlines of a period of literature is required, in addition to grammar, translation, and set books. History includes the general outlines of English History, from 1066 to 1837, as well as a set period of either English or Foreign History. In English the outlines of the History of a period of English Literature are set, together with certain prescribed books a knowledge of which postulates a fair amount of accurate general reading. In Natural Science candidates must pass in either Chemistry, or Physics, or Botany. The syllabus in Geography is very comprehensive, and a point is made of the relation of the subject to Natural Science and History. There is a practical examination in Chemistry, but none in any other Science subject nor in Music. In Modern Languages, there is an optional viva voce examination for candidates who go specially to Oxford for the purpose. In all languages set books are obligatory.

The syllabuses are, of course, drawn up by the Delegates. No alternative syllabuses or special papers are allowed.

There is no limit of age for candidates taking the Higher Local; but the number of candidates is very small, amounting in 1908 only to 282, of whom only 76* obtained Certificates, and

*Excluding those who, although they passed in certain groups, did not complete their certificates, and those who had already gained a certificate and now added to their successes.

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of whom 36 were awarded an Honours Certificate. The examination is used almost entirely as a means of admission to the Women's Colleges at Oxford. The only other bodies which actually grant exemptions to the holder of a Higher Local Certificate are the Scottish Universities, the universities of Wales and Birmingham, the Board of Education, the General Medical Council, and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. In view of the quality of the examination, however, we assume that the only reason why more public bodies have not granted facilities to successful candidates is that there has been no demand for such facilities from the candidates.

It has already been explained that the Local Examinations are organised in terms of Centres and not of Schools. Practically the whole of the candidates, of course, come to the examinations direct from schools, and the schools not only prepare their pupils for the examinations, but, as already explained, are enabled, on payment of a small fee, to obtain from the Delegates a certain amount of information as to the way in which their pupils have acquitted themselves in the several subjects in which they pass. But the Local Examinations are not "School" Examinations in the sense in which the Delegates use that word. In a "School" Examination, properly so called, no certificates are given; the examination is held only in such subjects as are selected by the school authorities; the examination papers are prepared on the school syllabuses, either by the Delegates' examiners, or by the teachers themselves subject to criticism by the examiners; similarly the answers are marked either by the staff or by the examiners; in either case the answers are reported on by the Delegates' examiners. The Delegates are prepared to conduct at least a part of the examination viva voce, and do, as a matter of fact, usually find that the authorities of schools desire that this should be done.

A variant of the School Examination is what is known as a Combined School and Local Examination. Such an examination is conducted partly or wholly by means of papers which are being used simultaneously in the Preliminary, Junior, Senior, or Higher Local Examination, and the school or group of schools is formed into a Special Local Centre. The examination appears to be essentially a Local Examination. Candidates are eligible for certificates on paying the prescribed Local Examination fee, and the superintendence of the examination and the setting and marking of the papers is entirely managed by the Delegates. The examination differs, however, from an ordinary Local Examination in two main respects: pupils who are not candidates for certificates may attend the examination, and further, the worked papers of all candidates may be treated for school purposes; that is to say, the marks obtained are forwarded to the school

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and a report is made to the school on the work of all the candidates. The advantages claimed for the system are that pupils who take part in a school examination can obtain a certificate without undergoing a second examination; that examination papers can be supplied much more cheaply than if each had to be set on a special syllabus for each school; and that uniformity of standard is secured. We feel, however, that as a mere matter of fact the examination is not really a school examination at all. It is divorced from the school syllabuses, and the teacher takes no direct part in it. It does not really enable candidates to get a certificate on a genuine school examination, and does not save them from an external examination. It allows them to use an external examination for school purposes. It does not allow them to use a school examination for external purposes. While, however, the Combined School and Local Examination omits the best features of the school examination proper, it admits a much closer relation between the Delegates and the school authorities than the ordinary Local Examination.

The Annual Report of the Delegacy contains a list of 78 schools "examined or inspected" during the year 1909.

Charges are made at the following rates: For each paper specially set (normally), 15s. [75p]; for each paper not specially set, or for each Higher Local paper used, 5s. [25p]; for each Senior or Junior Local paper used, 3s. 6d. [17½p]; for each Preliminary Local paper used, 2s. 6d. [12½p]; for each exercise looked over, 1s. 9d. [8p], 6d. [2½p], or 4d. [2p] for Higher, Senior, Junior, or Preliminary Local papers respectively; for other papers, 6d. each; for inspecting and reporting upon answers already marked by the staff, £1 per 100 exercises. For a viva voce examination, £2 5s. [£2.25] per day for each examiner employed.

It will be plain from the above descriptions of the Local and the Combined Local and School Examinations of the Oxford Delegacy that the certificates granted for success in those examinations take no account of the candidates' school record. Candidates may come from a good school, a bad school, or (in the case of Locals) from no school at all. The certificate in fact is a record of examination success, and makes no claim to anything further, except, of course, so far as success in examination may be taken as an indirect indication of training. In order to provide a certificate which shall contain more direct evidence of sound education, the Delegates offer what are known as Junior and Senior School Certificates. The essence of these certificates is that they are only awarded to candidates who have attended continuously during a definite period of time schools which are specially approved by the Delegates for this purpose. An approved school in this connection means one which has been inspected during the last five years either by the Delegates or

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by the Board of Education, or by an Inspecting Body accepted by the Delegates, the report on such inspection having been approved by the Delegates as satisfactory. It is hardly necessary to point out that the admission of inspection as one of the conditions in which the certificate is granted introduces a vitally important factor into the scheme.

The following brief account of the conditions on which these school certificates are granted will show the general nature of the scheme.

The Junior School Certificate is awarded to candidates who (1) have attended continuously for two years at least one or more schools approved for the purpose, and (2) have passed the Junior Local Examination in certain subjects, viz. (1) Dictation; (2) Arithmetic; (3) English Language and Literature, including Composition: (4) at least one language (Latin, Greek, French, German, Italian, or Spanish), together with at least three other sections, which must be selected from not less than two of the three following groups, viz. Group I, Religious Knowledge, History, Geography, Political Economy; Group II, Mathematics, Higher Mathematics; Group III, Botany, Experimental Science, Chemistry, Physics.

A Senior School Certificate is awarded to candidates who (1) have attended continuously for three years at least one or more approved schools, and (2) have passed the Senior Local Examination in a number and combination of subjects practically the same as those for Junior candidates (but not including Dictation), and (3) are not under 16 years of age.

In the case both of Junior and Senior School Certificates, if candidates have taken a sufficient course of instruction in Geometrical Drawing and Practical Drawing and in Practical Measurements, or have taken a sufficient course of laboratory work in one or more branches of Natural Science, these facts will be recorded on the School Certificate if one is gained. Further, a candidate who has obtained a certificate may have endorsed on it any additional subjects passed by him (in the same grade) whilst still at school.

It may be said generally that a School Certificate differs from an ordinary Local Examination Certificate in these particulars: a pass in at least six* subjects is required, instead of only five*; the combination of subjects is to a large extent laid down by the Delegacy instead of being entirely at the choice of the candidate; continuous residence at an approved school is an essential condition. On the other hand, it resembles the Local Examination Certificate in this, that it is based on an examination which is not a school examination, that is to say, which is not based on the school syllabus and the school methods of teaching.

Since in passing the Junior or Senior School Certificate Examination a candidate necessarily qualifies for a certificate

*i.e. without counting Dictation as a separate subject.

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of the corresponding grade in the Local Examination, it follows as a matter of course that he is entitled to all the exemptions which are allowed in respect of the latter. In addition, a candidate who satisfies certain conditions in the Senior School Examination is exempted from Responsions.

The fees are the same as for candidates for the Junior and Senior Locals, with the addition of a special fee of £1 for (any number of) candidates for Junior School Certificates at any one school, and a similar fee for any number of Senior candidates.

The number of candidates for Senior School Certificates in 1908, 1909, and 1910 were respectively 11, 52, and 58, of whom 7, 30, and 23 passed; the numbers of candidates for Junior Certificates in those years were respectively 25, 10, and 5, of whom 8, 7, and 4 passed.

Army Leaving Certificates are granted by the Delegates in accordance with a scheme which will be described later. Candidates for these certificates must have entered for a Senior School Certificate, must have taken the papers of the Senior Local Examination in all the necessary subjects, and must have attained such standard of proficiency in them as is required by the Army Council.*

The Delegates are prepared to conduct the inspection of schools, and they issue regulations dealing with the subject. In practice, however, very little is done, the number of schools inspected in 1905 having been 15; in 1906, 5; in 1907,4; in 1908, 3; in 1909, 6; and in 1910, 8. The Delegates believe that the probable reason for the slow development of this part of their work is the fact that they make a charge for conducting an inspection. The fees are as follows: £4 a day for each day spent in inspection on account of each inspector employed, with a minimum charge of £6 when only one inspector is appointed and a minimum charge of £4 each when more than one is employed. The inspectors' report is prepared without extra charge, but travelling and hotel expenses have to be defrayed by the school authorities.

We have dealt first with the Oxford Local Examinations merely because chronologically they were the earliest of the University Local Examinations. We have dealt with them in some detail because it did not seem possible otherwise to give an accurate general view of their working. In treating the

*Further information with regard to Army Entrance Examinations will be found on pp. 268 ff. It will be seen that the existing scheme is about to be discontinued, and that the last examination for Army Leaving Certificates will be held in the Michaelmas Term, 1911.

[page 174]

Local and School Examinations of other examining bodies we shall, so far as possible, abbreviate our description by dealing quite briefly with those points in which they do not differ from those of the Oxford Delegacy.

The examinations of the Cambridge Syndicate correspond in their general scope with those of Oxford. They are the Preliminary, Junior, Senior, and Higher Local Examinations, the School, and the Combined School and Local Examinations, and the examinations for Junior and Senior School Certificates, and Army Certificates.

These examinations are held twice a year, in July and December, at Local Centres in various parts of England and Wales. The centres, like those for the Oxford examinations, are established only in places where a local committee has been formed and has made application for the examinations to be held there, and where the amount of the fees reaches a certain minimum. The number of centres is about the same as in the case of the Oxford examinations (see Appendix B, pp. 311 ff.).

The normal fees of the Syndicate are the same as those of the Oxford Delegacy, namely, 10s. 6d. [52½p] for each candidate for the Preliminary Examination, and £1 for each Junior or Senior candidate. Special fees are charged for special papers on alternative set books and syllabuses, and for an examination in spoken French and German.

The subjects comprised in the examinations are as follows:

In the Preliminary Local:

In the Junior Local:

[page 175]

In the Senior Local, the subjects correspond very closely with those of the Junior Local. The only differences are that Dictation and Elementary Experimental Science are omitted, Agricultural Science is added, and further divisions are introduced into some of the subjects.*

The syllabuses of the subjects of the examinations are drawn up and published by the Syndicate. The following points may be noted. The syllabuses in Religious Knowledge are confined entirely to short selected hooks. In English, the syllabus of the Preliminary includes (i) Grammar, (ii) Composition, and (iii) alternative set books, of which either Grammar or Composition is compulsory. In the Junior, the syllabus falls under the same headings, but neither Grammar nor Composition is compulsory except for candidates for distinction. In the Senior, Grammar is dropped, and the syllabus consists of (a) Composition which is compulsory for candidates for distinction, (b) alternative set books, and (c) a paper of easy questions testing the candidates' general knowledge of English Literature since 1579 A.D. The syllabus specially mentions that in this last paper, (c), the questions will not be limited to text book knowledge. The English History syllabuses are divided into periods, but candidates may take questions from any division of the paper, so that their choice appears to be quite unfettered. The Preliminary syllabus is confined to English History, but Roman History is included in the Junior, and either Roman or Greek in the Senior. In the Junior and Senior Examinations, History and Geography are included under one section. In the former, students cannot pass the section without taking Geography; in the latter, the section is practically divided into three groups, (a) History (History of England or History of the British Empire, or Greek or Roman History), (b) Geography, (c) Political Economy or Logic. As candidates only have to take two of these groups, they can pass the section as a whole though they omit either History or Geography altogether.

In Latin and Greek easy unprepared translation (with a vocabulary of unusual words) is compulsory for all candidates. Set books are also given, and the Syndicate attach great importance to them, though they allow candidates the alternative

*viz. In Mathematics - Analytical Geometry, Differential Calculus and Applied Mathematics (Elementary Mechanics being dropped). In Physics - Experimental Mechanics. In History, Geography, etc. - Political Economy and Logic. In Biology, etc. - Domestic Science.

[page 176]

of unprepared translation of ordinary difficulty. In French and German, the Preliminary syllabus consists only of easy translation and questions on accidence; in the Junior syllabus, a certain amount of unprepared translation is compulsory for all candidates; but set books may be taken instead of the more difficult unseen, for which, however, higher marks are obtainable. For candidates who take selected books, questions may be set on historical and geographical allusions, and upon the metre of verse subjects. The Senior paper consists of grammar and translation, with composition as an alternative to the harder portion of the latter.

In the Science subjects detailed syllabuses are published and can be obtained on application to the Syndicate.

It is worthy of mention that the Cambridge University Press issues annotated editions of all the set books mentioned in the syllabuses of the Local Examinations and prepares a special list of such works.

The examinations are not confined exclusively to paper work. Candidates for the Preliminary, Junior, or Senior Examinations can be examined in spoken French or German on payment of a fee of 2s. 6d. [12½p] apiece (with a minimum fee for any school or group of schools of £1 for each language together with the travelling and hotel expenses, if any, of the examiner or examiners). In 1909 the percentage of Junior candidates in French who took the oral examination was 15.3, and of Senior candidates 15.1. In German the percentages were 10 and 13.9. Candidates who pass in written French or German, and also in the spoken language, have the fact that they passed an oral examination endorsed on their certificates. Success in the oral examination, however, is not necessary for passing in the language, nor even for a mark of distinction, though it is taken into account in determining the place of candidates in the Class List, and is counted towards the mark of distinction in cases where the mark would not be obtained without it. In Chemistry and Experimental Science a practical examination is compulsory for all Junior and Senior candidates taking those subjects, without extra fee, and examinations in these subjects are held only at centres where there is a properly equipped laboratory. In Botany specimens are sent to the examination centres for dissection and description. There is no practical examination in Physics, but the questions are principally such as to test the candidates' knowledge of the subject as gained from a course of experimental instruction.

As in the case of the examinations of the Oxford Delegacy, the syllabuses of the Cambridge Locals are not based on individual school curricula; but examination papers on alternative syllabuses and set books may be set under certain conditions if a fee is paid by the school to cover the extra cost. We are informed that there is always a considerable number of former headmasters on the list of examiners, and that the Syndicate are

[page 177]

constantly receiving from the heads of schools informal suggestions and representations with regard to the examinations, and from time to time invite their opinions on subjects which they have under discussion.

As to choice of subjects, candidates have somewhat less discretion than is allowed in the Oxford Locals. Arithmetic is compulsory for candidates for the Preliminary and Junior and Senior Examinations, and Dictation is compulsory in the two former. At least a part of the section Religious Knowledge must be taken by all candidates, subject to a conscience clause. Further, candidates for the Preliminary Examination must pass in four of the fourteen optional sections enumerated above; they may not enter for more than five of the ten sections 5-14, or for more than two of the four sections 10-13, or for more than eight sections altogether. In the Junior Local, candidates must pass either (a) in three of the sections 1-14 (one at least of the three being section 2 or one of the sections 4-9); or (b) in two of the sections 1-14, together with two subjects out of any other two of these sections (one at least of the two complete sections being section 2 or one of the sections 4-9). In the Senior Local, candidates must pass in at least three of the sections 1-14, one at least of the three being section 2 or one of the sections 4-9. In the Junior and Senior Examinations no student may enter for more than seven sections, together with a part of an eighth section. In the case of all three examinations it is necessary, in order to qualify for a certificate, to satisfy the prescribed conditions at one and the same examination.

The following tables show the subjects of the examinations arranged in order of the candidates' preference, with the number of candidates who took each. The figures are for the year 1908*:

Arithmetic (9,665).
Dictation (9,665).
History (9,493).†
Geography (9,443).†
English Language and Literature (more than 9,320).‡
Religious Knowledge (9,112).‡

English Language and Literature. - The number given is the number who took Composition, but candidates had a choice of five divisions, of which [footnote continues on next page]

[page 178]

French (8,073).
Drawing (say 8,000).‡
Mathematics (7,583 - at least).‡
Latin (2,747).
Chemistry (1,850)‡
Physical Geography (1,430).*
Botany (1,284).*
Elementary Experimental Science (1,078).
Physics (1,067).‡
Music (962).
Book-keeping (917).§
German (709).
Physiology and Hygiene (451).*
Mensuration and Surveying (174).§
Greek (171).
Shorthand (170).§
Natural History of Animals (67).*
Spanish (33).

‡Footnote - continued.

they had to take two to pass (or three for distinction), and of which one had to be a book. The numbers taking the separate divisions, were as follows: (a) Composition (9,320); (b) and (c) Books (9,077); (d) Books (1,420); (e) Grammar (8,622). No candidate could take both (b) and (c) nor more than three subjects altogether. It is, therefore, certain that the number taking this section was in excess of that given above.

Religious Knowledge. - This is the number who took the Gospel, together with those who took Kings (Jewish students only). This division, with one of four others, was necessary for a Pass in this section.

Drawing. - This section is divided into four subjects of which two are required for a Pass. The numbers in the separate subjects are as follows: (a) Freehand (6,894); (b) Model (6,195); (c) Geometrical (2,975); (d) Elementary Design (825). A candidate was not allowed to take both (c) and (d). Supposing each candidate had taken two subjects and only two, the number of individual candidates would have been about 8,500.

Mathematics. - This section has four divisions, of which each candidate must pass in Geometry and Algebra. The number given above is that of the candidates who took Algebra, which was in excess of the number who took Geometry. The numbers were as follows: (a) Geometry (7,206); (b) Algebra (7,583); (c) Trigonometry (1,113); (d) Mechanics (291).

Chemistry. - Candidates had to pass in both Theoretical and Practical Chemistry. The numbers were (a) Theoretical (1,850), as given above; (b) Practical (1,701).

Physics. - Candidates had to pass in two out of three subjects. The numbers were as follows: (a) Heat (1,067), given above , (b) Sound and Light (362); (c) Electricity and Magnetism (702).

*These four subjects are all contained in one section, called "Biology and Physical Geography".

§These subjects are all contained in one section, only one subject is needed for a pass; no candidate may take both Shorthand and Mensuration.

‡See footnote commencing on page 177.

[page 179]

tions are for the most part very similar to those noticed in the case of Oxford (see page 165).

Arithmetic (7,362).
English Language and Literature (7,130 - at least).†
History (6,995).‡
Geography (6,728).‡
Religious Knowledge (6,652).†
French (5,134).
Drawing (say 5,000).†
Mathematics (4,534 - at least).†
Physical Geography (1,514).§
Latin (1,416).
Physics (say 1,400).†
Chemistry (1,187).†
Botany (1,063).§
Music (767).
German (465).
Physiology and Hygiene (375).§

§See footnote * on page 178.

[page 180]

Book-keeping (251)*
Logic (215)‡
Political Economy (171)‡
Greek (127)
Shorthand (61)*
Mensuration and Surveying (61)*
Spanish (44)
Agricultural Science (37)
Natural History of Animals (23)§

The total number of candidates who now take the Cambridge Examinations (i.e. 22,739 in 1909|| corresponds very closely to the number taking the Oxford ones, though the total is apportioned somewhat differently among the three examinations. Full statistics extending over a number of years are given on page 375. It will be sufficient here to mention that in the year 1909, 4,758 candidates took the Cambridge Preliminary, 9,950 took the Junior, and 8,031 took the Senior.

The age limits for candidates are the same as those for the Oxford Locals.¶

The results of the examinations are published with great fulness of detail. Separate lists for boy and girl candidates are issued in each case. Successful candidates are divided into five classes. The first three are Honours classes, the fourth includes candidates who are under 14, 16, and 19 years of age for the Preliminary, Junior, and Senior Local respectively, and the fifth includes over-age candidates. In all five cases the candidates are arranged in alphabetical order under the various centres. After the name of each candidate is added the name of his school (if any) and the name of the schoolmaster. In addition to these class-lists, information is published as to the distinctions earned in individual subjects by Junior candidates under 16 and Senior candidates under 19. In these lists the candidates are arranged in order of merit. Distinctions are also given in the Preliminary Local, but the names of candidates who obtain them are not published in a separate list.

*These subjects are contained in one section, in which each candidate must pass in Book-keeping, and one of the other two, of which only one may be taken.

†See footnote † on page 179.

‡See footnote ‡ on page 179.

§See footnote * on page 178.

||It is understood that this is the total number entered, and that not all of them actually attended the examinations.

¶But the age for Honours in the Junior Examination remains 16 in 1912 (see footnote † on page 166).

[page 181]

The following table shows the number of candidates who obtained Honours at the examinations in 1908:

The following table shows the number of candidates who obtained distinctions in the Preliminary, Junior, and Senior Local Examinations, 1908:

[page 182]

In addition to the Class Lists, supplementary lists are issued which show in detail the subjects which every candidate took, and those in which he failed or succeeded. Further, the Syndicate are prepared to give to the principals of schools information about the work of their pupils similar to that given by the Oxford Delegacy.

A list of the exemptions from other examinations which can be obtained by success in the Cambridge Local Examinations is given in Appendix D on pages 337 ff.

A few scholarships, prizes, and medals are awarded on the results of the Junior and Senior Local Examinations. St. John's College, Cambridge, gives two exhibitions of £30 a year for two years to candidates in the Senior Local, and the Trustees of the Reid Fund (Bedford College, London) give a scholarship of 30 guineas [1 guinea = £1.05] for three years to a girl candidate in the Senior Local. The Syndicate themselves give a scholarship of about £40 a year for three years, tenable at Cambridge. The Syndicate also give prizes, both in July and December, to the four candidates who stand highest in the First Class of the Senior and Junior boys and the Senior and Junior girls, £12 to each of the Seniors and £8 to each of the Juniors. The Royal Geographical Society offer four silver medals a year for success in Geography and Physical Geography combined.

The Cambridge Higher Local Examinations are held twice a year, in June and December. The arrangements for centres and fees are generally similar to those of the Oxford Delegacy. Whereas, however, the Oxford Higher Local is open to candidates of any age, irrespective of their having passed any previous examination, the Cambridge Higher Local is only open to candidates who are either 17 years of age or have obtained an Oxford or Cambridge Senior Local Certificate, a Higher Certificate or the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, or a London Matriculation Certificate.

The subjects of the examination are -

Group R. Religious Knowledge.
Group A. English.
Group B. Languages (Latin, Greek, French, German. Italian).
Group C. Mathematics (Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra, Plane Trigonometry, Conic Sections, Statics, Dynamics, Hydrostatics, Astronomy, Differential and Integral Calculus).
Group D. Logic. Psychology, Political Economy, History of Education.
Group E. Science (Elementary Chemistry and Physics, Chemistry, Physics, Botany, Zoology, Physiology, Geology).
Group F. Music.
Group G. Geography (Physical, Political, and Economic Geography, the History of Geography).
Group H. History (English History, general and special, European History, Greek History, Roman History).

[page 183]

The choice of subjects open to candidates is limited only by the following regulations. All candidates must satisfy the examiners in Group B or C. "For an Honours Certificate, a candidate either (a) must satisfy the Examiners in Elementary Arithmetic and in three of the Groups R, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and obtain a First or Second Class in two of the three groups required, or (b) having obtained Honours (i.e. a First, Second, or Third Class) in the Cambridge Local Examination for Seniors, or a Higher Certificate of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board with distinction in two subjects, must obtain a First or Second Class in two of the Groups R, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, provided that a candidate who presents a Higher Certificate of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board which does not include Elementary Mathematics shall also satisfy the Examiners in Arithmetic. For an Ordinary Certificate, a candidate must satisfy the Examiners in Elementary Arithmetic and in three of the groups R, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. Certificates in the Cambridge Senior Local Examination and the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board give no exemption from this rule."

As in the case of the Oxford Higher Local, the subjects required for a Certificate need not all be taken at one and the same examination.

The syllabuses in the various subjects of the examination are of an advanced order. It may be noted specially that there are more opportunities for practical examinations in Science than are offered by the Oxford Delegacy. In Chemistry a practical examination is (as in the Oxford Examination) obligatory where the accommodation of the centre allows it. In Botany, Zoology, and Geology candidates are required to describe and identify specimens. Further, in all subjects except Elementary Physics and Chemistry, there are practical laboratory examinations at Cambridge, which are open to all candidates who desire to take them, whether they take the rest of the examination at Cambridge or elsewhere. They are not compulsory, and success in them does not affect a student's place in the Class List in Group E, and is not required for the mark of distinction in the various subjects. But it secures a special mark in the Class List. In French and German an oral examination, at a limited number of centres, is on much the same footing as the voluntary practical examination in Science subjects. There is no practical examination in Music. Set books are not obligatory in any language, except to a small extent in Italian, but are optional in all.

The number of candidates who took the Cambridge Higher Local in 1908 was 1,041, and the number who qualified for certificates was 177.* Speaking generally, the candidates

*Excluding those who, although they passed in certain groups, did not complete their certificates, and those who had already gained a certificate and now added to their successes.

[page 184]

come from the higher Forms of girls' schools, and the examination is used mainly as an avenue to the University. It has this advantage, from their point of view, that it can be taken piecemeal, and that it includes no Greek. The examination, in fact, has in girls' schools very much the position of the Higher Certificate of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board in Public Schools for boys; but it is claimed that the Higher Local is a more difficult examination, except in Classics, to which, of course, less time is given in girls' schools than in the great Public Schools for boys.

As regards the standard of the examination, it is of a much higher character than the Senior Local, being, so we are informed, rather of the nature of a University Intermediate Examination, or even, in some subjects, of a Final Examination for a Degree.

The Syndicate are prepared to examine schools, by means either of pure "School" examinations or by "School" examinations and Local examinations combined. The system is very similar to that of the Oxford Delegacy already described, and does not require separate description.

The number of schools examined by the Syndicate in 1909 was 76.

The arrangements made by the Syndicate for granting Junior and Senior Certificates, and for Army Leaving Certificates, are practically identical with those of the Oxford Delegacy as regards both the subjects and method of the examination and the attendance qualification. No detailed description of them, therefore, is necessary here.

The number of candidates for School Certificates in 1908 was only 4, and in 1909 there were no entries at all; in 1910, however, 23 candidates entered for Junior, and 24 for Senior School Certificates, the numbers successful being 7 and 9 respectively.

Inspection of schools, as distinct from examination, was started by the Syndicate in 1882. As a matter of fact, the examination of schools, as conducted by the Syndicate, includes a good deal of inspection, and very few schools ask for inspection as apart from examination, especially now that the Board of Education undertakes inspection free of charge. The number of schools inspected by the Syndicate in 1905 was 3;

[page 185]

in 1906, 6; in 1907, 2; in 1908, 6; and in 1909, 7. The Syndicate conducted no inspections, pure and simple, in 1910. The fee charged by the Syndicate for inspection varies, of course, according to the size and curriculum of the school, the minimum fee being £5. If the inspection occupies one inspector for two days, or two inspectors one day, the fee is £8. These fees do not include travelling and hotel expenses.

The Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, commonly known as the Joint Board, conducts several examinations, which may conveniently be grouped under three heads.

(1) Firstly, they conduct a "School" Examination, that is, an examination proper to an individual school, on which no certificates are given.

(2) Secondly, they conduct Higher and Lower Certificate Examinations. The examinations are held (a) at schools which desire that the papers shall form part of a "School Examination", and (b) "at Oxford, Cambridge, or such other centres as the Board may appoint". In practice, such centres are nearly always schools. The Higher Certificate Examination is intended for pupils of about 18 years of age, and the Lower for pupils of about 16.

(3) Thirdly, the Board hold an examination for "School Certificates", for pupils of about 17 years of age. Such examinations are, as a rule, held at inspected schools, and no candidates are eligible for certificates who have not been in attendance for three years. This School Certificate is accepted by the Army Council as an Army Leaving Certificate.*

The Certificate Examinations may be combined with "School Examinations", and the certificate papers may then be used by pupils who are not candidates for certificates. The Joint Board are prepared to accept the co-operation of the school staff in such portions of the examinations as are not used for obtaining certificates, Examinations for certificates are conducted entirely by the Board's examiners.

In all examinations, whether for certificates or not, the Board are prepared to grant alternative papers, either on different subjects or under different schedules, or to be set at different times, where the subjects or times presented do not suit the convenience of a particular school, provided that the additional expense so incurred is borne by the school.

School Examinations held under the authority of the Joint Board may be held at any time of the year, and may include as

*But see footnote * on p. 173.

[page 186]

many or as few subjects and cover as many or as few classes as the school authorities choose. The examination follows the syllabus of the school, and as a rule allows the co-operation of the masters of the school in setting and marking the examination papers. An exception, however, is made in the case of the examination of the highest division of the school, when the examiners report on the general work of that division, and, if required, place the boys in order of merit, and award exhibitions, scholarships, and prizes. In such a case the examination is conducted exclusively by the Board's examiners, provided the statutes of the school permit.

The School Examination is conducted partly viva voce, except where the Board authorise the examiners to dispense with this mode of examination.

When the examination is over the School Examiners make a report upon it to the Joint Board, who afterwards send a report to the Governors and headmaster of the school.

The number of examiners required and the length of the examination is fixed in each case by the Joint Board after communication with the authorities of the school. The cost of the examination, including the expense of printing the papers and the salaries of the examiners, is settled on a fixed scale. An estimate is sent to the school before the arrangements of the examination are finally concluded.

The schools which utilise the School Examinations of the Joint Board are Secondary Schools which have a regularly constituted Governing Body, or which prepare a fair proportion of their boys for the Universities, or which in any other way give evidence of providing an education of the highest grade.

The manner in which the School Examinations of the Joint Board may be combined with the Higher or Lower Certificate Examinations, or the School Certificate Examination, will be described in the following sections.

The number of schools examined by the Joint Board in the year 1908-9 was 188, but this number includes all the schools at which examinations were held, whether the whole school, or select Forms, or only candidates for certificates were examined; it also includes two schools where the only examination was of a viva voce character. The number of pupils examined, who were not candidates for certificates, was about 5,600.

The Higher Certificate Examination is held once a year in July at every school of which the authorities desire that the examination shall form part of a School Examination, and at Oxford, Cambridge, or such other centres as the Board may appoint. The examination is open both to boys and girls, but

[page 187]

the regulations differ somewhat for the two sexes. We will take the case of boys first.

Every candidate for a certificate must pay a fee of £2 on the first occasion. Candidates who have already obtained certificates are admitted to a subsequent examination upon payment of a fee of £1.10s. [£1.50]. Candidates who wish to obtain exemption from Responsions, the Previous Examination, and the London Matriculation Examination, although they do not obtain a Higher Certificate, pay an extra fee of 5s. [25p] to cover the expense of a special examination of their answers to ascertain if they have reached the necessary standard for exemption.

The subjects comprised in the Higher Certificate Examination are as follows:

Candidates must, at one and the same examination,* satisfy the examiners in at least four subjects, which must as a rule be taken from not less than three different groups. They may not take more than six subjects (Elementary and Additional Mathematics being reckoned for this purpose as one).

The syllabuses of the various subjects are left very wide. The following points may be noted. Set books are not compulsory in Languages. Oral French and German are optional and are not necessary for a pass in either language. Success in the oral examination, however, is noted on the certificates of candidates who pass in the language as a whole, and, in and after 1912, no candidate will obtain distinction unless he satisfies the examiners in the oral test. The syllabus in English consists of Prose Composition and portions of authors to be specially prepared. The papers on the set books contain questions on Grammar, but the syllabus appears to give candidates no opportunity for obtaining credit for general reading except so far as it finds scope in the essay paper. In History, candidates have the option of taking periods of English, Roman, or Greek History. Geography may be taken as a separate subject, or as

*But see later as regards special provision for girls.

[page 188]

a composite subject combined with History. But even candidates who take History as a separate subject are required to have such a knowledge of geography as is necessary for the study of the selected period of History. There are practical examinations in Chemistry, Physics, and Mechanics. In Geology and Biology the examination includes the recognition of the principal fossil genera and the examination and description of an actual plant.

A school which takes the Higher Certificate Examination as part of a School examination may submit for the approval of the Joint Board alternative books or periods or special schedules, and may have special papers set on the basis of its own curriculum if the proposed alternatives are considered at least equivalent to those specified in the Board's syllabuses, and provided that the entire expense involved be defrayed by the school authorities.

The above description applies primarily to boys. The regulations for girls differ in the following respects: Girl candidates for Higher Certificates may take the examination in two portions, being required at each examination to satisfy the examiners in at least two subjects. The fee may be divided also between two examinations. Candidates who satisfy the examiners in two or more subjects receive a Letter stating the subjects in which they have passed. Those who desire to qualify for admission at Oxford to the University Examinations for the Degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music, and Doctor of Music, although they do not obtain a Higher Certificate exempting them from Responsions, pay an additional fee of 5s [25p]. Further, Italian, Music, and Drawing, subjects not included in the boys' list of subjects, may be offered by girl candidates.

The number of candidates who are examined annually for Higher Certificates is considerable, the actual figures being 1,324 boys and 1,037 girls in 1909. Of the girls, 527 candidates were dividing their examination into two parts and were entering for the first part only.

The names of candidates who are successful in their examination are published in one Class List in alphabetical order, with letters showing the subjects in which they passed or obtained distinction. A separate list of all the candidates who obtained distinction in any subject is also published, also in alphabetical order, with letters to show the subjects in which the distinction was gained. In each list boys and girls are given separately, and in every case the name of their school is added. Supplementary tables are also issued, giving the subjects in which all candidates, whether successful or not in the whole examination, satisfied the examiners or obtained distinction.

The Joint Board publish statistics showing the number of candidates who offered each subject of the Syllabus at the examination in any year. But, as many of the candidates divide their examination and offer only half their subjects at a time, it is not

[page 189]

possible to judge from these statistics what subjects are offered by candidates in the course of their whole examination. The following figures, however, show the relative position of the various subjects. At the examination in 1909 there were 1,324 boys and 1,037 girls; of the latter 527 were taking the first part of their examination, while the remainder were either taking their examination undivided or were taking the second half. The following list of subjects shows the order of the candidates' preference. Of the figures given opposite to each subject the first is the number of candidates who took the subject, the second is the number who obtained distinction:

No prizes or scholarships are given by the Joint Board to successful candidates for Higher Certificates. Such candidates, however, are entitled to exemption from many public examinations, a list of which is given in Appendix D on pages 343 ff.

The Lower, like the Higher, Certificate Examination is held in July of each year at every school of which the authorities desire that the papers shall form part of a School Examination, and at Oxford, Cambridge, or such other Centres as the Board may appoint. The examination is taken both by boys and girls, and the published regulations of the examination apply generally to both sexes; but girl candidates may pass the examination in two portions.

The fee is one guinea [£1.05] for each candidate examined in his own school. An additional fee of 10s [50p] must be paid for every candidate examined elsewhere. Further, the school must pay not less than a guinea a day for the services of the Supervisor, and must also pay his travelling expenses and provide for his entertainment. A girl candidate entering for three or four subjects only pays a fee of 10s. 6d. [52½p]

The subjects comprised in the Lower Certificate Examination correspond generally with those of the Higher Certificate Examination, and are similarly grouped; but Arithmetic is substituted for Elementary Mechanics, English History for

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History, and Botany for Biology, while Physical Geography and Elementary Geology are dropped altogether. On the other hand, candidates may also offer Geometrical or Model Drawing.

Candidates for certificates must, at one and the same examination,* satisfy the Examiners in five subjects taken from not less than three groups, of which Groups I and II must be two. Drawing may not be one of the five subjects.

The syllabuses of the various subjects are of course easier than those of the Higher Certificate, though drawn on similar lines. The following points may he noticed. In Languages there are no set books, neither optional nor compulsory. The syllabus in English includes Grammar, Easy Composition, Dictation, and portions of authors to be specially prepared. The syllabus in History is confined to one period of English History. Geography and History may be offered as a composite subject. There is no oral examination in modern foreign languages, but there are practical tests in Science.

Alternative books and periods or special schedules may be offered by schools which are prepared to pay for special examination papers.

The names of successful candidates are published in a single class list, in alphabetical order, boys and girls, however, being given separately. There is no Honours List and there are no distinctions, but there are two classes in each separate subject, and the published class list indicates whether successful candidates obtained a first or second class in each subject in which they passed. Supplementary tables show the individual subjects in which all candidates, whether successful or not in the whole examination, satisfied the examiners, and the class which they obtained in each subject.

At the examination in 1909 there were 1,087 candidates, of whom 958 were boys. The following figures show the choice of the candidates in 1909, the number against each subject being the number of candidates who offered it for examination:

Of the 1,087 candidates, 593 were successful in obtaining Lower Certificates. There were 7,807 entries altogether for different subjects, and the number of First Classes granted was 1,308, and of Second Classes 3,953.

When a whole Form, or not less than 15 boys in a Form, are examined for Lower Certificates, the examiner reports to the

*Except girl candidates, who may take the examination in two portions.

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Joint Board on their work in each paper. A report is afterwards sent by the Joint Board to the Governing Body and headmaster of the school respecting the general work of the boys from that school. A list of the boys is also sent showing the number of marks gained by each boy in each subject.

No prizes are given by the Joint Board to successful candidates for Lower Certificates. The exemptions from public examinations which are granted to successful candidates are enumerated in Appendix D on page 350.

The School Certificate Examination of the Joint Board is held twice a year, in July and December. The certificate, like the School Leaving Certificates of the Oxford Delegacy and of the Cambridge Syndicate, is only granted to candidates who (1) pass in the required subjects, and (2) have been in attendance for three years, with satisfactory conduct, at one or more schools inspected by the Joint Board, or by the Board of Education, and approved by the Joint Board. It is intended for candidates of about 17 years of age, as a test of general school education, and is accepted as such by many examining bodies and in particular by the Universities and the Army Council.* It may be added that pupils in schools which are not inspected are allowed to enter for the examination, and may, if they pass in the subjects required by Oxford or Cambridge, obtain by this means exemption, wholly or in part, from Responsions or the Previous Examination, though not eligible to receive Certificates.

The subjects of the examination are very similar to those of the Higher Certificate Examination,† and are grouped in the same way. In order to obtain a certificate a candidate must pass, at one and the same examination, in not less than five subjects (of which English must be one) taken from not less than three groups, and at least one subject must be taken from Group I. Further, candidates who take History-and-Geography or Physics-and-Chemistry as composite subjects may not also take the component parts of those subjects separately. A candidate who has already qualified for a certificate may take one or more additional subjects at a subsequent examination, and, if successful, may have the fact recorded on his certificate.

The syllabuses of the various subjects are quite general. There are no set books in Languages. In French and German there is an optional oral examination, and candidates who are successful in the paper work and also in the oral

*But see footnote *, p. 173.

†The only differences are as follows: Spanish and Arabic are omitted, History is confined to English History, and Group IV consists of the following subjects: (1) Mechanics, (2) Physics, (3) Chemistry, (4) Physics and Chemistry.

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examination have the fact recorded on their certificate if they obtain one. In English, the only compulsory subjects are English Composition and Précis writing, and the reproduction in brief of a passage read to the candidates. Candidates may also, if they wish, take some short portions of specially prepared authors, and, if successful, the fact is noted on their certificate. The History syllabus is confined to English History and includes the outlines from 1066-1832 and a special period. In all branches of Science, candidates must satisfy the examiners in practical work.

Alternative papers may be set for schools which are prepared to bear the additional expense.

The number of candidates who take the examination for School Certificates has grown considerably during the last few years, being 605 in the year 1909. These candidates were all boys. Girls' schools do not take the examination, the authorities appearing to be afraid of encouraging parents to think that girls' education should end at 17. In any case, the Higher Certificate Examination suits them better, as in the first place they can take it in two portions, and secondly, the examination includes separate papers for candidates for a pass or for distinction. For girls' schools which specialise in English and History this arrangement is more convenient.

The fee for each candidate for a certificate is £2. Candidates who already hold a certificate and wish to be examined in additional subjects at a subsequent examination, pay a fee of 10s [50p]. Candidates seeking exemption from Responsions and the Previous Examination, if not also candidates for a certificate, pay £1 if they offer one or two subjects, £1 10s. if they offer three or four subjects, and £2 if they offer more than four subjects. Candidates examined away from their own school pay 15s. [75p] extra. In addition to the above fees for individual candidates, the following charges are made to the school: For the services of a supervisor, not less than one guinea [£1.05] a day, with travelling expenses; for the visit of an examiner in colloquial French or German, £2. The entertainment of the supervisor or examiner must be provided by the school.

The names of successful candidates for certificates are published in a single class list in alphabetical order. The name of the candidate's school is given in each case. Separate lists are published, also in alphabetical order, of candidates who, already holding certificates, have passed in further subjects, and of candidates who took the examination not for the purpose of obtaining certificates but to obtain exemptions from the examinations of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. There are no lists of distinctions, as none are given.

It is not possible to state what are the usual subjects taken by candidates for certificates, as the published figures, which show the number of candidates who take each subject, include not only candidates for certificates but also candidates taking

[page 193]

special parts of the examination for special exemption purposes, and also those who have obtained certificates and are merely taking additional subjects. The following figures, however, give some indication of the candidates' preference. In December 1908 and July 1909 there were 687 candidates. Of these, 559 were candidates for certificates; 94 were candidates in one or more subjects to complete certificates already obtained; 34 were candidates for exemption from Responsions or the Previous Examination without being candidates for the School Certificate. The following is a list of the subjects in the order of the candidates' choice, the number against each subject being the number of candidates who offered that subject:

In all, there were 3,597 entries and 2,329 passes in individual subjects, Of the 568 candidates for certificates, 189 were successful.

The exemptions granted to candidates through the School Certificate examination of the Joint Board are specified in Appendix D on pages 348 ff. No prizes or scholarships are given by the Joint Board on the strength of the examination, but the marks obtained by candidates can be supplied to the school authorities for several purposes, including, of course, the award of school prizes and scholarships.

The School Certificate specifies the age of the successful candidate, the subjects in which he passed, and his school attendance, together with a note of any course he may have been through in geometrical drawing, practical geometry, practical measurements, or practical work in science.

When all, or not less than 15, of the boys or girls in a Form have been examined, the examiners report to the Board upon their work in each subject. A report is afterwards sent by the Board to the Governing Body and headmaster of the school respecting the work of the boys from that Form.

In addition to its examinations the Joint Board conducts inspections of schools. Some schools are inspected yearly, and others only once in four or five years; but the total number each year is not large, as may be seen by the figures on p. 382. In the year ending October 31st 1910, the number was 20, while the average for the five years 1906-10 was 14.

The report of inspection is a confidential document, being intended for the use of the authorities of the school alone, and not for publication.

[page 194]

The position of the London University in regard to examinations in Secondary Schools is essentially different from that of the bodies whose work we have been considering. Whereas the latter came into being with the express object of testing the work of Secondary Schools, the London University commenced its examining work solely for its own University purposes, and with no conscious intention of providing a School Examination. The Matriculation examination, though now largely used by pupils who proceed no further with a University course, was intended to be simply an examination for entry into the University. Gradually, however, it came to be used as a kind of popular leaving examination for Secondary Schools - as an end in itself - more or less in the same way as the Local Examinations of Oxford and Cambridge. Statistics are given on page 390 showing the proportion of Matriculants who go on to further University examinations. From these it would appear that about one-quarter of those who matriculate do not enter for the Intermediate Examination. On the constitution in 1902 of the University Extension Board (which was entrusted with the examination and inspection of Secondary Schools), a new scheme was instituted with the object of providing an examination based directly on the needs of Secondary Schools. This examination, which is now called the Senior School Examination,* is very closely related to the Matriculation Examination, the papers being either the same or of the same standard. In the following year the Junior School Examination was started, and, in 1905, the Higher School Examination.

All these examinations are, in the first place, examinations of individual candidates. In addition, however, the University undertakes the complete inspection of schools, the examination of whole schools or whole classes, or combined inspection and examination. In such cases the main portion of the examination takes the form of one or more of the ordinary School Examinations referred to above, and some or all of the pupils may be candidates for certificates, a report being made to the school authorities on the work of the class or of the school as a whole.

It will be seen, therefore, that the examinations of London University which most directly affect Secondary Schools are now of three kinds. In the first place, there is the Matriculation Examination, which, in intention, is a University entrance examination pure and simple, though it has become in addition more or less of a "Local" examination; in the second place, there are the three school examinations (Junior, Senior, and Higher); and in the third place, there are the examinations

*The name first given to it was "School Examination (Matriculation Standard)". The change was made in June 1910, when other important alterations in the Regulations were also made.

[page 195]

and inspections of schools or classes as distinct from individual pupils.

As the Matriculation Examination partakes so largely of the nature of both a "Local" and a "School" examination, and as, moreover, the school examinations of the University are so closely related to it, it will be dealt with here instead of in the later section on University Entrance Examinations.

This examination is held three times a year, in January, in June or July, and in September. The September examination is held only in London; but the other two may be (and are) held also at provincial centres "upon the application of any City, Institution, or College desiring to be named as a local centre for one or more examinations". In such cases the examinations are carried out simultaneously with those in London, and under the supervision of sub-examiners appointed by the Senate. In 1909 the examination was held at 16 provincial centres in England and Wales in January, and at 33 in June. The whole of the 16 which had the examination in January were centres again in June, so that the total number of centres in England and Wales was only 33. This marks a difference between the London Matriculation Examination and the local examinations of the Oxford Delegacy and the Cambridge Syndicate, each of which have over 300* centres outside London.

The examination fee is £2, and the full amount is payable upon every re-entry of a candidate who has previously failed.† A candidate who absents himself from the examination is allowed to re-enter within eight months on payment of only £1. Matriculated students desiring to pass in additional subjects may enter on payment of £1 for a single subject, or £2 for two subjects or more. In addition, a local fee varying from £1 to £3 has to be paid to the authorities of provincial centres.

The subjects of examination are placed in 10 groups, as follows:

I. English.
II. Elementary Mathematics.
III. Optional Languages:

Latin.
Greek.
French.
German.
Other Languages.

†Unless his first entry was in, or before, January 1902, in which case he may (for the present) be readmitted for a fee of £1.

[page 196]

IV. History: Ancient History. Modern History.
V. Physical and General Geography.
VI. History and Geography.
VII. Logic.
VIII. Geometrical and Mechanical Drawing.
IX. Mathematics (more advanced).
X. Optional Sciences:

Elementary Mechanics.
Elementary Chemistry.
Elementary Physics (Heat, Light, and Sound)
Elementary Physics (Electricity and Magnetism).
Elementary Biology (Botany).
Elementary Biology (Zoology).
Elementary Geology.

The syllabuses are prescribed by the University, and are the same for all candidates: they are not related to the curricula of individual schools. But it must be remembered that the function of this examination is to test candidates for entrance to the University, and that it was not meant to be a school examination. The teachers of the schools take no direct part in the examination.

The choice of subjects is much more restricted than in the case of the Oxford and Cambridge Locals. Candidates have

[page 197]

to pass, at one and the same examination, in five subjects, namely:

(1) English.
(2) Elementary Mathematics.
(3) Latin; or Elementary Mechanics; or Elementary Physics (Heat, Light, and Sound); or Elementary Chemistry; or Elementary Botany.
(4) and (5) Two other subjects, neither of which has been taken under section (3). If Latin be not taken, one of the other subjects must be another language (either ancient or modern).

The subjects taken by the candidates at the three examinations in 1908 and the number of candidates examined in each (excluding candidates at Colonial examinations) were as follows:*

It appears, therefore, that the whole of the candidates take English and Elementary Mathematics, since these subjects are compulsory for all. In addition, every candidate is obliged to take at least one foreign language (either ancient or modern), and, if not Latin, then at least one subject of science. The figures show that in 1908 about 89 per cent took French, and about 39 per cent Latin. Exactly how many individual candidates took one or more divisions of science cannot be ascertained from the figures; but there must have been at least 61 per cent, since that is the proportion who took no Latin. History was taken (separately or combined with Geography) by about

*The total number of candidates to which this table refers is 6,597. The difference between this and the figure given on the next page is due to the fact that the latter includes the candidates at Colonial examinations.

[page 198]

49 per cent, and Geography by about 28 per cent. The subject Drawing, which is confined to plane and solid geometry and machine drawing, was taken by only a very small proportion of candidates.

The candidates for the Matriculation Examination in 1908 numbered 6,669, of whom 4,651 were men and 2,018 women.* The number had remained about the same during the five years preceding; from 1904 to 1907 it decreased slightly each year, but rose again in 1908 to a little above what it had been in 1901; thus in 1904 it was 6,533, and in 1907 only 6,120. During the three years immediately preceding 1904 a remarkable increase took place, the total number of candidates in 1901 having been only 4,198. Prior to this the growth had been less rapid but fairly regular.

As regards the conditions of admission to the examination, candidates must have completed their 16th year at the date of the examination; there is no upper limit of age. The examination is open to men and women alike, the same set of regulations and the same examination papers applying to both. Persons who have once passed the examination are not admitted again, except in additional subjects. Those who have been admitted to the University without passing the Matriculation Examination, and those who have proceeded to further examinations of the University, are not permitted to take the examination subsequently, except for the purpose of satisfying the requirements of a public authority. In such cases no certificate is issued and the names do not appear in the Pass List; but the public authority concerned is notified by the University in case of success. Any person is admitted to take the English paper and a viva voce test at the Matriculation Examination held in London (but not in the Provinces) on payment of a fee of £2, and certificates are issued to such as are successful.

The names of successful candidates are published in a supplement to the University Gazette in a list containing two divisions, a First Division and a Second Division, and are arranged in alphabetical order. In each case is given the name of the school (if any) from which the candidate comes. Copies of the list are sent to every college or school from which any successful candidate has immediately proceeded to the examination, and also to candidates who have supplied a stamped addressed envelope. Successful candidates also receive a certificate setting forth the subjects taken by them, Unsuccessful candidates are informed of the subjects in which they have failed. Particulars are not given either to the public or to individual schools or candidates, as to the marks obtained or as to relative position in order of merit in the list; but it

*In 1909 the number was 6,225, of whom 4,358 were men and 1,867 women.

[page 199]

is understood that some information as to the work of candidates may be supplied to scholarship awarding bodies on application. Honours are not now given in connection with this examination; nor are distinctions awarded in individual subjects. Until the examination of June 1903 an Honours list was published in which the names were arranged in order of merit; but after that examination this list was discontinued. The practice of awarding a certain number of exhibitions and prizes on the results of the examination was also abandoned at the same time.

It may be interesting to see the proportions of candidates who pass in each of the two divisions. The following table gives the figures for 1908:

Success in the Matriculation Examination of the London University is accepted for various purposes, either with or without conditions, by certain Universities and professional bodies and by the Board of Education.

In considering the three "School Examinations" of the University of London it will probably be best to deal first with the Senior School Examination, which was the first of the three to be established and which is intimately connected with the Matriculation Examination just considered. Next will follow a description of the Higher School Examination, which marks a further stage in the course of a student who has passed the Senior Examination, and is (for certificate purposes) open only to such as have succeeded in that examination. Last will come the Junior School Examination, which, though second of the three in order of establishment, is in some respects rather different in character from the other two.

This examination is, in effect, the general Matriculation Examination adapted for use as a school examination. It is

*See footnote on p. 197.

†Previously called "School Examination (Matriculation Standard)". See footnote on p. 243.

[page 200]

(in the words of the regulations) of a standard which a well-educated boy or girl of the age of 17 may reasonably be expected to reach. Subject to certain conditions, success in the examination entitles a pupil to a School Leaving Certificate when (but not before) he leaves school.

As has already been indicated, this examination was instituted in 1902 when the University Extension Board was constituted and was entrusted with the duty of examining and inspecting Secondary Schools. The Board felt that if a new examination was started something rather different from the existing ones was needed, and an endeavour was accordingly made to bring the new examination into much closer relation with the schools. With this end in view provision was made for the setting of special papers to meet the curricula of individual schools, and for an intimate association between inspection and examination. The examination can only be held in a school which is under inspection by the University or by some body approved by them, and in which the curriculum has received their approval. Further, no pupil is eligible for a certificate unless he has been for two years under instruction at an inspected school. These and other features of the scheme distinguish this examination from the Local Examinations or the London University's own Matriculation Examination, which are held at centres open to all candidates, and are quite independent of the schools. At the same time the examination serves a double purpose in that success in it, in the required subjects, entitles a candidate to registration as a Matriculated Student of the University just as if he had passed the general Matriculation Examination.

The examination is held in July of each year. It may also be held at any other time the University may fix, and in special cases, to meet the wishes of a school or group of schools, the University are prepared to hold an examination at any time desired by such school or schools provided the whole cost be borne by the latter.

The ordinary fee is £2 for each pupil examined; but a further fee of £2 is charged for each paper set specially for a particular school, and candidates who take Higher Standard papers in certain subjects have to pay an additional 10s [50p] for each such subject that does not involve a practical examination. Candidates who, having already passed the examination, take additional subjects at subsequent examinations, pay 10s for each subject taken, if no special paper is required to be set. In addition, since inspection is a necessary condition for examination, it should be mentioned that there is a charge of £5 a day for each inspector in addition to travelling and hotel expenses. If the school is not inspected during the year a fee of £5 (which covers the cost of the oral examination in modern languages) is charged, together with the fee and expenses of a Presiding Examiner if it is necessary to appoint one. For a

[page 201]

practical examination in science, involving the presence of an examiner in the school, there is an additional fee of £3, together with the examiner's travelling expenses, etc.

The list of subjects is the same as that for the Matriculation Examination (see pages 196 f.), with the addition of General Elementary Science, Elementary Economics, Economic History, and Drawing (Art). But the combination of subjects required for a pass in this examination is not the same as that required for the general Matriculation Examination. It is possible to qualify for a Senior School Certificate without passing in the Matriculation subjects. If, however, a candidate at the School Examination passes in those subjects (at one and the same examination) he is entitled to be registered without further fee as a Matriculated Student if or when he has attained the age of 16.

To obtain a certificate in the School Examination a pupil must, at one and the same examination, satisfy the examiners in:

(i) Arithmetic,
(ii) English language and literature (including an Essay),

(iii) One of the following*

Latin.
Greek.
French.
German.
Welsh.

(iv) One of the following:

Elementary Mathematics.
Elementary Mechanics.
Elementary Physics (Heat, Light and Sound).
Elementary Chemistry.
Elementary Botany.
General Elementary Science (Chemistry and Physics).†
Logic.
Physical and General Geography.
Elementary Economics.

(v) Two of the following:

The subjects of (iii) and (iv) above, but the same subject may not, of course, be taken twice over.
Ancient History.
Modern History.
History and Geography.‡
Geometrical and Mechanical Drawing.
Mathematics (more advanced).
Elementary Physics (Electricity and Magnetism).
Zoology.
Geology.
Economic History.
Drawing (Art).

‡Those who take this subject may not at the same examination take the separate subjects Geography or Modern History.

[page 202]

A pupil who has already passed the Senior School Examination may subsequently, while still at school, enter for additional subjects, and, if he passes, have the fact recorded on his Leaving Certificate. The University is further prepared to examine in Music and Drawing and to indicate on the certificate proficiency in these subjects. Information as to the subjects actually taken by candidates is not published.

Any pupil who, without qualifying for a School Certificate, passes in subjects which satisfy the requirements of a public authority, may obtain a document showing the subjects in which the approved standard has been reached; but this is not accepted in lieu of any part of the examination for certificate purposes.

The syllabuses for this examination are those of the Matriculation Examination, and if the examination is held at the same time as the Matriculation Examination the same papers may be used for both. But a school may have papers specially set to suit its own curriculum provided the syllabus proposed is approved by the University as at least equivalent to that for which it is substituted. In such cases an additional fee is required; but if several schools use the special syllabus the extra expense is divided between them. A practical examination may be held in science subjects, also on payment of an additional fee, and is obligatory in the case of students who take General Elementary Science - a subject not included in the general Matriculation Examination. In Chemistry and Physics candidates have to send in their note-books containing a record of their work during the year. In modern languages an oral test is compulsory. Success in it is not essential for a pass, but is recorded on the certificate. It will be remembered that neither practical nor oral test finds a place in the Matriculation Examination.

In the ordinary way a pupil is not admitted to the examination until he has completed his 16th year; but when a whole Form is entered, pupils under 16, but not under 13, may sit, provided that the University reserves the right to withdraw this privilege where the proportion of such pupils in the Form is unusually large, or for any other reason. In any case the certificate itself is not awarded to a pupil below the age of 16. Other conditions of admission to the examination or the award of certificates - viz. the period of school attendance, the approval of the course of study, and the inspection of the school - have been referred to.

As the examination for the Senior School Certificate is based on the general Matriculation examination, which does not profess to be a school examination, it may be useful to give a brief summary of the principal features of the scheme which help to bring the examination into relation with the schools. Most of them have already been mentioned above.

[page 203]

(i) The examination is only open to candidates from schools which are under inspection either by the University or by a body approved by them, and only those are eligible for certificates who have spent a certain time in such schools. Further, each school has to submit for the University's approval a statement of the complete course of instruction at the school and the curriculum of study pursued by the candidates.

(ii) Papers may be set specially on syllabuses submitted by the schools and approved by the University. For this privilege an extra charge is made.

(iii) Papers of a Higher Standard, in not more than two subjects, may be taken in addition to the ordinary papers in those subjects. An extra fee is charged for each Higher Standard paper so taken.

(iv) The choice of subjects is rather wider and is more elastic than that of the Matriculation examination.

(v) Practical examinations may be (in one subject must be) held in science (on payment of an extra fee); and in modern languages an oral test is compulsory, though success in it is not essential for a pass.

(vi) The whole of a Form may be entered for the examination, although some of its pupils* are under the age limit of 16. The University is prepared to furnish a report on the work of a whole Form tested in this way.

(vii) The University also offers to make special reports on the results of the examination, with a view to the award of scholarships or exhibitions.

(viii) The Certificate sets out not only the subjects in which the pupil has passed, but also the curriculum pursued by him at his school, and the time spent there. Further, a pupil who has distinguished himself in any form of manual, artistic, or technical skill, or has displayed any general or special capacity not tested by the examination, may, if desired by the school authorities, have the fact recorded on his certificate; and if, after passing the Senior Certificate Examination, he passes a scholarship or other higher examination, he is entitled to have this stated also.

(ix) The examination may, in special cases, to meet the needs of a particular school or group of schools, be held at any time desired by such school or schools, provided they pay the whole cost of the examination.

(x) While teachers in the schools do not take part in the setting or marking of the papers, it was pointed out to the Committee that a considerable proportion of the University's examiners either are, or have been, teachers, and that the

*Unless the whole Form, or subdivision of a Form (excepting only those who have already passed the examination, or the Matriculation examination, or have obtained exemption from the latter, or are under 15), is entered, only those of 16 or over may take part.

[page 204]

University has held conferences with teachers on the subject of the school examinations.

The examination is comparatively new, and the number of candidates at present is not very large. In the session 1908-9, 814 candidates, of whom 504 were boys and 310 girls, took the examination, which was held in 68 schools. The total number of boys and girls who had taken the examination from its establishment in 1902, up to and including the session referred to, was 2,994. Statistics showing the number presented in each session are given on page 391.

The list of successful candidates is published in a Supplement to the University Gazette. The candidates' names are arranged in alphabetical order under the names of their schools. Distinctions are given in individual subjects, and a candidate who qualifies for a certificate and obtains distinction in at least three subjects (exclusive of Arithmetic) is deemed to have gained Honours, and this fact is indicated in the Pass List. The list also shows those who have qualified for a certificate, those who have satisfied the requirements for Matriculation, and those who merely passed in additional subjects. The order of merit is not published; but, as already pointed out, the University offers to make special reports with a view to the award of scholarships or exhibitions.

The Senior School Certificate is accepted for various purposes, either with or without conditions, by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Board of Education, the Army Council, and a number of professional bodies.

This examination is intended for pupils who, after passing the Senior Examination, remain at school till 18 or 19 and specialise in certain subjects. As in the case of the examination just considered it is a condition for the award of a certificate that the student shall have pursued an approved course of study at a school under approved inspection, the period of attendance required in this case being three years. And again, certificates are not given to successful candidates until they are about to leave school.

The examination is held in July each year, and may also be held at other times, as in the case of the Senior School Examination.

The examination fee is £3 for each candidate. There are extra charges for schools which have not been inspected by the University during the year, and for practical examinations in Science, as in the Senior Examination.

The subjects of examination are those already set out in the case of the Senior Examination (Arithmetic excepted) and any others approved by the University. A candidate must select three, and not more than four, of these subjects. To obtain the certificate he must pass in at least three of them at one

[page 205]

and the same examination. Should he pass in only one or two subjects he gets no certificate, but has his success noted on his Senior School Certificate.

The University does not publish syllabuses for this examination. The schools presenting candidates are required to submit beforehand for the University's approval a syllabus of work in each subject in which the examination is to be held. It must represent at least a year's work beyond the Senior syllabus in the subject. There is an oral, as well as a written, examination in each modern language, and, if desired, a practical examination in Science may he held at the school on payment of a special fee. The teachers do not take any part either in setting or marking the papers.

The number of candidates taking this examination is at present small. From its institution in 1905 up to and including the session 1908-9, there were only 46 candidates altogether (10 boys and 36 girls). On page 301 will be found the numbers who entered each year.

There is no limit of age for this examination; but a candidate is not admitted for certificate purposes until not less than two terms after passing the Senior Examination. Where, however, a whole class is entered, it is understood that the examination may be taken by those who have not passed the Senior Examination; but in such cases no certificate is awarded.

The names of successful candidates (with the names of the subjects in which they have passed) are published in alphabetical order under the names of their schools. An asterisk is placed against the name of any subject in which the candidate has obtained distinction. A candidate qualifying for a certificate and obtaining distinction in at least two subjects is deemed to have gained honours,

The exemptions allowed on account of success in the Senior Examination would, of course, be granted to a holder of the Higher School Certificate, since the latter can only be gained by one who has already passed the former. No additional list of exemptions is published.

The Junior School Examination is said to be of the standard which any well-educated girl or boy of 15 may reasonably be expected to reach. Those qualifying for certificates receive them while still at school. It is open (for certificate purposes) only to pupils who have spent two years in an inspected school, or schools, and have pursued a course of study in the subjects of a curriculum approved for the school or schools.

The examination is held in July each year, and, like the Senior Examination, may also be held at other times.

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The fee is £1 for each candidate, with an additional charge in the case of a school which has not been inspected by the University within the year.

The subjects of examination are arranged in two alternative courses of study, A and B, and a candidate must, at one examination, satisfy the examiners in at least six subjects from one of them. In each case four subjects are obligatory, and these are the same in both courses, namely:

(1) English.
(2) History.
(3) Geography.
(4) Arithmetic, with easy applications to scientific, industrial, or commercial problems.

(5) Latin, Greek, French, or German.
(6) Mathematics, or an approved Science subject, involving, as far as possible, practical work.

(5) General Elementary Science.
(6) Mathematics.
(7) A foreign language.
(8) English Literature.

The suitability of the combination chosen to the general aim of the school is considered by the University when the school proposes its subjects for the examination. Additional subjects may, with the approval of the University, be included.

There are no published syllabuses for this examination, each school being required to submit for the approval of the University syllabuses of work in the several subjects. But as an indication of the ground intended to be covered, copies of some of the syllabuses already approved may be obtained on application.

In the examination as a whole the teachers do not take any part, but in the subject "English" they have an important place. In lieu of an examination on special set books by the University examiners, a supplementary examination in English Literature is conducted by the University inspectors and the school staff in co-operation. The teachers set the questions (upon books which have been approved by the University) and submit them to the inspectors for approval, and afterwards mark the answers before passing them on for revision by the inspectors. The marks obtained on this paper, however, do not count towards the certificate.

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The number of candidates at this examination in 1908-9 was only a little smaller than that in the case of the Senior Examination, though the number of schools from which they came was only half as many. Detailed statistics will be found on page 391. The number of candidates examined in 1908-9 was 682, and the total number since the institution of the examination in 1903 (up to and including the session before-mentioned), 2,848.

There is no age limit for candidates, the only condition of admission being attendance for a certain period at an approved inspected school (or schools). Pupils who do not comply with this condition may be admitted to the examination when it is taken by the whole Form; but certificates are not awarded to such pupils even if successful.

The list of pupils from each school is issued in alphabetical order, the name of each pupil being followed by letters designating the subjects in which he has passed. Distinctions are indicated by asterisks. A candidate who qualifies for a certificate and obtains distinction in at least three subjects is deemed to have gained Honours. The pass lists are not published, but sent only to the schools and the education authorities concerned.

The Junior Certificate is accepted as a preliminary examination by a few professional bodies provided that it includes the required subjects.

The University of London undertakes the inspection and examination of Secondary Schools, as distinct from the examination of individual pupils.

In the session 1908-9 the number of Secondary Schools inspected was 29; in 1907-8, 34; in 1906-7, 31; and in 1905-6, 29. The scheme of inspection was instituted in 1902, and the figures for each year are given on page 302.

The report of inspection, which is sent to the Governors of the school, consists of two parts, viz. (1) a general report, which may be published in extenso [in full] but not otherwise; (2) a confidential appendix containing detailed criticisms and suggestions for the use of the Principal and, if deemed desirable, of the staff.

The charge for inspection is £5 a day for each inspector, in addition to travelling and hotel expenses.

Inspection of a school is a condition for the presentation of candidates for the School Examinations. But in such cases the inspection may be conducted either by the University itself, by the Board of Education, or by some other approved body. On the other hand, it does not appear to be a necessary condition of inspection that the school shall also be examined, though it is probable that most (if not all) the schools inspected by the University also send pupils in for the University's Examinations. If desired, however, or if required by the University, the

[page 208]

inspection may include a review of the ordinary school examination.

The University is prepared (as part of a general inspection or otherwise) to report on the work of a whole class or classes, provided that all the pupils take the papers in one of the School Examinations (Higher, Senior, or Junior). In such cases the answers of those who are candidates for certificates are read and marked entirely by the University examiners; but the others are first read and marked by the school staff and then revised by the inspectors who prepare a report on the work of all the pupils (including the certificate candidates). A charge is made for the preparation of the report at the rate of 3s [15p] for each pupil who is not a candidate for a certificate: and in the case of schools which are not under the inspection of the University the minimum fee is £3.

The University is prepared also to report on the work of other classes in which there are no candidates for certificates, and for that purpose will conduct either (a) an inspection at the rate of £5 a day for each inspector, or (b) an examination with the co-operation of the school staff, in which questions are submitted by the staff for the approval of the inspectors, and the answers marked by the staff and revised by the inspectors. The charge varies with the amount of work, but will not exceed half-a-guinea [52½p] for each paper set, in addition to which the school must bear the cost of printing or manifolding [copying] the papers.

Schools desiring to place themselves continuously under the University for inspection (at such intervals as may be necessary) and for the holding annually of the Senior and Junior School Examinations may do so for an inclusive fee at the following rates:

£5 for schools of not more than 200 pupils;
£10 for schools of 200 to 300 pupils;
£20 for schools of 300 to 400 pupils;
£30 for schools of over 400 pupils;

The University offers to co-operate with Local Authorities by undertaking the inspection of schools under their control, or by reporting generally on the educational conditions and equipment of their areas. Up to the present four authorities of schools have entered into agreement with the University for the regular inspection and examination of all their schools by the University. These authorities are the Local Education Authorities of Surrey, Middlesex, and Swansea, and the Governing Body of the Haberdashers' Aske's schools.

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The Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Sheffield are required by their Charters to co-operate with one another for the regulation and conduct of Matriculation examinations. For this purpose a Joint Matriculation Board has been formed, composed of representatives of the four Universities, with power to add to their number four persons of educational experience. The co-opted members are at present two head masters and two headmistresses of Secondary Schools. This Board has conducted the Matriculation examination for these Universities since 1903, but that examination is in reality a continuation of the Preliminary examination of the old Victoria University of Manchester. In addition to the Matriculation examination, the Joint Board has recently established a scheme for the examination and inspection of schools and for the award of School Certificates (in two grades) to individual pupils. Still more recently an examination for a Housecraft Certificate has been instituted. The inspection and examination of a school in the immediate neighbourhood of one of the four Universities may (if the school desires) be delegated to the Senate of that University, but that delegation shall be subject to such conditions as the Joint Board may approve, and no certificate shall be issued without the authority of that Board.

Here again, as in the case of London University, the Matriculation examination is so closely connected with the Joint Board's School examinations, and, further, has itself been used to so large an extent as a school examination that it will be described here instead of in the following section.

The Matriculation examination of the Joint Board is of course intended primarily as an entrance examination to the University, but it is taken by a considerable number of candidates who have no intention of proceeding to a University. Moreover, it has been used (but not after July 1910) by some schools as a Form examination, and has in that way been taken by pupils who were not even candidates for Matriculation. Further, by arrangement with the Joint Board certain Local Authorities award scholarships on the result of this examination; and pupils who enter for this purpose are not necessarily Matriculation candidates. After July 1910, it ceased to be possible to take it as a Form examination, and it was anticipated that in future those who might have taken it at school would take the new School examination.

The examination is held at the four Universities in July and September each year. The July examination is also held at other centres, besides having been (until July 1910) held at schools as a Form examination.

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The ordinary fee is £2; but a candidate who fails in the July examination may enter again in September of the same year at a reduced fee of 30s [£1.50]. The fee for those who take the examination solely for scholarship purposes is £1 only, and is paid by the Local Authority concerned. Such students, if they pass and subsequently desire to enter the University, can do so on payment of an additional fee of £2. Those taking the examination (from the first) both for scholarship and Matriculation purposes pay an inclusive fee of £2.

The following are the subjects of examination, in six of which a candidate must satisfy the examiners (at one and the same examination):

(1) Either English Language or English Literature.*
(2) English History.
(3) Mathematics.
(4), (5), (6) Three of the following, one of which must be a language:

(i) Greek.
(ii) Latin.
(iii) French.
(iv) German.
(v) Some other language approved by the Board.
(vi) Either Mechanics or Physics.
(vii) Chemistry.
(viii) Geography (physical, political, and commercial).
(ix) Natural History (plants and animals).

Candidates may take an additional paper in Mathematics (on payment of a fee of half-a-crown [12½p]), and if they pass have the fact recorded on their certificates.

In the following subjects alternative papers of a higher standard are set at the July examination, and may be taken either by candidates for Matriculation or by students who have already matriculated and are taking additional papers. They generally represent at least one year's study beyond the ordinary papers:

(1) English Literature.
(2) English History.
(3) Mathematics.
(4) Greek.
(5) Latin.
(6) French.
(7) German.
(8) Mechanics and Physics.
(9) Chemistry.
(10) Either Botany or Zoology.

*In 1912, the first subject will be English Language and Literature and will include (1) an Essay and (2) set books for general and others for special reading and questions on language arising from the books.

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grammar and history of the Language, while the Literature paper is based on a set book or books. For the higher paper in literature some books are set for general and some for special study, and the paper includes an essay on a subject taken from the former as well as questions on the latter.

The History paper is of a general character; but in the higher paper it is stated that candidates are given opportunities of showing special knowledge of particular periods in addition to general knowledge of the whole. There are, however, no actual set periods.

The Geography paper deals with the British Isles (with outlines of historical geography), a special region (in less detail), and the rest of the world on broad lines.

In the specified foreign languages (ancient and modern), there is an option as between set books on the one hand and passages from unprepared books on the other, in addition to which are questions on grammar and translation at sight from and into the foreign language. Candidates must satisfy the examiners in both grammar and translation. The higher papers in Latin and Greek consist of unprepared translation, grammar and composition, with questions designed to test the intelligence of the translations and knowledge of Greek and Roman life. In French and German they include an oral examination, unprepared translation, a set book, grammar, and free composition.

There is no practical test in the ordinary Matriculation examination in Science; but the questions are designed to ascertain whether the candidate's course of study has been of an experimental character. In connection with the higher papers there are practical examinations in Mechanics and Physics, Chemistry, Botany, and Zoology.

The syllabuses are not varied to meet the requirements of individual schools, nor do the teachers take any part in the examination of their own pupils; but the members of the Joint Board always include some who are actually engaged in teaching. Even where the examination has been taken as a school examination, the papers have always been those of the ordinary Matriculation examination.

The Joint Board do not publish statistics of the number of candidates taking the Matriculation examination. The Committee are, however, informed that the total a number of students who took the papers of the examination in 1909 was 2,371, but that of these only 1,953 were candidates for Matriculation. Of this latter number 1,087 were successful. The total number of candidates in 1908 was 2,564, and in 1907, 1,976.

There is no limit of age for this examination: but each of the four Universities has its own regulations as to the age of students at entry. Persons who have Matriculated (so long as they have not actually become members of one of the four Universities) may sit again, on payment of the necessary fee,

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either for the examination as a whole, for supplementary certificates in single subjects, or for a limited number of papers of the higher standard.

The list of successful candidates is arranged in two divisions, each in alphabetical order, the candidate's name being in each case followed by the name of his school (if any). The names of those who distinguish themselves in the higher papers are given in a separate alphabetical list on the same document, which also includes the names of those who have passed supplementary examinations in either the ordinary or the higher papers. Candidates who fail receive private information as to the subjects in which they have not satisfied the examiners. Although the order of merit of the candidates is not published, it may be pointed out that a number of scholarships have been awarded on the results of the examination; many of these are given by Local Education Authorities to candidates recommended for the purpose by the Joint Board.

The Joint Board Matriculation Certificate is accepted (either wholly or partially, and with or without conditions) by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London, the Scottish Universities, the Board of Education, and certain professional bodies, in lieu of their own Preliminary examinations.

These examinations only came into operation in 1910, when the Matriculation examination ceased to be used as a Form examination. They are specially adapted to meet the needs of individual schools, and, in fact, form part of a larger scheme comprising the inspection and examination of a school as a whole; but the regulations do not insist that the whole school, or even a whole class, shall be entered for examination, so long as the school is under inspection either by the Joint Board or by some other approved body. The examination and inspection of schools (as distinct from individual pupils) will be dealt with separately.

There are two examinations - a School Certificate Examination and a Senior School Certificate Examination. The former is of the standard that may reasonably be expected of a pupil of about 15 years of age. The latter is of the standard of the Matriculation examination, and the papers may be the same as those used in that examination.

The examinations are held only at schools which are under the inspection of the Joint Board, unless the school is inspected by another authority and the Board considers it unnecessary to require a further inspection. Certificates are awarded only to candidates who have pursued an approved course of study at inspected schools for a continuous period of not less than three years in the case of the School Certificate, or of four years in the case of the Senior School Certificate, except that, in special cases (on good cause being shown), the Joint Board will not

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insist on the full period in an inspected school provided they have details of the pupils' previous education.

The subjects of examination are as follows:

A.
(I) English Composition.
(2) History.
(3) Geography.
(4) Arithmetic and Elementary Mathematics.
B.
(5) Latin.
(6) Greek.
(7) French.
(8) German.
C.
(9) Mathematics.
(10) Either Botany, or Chemistry, or Physics, or Elementary Science.

(1) English Literature.
(2) History, either (a) Ancient. or (b) European, or (c) English.
B.
(3) Latin.
(4) Greek.
(5) French.
(6) German.
C.
(7) Mathematics.
(8) Additional Mathematics.
(9) Mechanics.
(10) Geometrical Drawing, including Practical Geometry and Practical Measurements.
(11) Physics.
(12) Chemistry.
(13) Geography.
(14) Either Botany, or Zoology, or Natural History.
(15) Domestic Science.
(16) Harmony.

The syllabus of the Matriculation examination indicates the ground to be covered in subjects of the Senior Examination which are also Matriculation subjects, and when the examination is held at the same time as the Matriculation examination, the papers of the latter (or any of them) may be used if the school desires. Either the ordinary or the higher standard papers may be taken. For all other subjects specimen syllabuses are issued; but are not insisted upon. In any subject, a school, or group of schools, is at liberty to submit an alternative syllabus to the Joint Board for approval. A special fee is charged for a paper set on such a syllabus. In setting the papers the examiners act in consultation with the teachers (unless the school authorities express a desire to the contrary).

Oral and practical work is not, as a rule, insisted upon, but may be included in the examination if desired and on

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payment of a special fee. After considering the results of the written examination, however, the Joint Board may require that certain candidates shall produce their school records and be submitted to an oral examination. On the results of this further test they may be declared to have passed the examination.

It will be noticed that the choice of subjects in the School Certificate examination is somewhat restricted; but that in the Senior examination it is a good deal wider than in the Matriculation examination. Candidates, however, who desire their Senior School Certificates to exempt them from the Matriculation examination must conform to the requirements of that examination. Those who have obtained a Senior Certificate may subsequently, while still at school, take additional subjects, on payment of the proper fee.

All the members of a Form may be admitted to the examinations; but School Certificates are awarded only to those who have satisfied the conditions as to school attendance. Those who pass the Senior Examination in the necessary subjects, however, receive a Matriculation Certificate even though they have not qualified by length of attendance for a School Certificate. Where the examination is taken by the whole class, the answers of those pupils who are not candidates for certificates may be first marked by the school staff and submitted to the inspectors or examiners for review.

Tho regulations impose no limits as to the ages of candidates. The certificate states the subjects in which the candidate has satisfied the examiners, and in the case of the Senior Certificate the subjects in which he has obtained distinction. It also shows the course of study pursued at the school, the age of the candidate, and the period during which he has been under instruction. It is understood that in the lists of successful candidates the names are arranged in alphabetical order. They are not divided into classes; but in the case of the Senior examination marks of distinction may be given in individual subjects.

The fee for the Senior Certificate is £2, and for the School Certificate £1 for each candidate; but if the examination is taken as a Form examination, those who are not candidates for certificates only have to pay 10s [50p] for the Senior examination, and 7s 6d [37½p] for the other; while if the answers of such pupils are marked by the school staff the charge will be 5s [25p] for each pupil. There is a fee of £1 for each special paper set on a syllabus submitted by the school; but if several schools take the alternative syllabus the cost is shared between them. For each examiner employed for oral or practical tests a charge of £2 a day is made.

The Senior School Certificate exempts its holder from the Matriculation examination, provided it covers all the subjects required by the Matriculation regulations. It is also accepted for certain purposes (with or without conditions) by the

[page 215]

Universities of Cambridge and London, the Board of Education and some professional bodies. One of the latter also recognises the School Certificate.

This examination only comes into force in 1911. It is intended for pupils in the Housewifery Forms of girls' schools, and is suitable for candidates of not less than 16 years of age. It is included in the same general scheme as the School Certificate examinations described above, and attendance for at least three years at schools under approved inspection is a condition of admission to it.

The subjects are arranged in two parts, which may be taken separately or together. Part I comprises ordinary school subjects, and Part II domestic subjects. Holders of the School Certificate of the Joint Board covering the required subjects are exempt from Part. I. The subjects are:

1. English Composition.
2. History.
3. Geography.
4. Arithmetic, with practical applications to household and business affairs.
5. French or German.
6. Elementary General Science, with reference to common things.

6. Elementary General Science as above, if not taken in Part I.
7. Cookery.
8 and 9. Two of the following:

(a) Housewifery.
(b) Laundry.
(c) Needlework and Drawing.
(d) Elementary Biology.

In subjects 7, 8 and 9, practical as well as written examinations will be held. Unless the candidates at any school number at least 12, they will have to go for these practical tests to appointed centres.

An outline syllabus is published; but schools may submit their own syllabus for approval.

The fee is 25s [£1.25] for the whole examination, or 12s 6d [62½p] for each part taken separately. A charge of £1 is made for each paper set on a special syllabus, except in general elementary science, in which subject a special syllabus may be set on an approved syllabus without extra charge, provided that it is taken by at least 12 candidates.

As has been pointed out already, the Certificate examinations described above form part of a scheme for the inspection and

[page 216]

examination of schools as distinct from the examination for certificate purposes of individual pupils. The intention is that in this scheme inspection and examination shall always go together; but at present this is not fully insisted upon. If a school is under inspection by another authority, the Joint Board may forego its own inspection if it thinks desirable. Inspection, either by the Joint Board itself or by some other body, is in every case a necessary complement of examination.

The inspection or examination does not necessarily cover the whole school. In the first place, a particular section of the school or department of work may, if desired, be inspected or examined and reported on separately. In the second place, it would appear that the examination may be confined to those parts of the school in which there are candidates for certificates, or may even be concerned solely with such candidates. It is hoped, however, that the certificate examinations will be taken as Form examinations, in which case all the members of a class may be entered, even though some of them are not candidates for (nor qualified to receive) certificates.

Apart from the certificate examinations, however, the Joint Board is prepared to conduct, with the co-operation of the staff, examinations of Forms below the standard of the School Certificate. In such cases the questions will be set by the teachers, subject to the approval of the inspectors or examiners, and the answers will be marked by the teachers and submitted to the inspectors or examiners for revision and report.

The report sent to the school will take account of both examination and inspection. It will consist of two parts - a general report, which, if published, must be given in extenso [in full], and a confidential appendix containing detailed criticisms and suggestions for the use of the Governing Body, the Principal, and (if desirable) the staff.

The charges for the certificate examinations have already been stated. For the examination of Forms below the standard of the School Certificate the charge varies, but where not more than twelve scripts are submitted by each pupil, it is 3s [15p] per head, with a minimum charge of £3, the school to bear the expense of printing or manifolding [copying] the papers. For inspection, the charge is £3 a day for each inspector, with a minimum of £5, in addition to railway fares (3rd class) and hotel expenses (if any); £2 is charged for the report of an inspection. There is a fee for an oral examination apart from inspection of £2 a day for each examiner employed.

The examinations of the University of Birmingham do not affect Secondary Schools to so large an extent as those of the other bodies we have been considering, as the number of pupils taking them is smaller. The Matriculation examination of

[page 217]

the University is described in the section relating to University Entrance examinations. We have no in information as to whether this examination is used to any extent by students who do not proceed to a University course. In addition to the Matriculation examination, however, the University conducts the examination and inspection of schools, and awards Senior and Junior School Certificates. The School Certificate scheme will be dealt with first.

Senior and Junior School Certificates are awarded by the University of Birmingham on examinations held in schools which are under their inspection. Only candidates in schools which are inspected by the University are eligible to take those examinations, and the regulations make no provision (such as we have noticed in other cases) for the recognition of inspections conducted by other bodies. Candidates for the School Certificates must have pursued an approved course of study for a continuous period in schools under the inspection of the University. This period is, in the case of the Senior Certificate, three years in one, or four years in two, schools; and, in the case of the Junior Certificate, three years in one or more schools. The standard of the Senior Certificate is that of the University's Matriculation examination; and of the Junior Certificate that which may reasonably be expected of a boy or girl of 15.

There are no stated subjects nor published syllabuses. The papers are set by the University examiners after they have made themselves fully acquainted with the aims and methods of the teachers and the scope or their work. But the school may, if it chooses, make use of the papers set by the University for other purposes, e.g. those of the Matriculation examination. There is an extra fee where special papers are set. The teachers take no part in the actual setting or marking of the papers. An interesting feature of the scheme is the requirement that the school record or each pupil throughout his period of attendance shall be kept available for inspection and consideration by the inspectors and examiners.

The certificate shows the subjects in which the required standard has been reached. The regulations contain no reference to the question of honours or distinctions.

The number of candidates for the two grades of certificates in 1908 was 66. There is no age limit in either case.

For the examination a charge of 1s [5p] per candidate per paper is made to the school, with an additional charge where special papers are set of one guinea [£1.05] a paper. For an oral or practical examination there is an extra charge of 1s per candidate, with (unless the examination is held at the University) a minimum of £1 and travelling expenses. Successful candidates also have to pay a fee before a certificate is issued to them. The amount of this fee is £1 for a Senior, and 10s [50p] for a Junior School

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Certificate. There are also fees for inspection which will be referred to later.

The Senior School Certificate exempts from the University's own Matriculation examination, provided it covers the requisite subjects, and is recognised (with or without conditions) by certain professional bodies, by the Board of Education, and by the War Office.

The University undertakes to inspect and report upon schools, and in schools so inspected holds an annual examination on which the School Certificates just considered are awarded. The report takes account of both inspection and examination. The examination does not appear to extend beyond those parts of the school in which the pupils are candidates for certificates. If desired the inspection may be confined to one department of a school.

The charges are as follows:

For inspection:

A school of 100 scholars or less, £5.
A school of between 100 and 200 scholars, £7. 10s [£7.50].
For the report, £2.

It is understood that the number of schools inspected or examined by the University is quite small.

The University of Durham holds a Matriculation examination for entrance to the University and also undertakes the inspection and examination of schools. The Matriculation examination is described in the following section. We have no information to show how far it is taken by students who do not proceed to a University course. A scheme of Local examinations was at one time carried on by the University, but was discontinued after 1908.

The examination and inspection of schools is conducted by the Schools Examination Board of the University, which consists of the Board of Studies, the Secretaries to the Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, and North Riding Education Committees, four head masters and four head mistresses of Secondary Schools.

The scheme comprises both a written and an oral examination, and a visit of inspection by one or more of the examiners. The report deals with the results of the examination, the organisation and discipline, and, if desired, the premises, apparatus, etc. It consists of two parts, one general, which may be published in full (but not otherwise), and the other containing detailed criticisms and suggestions for the use of the staff.

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The whole, or part of the report on the written examination, may be based on the results of the examinations of the University or other evidence submitted to the examiner and approved by the Board. When the University conducted Local examinations, these might be taken in combination with the examination of the school; but the Local examination scheme has now been dropped.

On the recommendation of the examiners certificates are issued that the holder is qualified (as regards specified subjects) for Matriculation in the University.

There are no prescribed subjects or syllabuses, it being apparently the intention to base the examination on the work actually done in the schools. The teachers may assist in marking the papers, which in that case are afterwards inspected by the University examiners.

In addition to a fee of one guinea [£1.05] for each school, there are other charges on the following scale: For setting a paper, 7s. 6d. [37½p]; for marking each individual paper, 8d [3½p]; or for inspecting papers marked by the staff, 4d [1½p]. For a viva voce examination, one or two guineas, according to the time taken. For a practical examination in science, one guinea each subject. For invigilation, one guinea for the first six hours, and 10s [50p] for each additional three hours. The school also pays the examiner's travelling expenses.

It is understood that the number of schools examined or inspected by the University is quite small.

Three exhibitions are awarded on the recommendation of the examiners.

The Central Welsh Board are charged with the examination and inspection of all Intermediate Schools established by Scheme under the Welsh Act, 1889. Such examination and inspection may be extended to other Endowed Schools which are prepared to pay the cost.

As regards inspection, it is of two kinds, namely, the full inspection held once in three years, and the subsidiary inspection made without notice and at shorter intervals. It is understood that every Welsh Intermediate School is inspected by the Central Board at least once a year. Though not directly connected, the two functions of inspection and examination are to some extent connected, and the question of their further correlation is under consideration.

The examination, which is held in June and July each year, does not comprise the whole of each school. It is divided into four stages - Junior, Senior, Higher, and Honours, and certificates corresponding to these four stages are given on the results. But pupils who are not candidates for certificates may be entered for examination. There are also Commercial and

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Technical Certificates; but these are taken only by one or two candidates a year.

The subjects of examination for the Junior and Senior Certificates are:

Pupils presented for examination must take at least five subjects from Sections A-D, and, as a rule, one at least from each of the first three sections. All pupils in schools examined by the Board who have received instruction in work representing this minimum must be presented for examination, subject to exceptions in special cases. Those who satisfy the examiners and obtain a sufficiently high aggregate of marks in five subjects from Sections A-D receive a Junior or Senior Certificate, as the case may be.

A candidate for a Junior Certificate may in any subject take the paper of a higher stage than the Junior. A candidate for a Senior Certificate may offer one, but not more than one, subject at the Higher Certificate stage. Success in the Higher stage is recorded on the certificate.

The holder of a Senior Certificate may offer additional subjects and obtain a supplementary certificate if successful.

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For the Higher and the Honours Certificates the subjects are:

Higher Mathematics is reckoned as equivalent to two subjects.

Candidates for the Higher Certificate must take three but not more than four subjects at the Higher stage. For the Honours Certificate two but not more than three subjects must be taken at the Honours stage. In either case one subject may be offered at the Senior stage and success in it may be recorded either on the ordinary or on a supplementary certificate.

Schedules of examination in the several subjects are published; but any school is at liberty to submit for approval an alternative scheme, which must be accompanied by a statement of reasons, and a special fee of a guinea [£1.05]. The Executive Committee of the Central Board have discretion to decide whether they will or will not examine on the special scheme. The principles followed in such cases are stated in Professor Anwyl's evidence (see page 401), and some further remarks on this point are contained in the evidence of Mrs. Glynne Jones (see page 414).

Oral tests may be conducted in any of the languages; but as a matter of fact they are at present held only in French and German. In these languages all candidates have to take the oral test, but a certificate may be obtained without passing in it.

Except in the Honours stage there is no practical examination in Science; but all the schools have to submit schemes of practical work for the year.

There appear to be no limits of age for any of the examinations. The Junior examination is taken as a rule about two or three years after entrance to the school (say at 14 or 15). The Senior examination is normally taken about two years later. This examination is (subject to exception) open only to those who have undergone at a Secondary School a course of instruction extending over not less than eight terms, in the group of subjects offered. The Higher examination is in standard one year beyond the Senior, and is open only to those who have passed the Senior examination or have attended a Secondary School and have gained certificates equivalent to the Senior.

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The Honours examination can be taken only by those who have either obtained the Higher Certificate or have had a two years' course after getting the Senior Certificate.

The Central Welsh Board are empowered to charge a capitation fee of not more than 2s. 6d. [12p½] in respect of each pupil examined. In 1910 the actual amount charged was 2s [10p]*. In addition, each candidate for a certificate pays a small fee. As stated above, a special fee of one guinea [£1.05] is payable by a school submitting an alternative scheme of examination. There is no charge for inspection. It may be mentioned that contributions towards the cost of the work are received from the Treasury and from the County Authorities.

The number of pupils presented for examination in 1909 was 4,668. Of these, 4,356 were candidates for certificates, namely, 312 for the Honours Certificate, 1,657 for the Senior, 2,386 for the Junior, and 1 for the Commercial. The Higher Certificate had not then been established. The total number of pupils in the schools concerned was about 14,000.

In the list of successful candidates for Honours Certificates the names are arranged in order of merit; and at the request of any County Authority the Central Board are prepared to place in order or merit all the candidates for County Exhibitions in the county in question. Apart from this, the names of the candidates in the Pass Lists are arranged alphabetically. Distinctions are, however, given in individual subjects, provided that candidates over 16 are not eligible for distinction in subjects taken at the Junior stage. The County Exhibitions are given on the results of the examinations, and a gold medal is offered to the best candidate for an Honours Certificate. An award of "Honourable Mention" is made to a few candidates.

The Senior and Honours Certificates are accepted (with or without conditions) by the Universities of Wales, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, and Durham, by the Board of Education, the Army Council, and a number of professional bodies. Two or three of the latter also accept the Junior Certificate.

The College of Preceptors holds examinations (a) for teachers and (b) for pupils. It also conducts the examination of whole schools and is prepared to undertake their inspection. The teachers' examinations do not concern the question under consideration, and the examination and inspection of schools is on such a small scale that only a brief reference to it will be needed. The examinations for individual pupils consist of (a) examinations for Certificates of three grades, and (b) examinations for pupils in lower Forms.

*In the present year (1911) no payment is being required under this head.

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These examinations are for First Class (or Senior), Second Class (or Junior), and Third Class Certificates. Candidates may be examined either at local centres (of which there are about a hundred) or at their own schools.

Examinations are held at Midsummer and Christmas, and, for First and Second Class Certificates only, in March and September also. The latter, which are held at only a very limited number of centres, are known as "Professional Preliminary" examinations, but the other two examinations are equally available for "professional preliminary" purposes. The only ways in which the March and September examinations differ from the others seem to be that certain subjects are omitted, rather less choice is given in set books, etc., and there are no oral or practical examinations (which are optional in any case). Otherwise the syllabuses are the same.

The examination fee is 10s 6d [52½p] for each candidate at the ordinary examination, and 25s [£1.25] per candidate at the "Professional PreIiminary" examination. There are also local charges of varying amount.

The subjects, which, except where otherwise stated, are common to the three examinations, are as follows:

English is compulsory in each case.|| Of the others a candidate must pass, at one and the same examination, in at least five for the First Class Certificate; in at least four for the Second Class; and in at least three for the Third Class.¶

*Not a subject of the 3rd Class Examination.

†Not a subject of the 2nd Class Examination.

‡Not a subject of the 1st Class Examination.

§Does not count towards the minimum number of subjects required for a certificate.

||Prior to the examinations of 1911, Arithmetic was also a compulsory subject.

¶Certain of the subjects (viz. those marked § in the above list) do not count towards this minimum.

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He may not take more than 12, 10, or 8 in the respective grades. The maximum number or marks in each subject is, in the First Class papers, 200, except in Latin where it is 300, Shorthand (150) and Domestic Economy (100); in the Second Class 150, except in English where it is 200, and in Latin where (with an additional paper) it may be 225; in the Third Class 100. There are extra marks for oral and practical examinations. In the examinations of 1910 and before, in order to secure a certificate it was necessary to obtain a total of 700, 400, or 200 marks respectively for a First, Second, or Third Class Certificate: but this requirement is omitted from the regulations for 1911 An aggregate of 1,200, 750, or 450 respectively entitles a candidate to be placed in the Honours Division. Candidates who fail to pass in the grade for which they enter may receive a certificate of the class below, but are not placed in the Honours Division. A candidate who obtains three-fourths of the maximum of marks in a subject (and also qualifies for a certificate) is awarded distinction in that subject. No credit is given for marks which are below the minimum for a pass in any subject. To obtain a certificate a candidate must satisfy all the prescribed conditions at one examination.

Candidates may in any subject take papers of a higher grade than that to which their examination as a whole belongs. They may not take papers of a lower grade.

As regards the syllabuses the following points may be noted.

In English a general paper on grammar, composition, etc., is compulsory in the First and Second Class examinations. A second paper consisting of alternative set books (or in the First Class examination the History of the Language) is optional except for candidates for distinction; Third Class candidates may choose either a grammar paper or a book. Importance is attached to writing and spelling throughout the examinations.

In History a choice of periods is a allowed in each grade.

The Geography paper is general in the First Class and includes physical and mathematical questions to which candidates may confine themselves entirely if they choose. In the Second Class there is a general paper and also a choice of (a) a particular area, or (b) Physiography. In the Third Class there is a general paper and a choice of areas.

There are no set books in the modern foreign languages. In Latin, First Class Candidates take a paper of "unseen" translation and also one of several alternative books; Second Class Candidates may choose between "unseen" translation or a book, but if they take the book they have at least one "unseen" passage. Third Class Candidates take either a book or "unseen" translation with a vocabulary. In Greek there are set books and also "unseen" passages. There is no separate paper in Greek for Third Class Candidates; but they may take the papers of the higher grades in that subject.

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An oral examination in modern Languages is optional for First Class Candidates, and a practical examination in Chemistry for First and Second Class Candidates. Success in an oral or practical examination is recorded on the certificate, provided the candidate passes also in the written work; the marks count towards distinction. So far as can be seen from the regulations no extra charge is made in either case.

The teachers take no part in the examination of their own pupils, and no provision is made for adapting the syllabuses to the curricula of individual schools, except that (under certain conditions) schools presenting whole classes may offer their own special books, periods, or areas, in place of those prescribed.

As has been seen, beyond the compulsory subject of English, candidates are allowed an almost unfettered choice of subjects; it will, however, be noticed that a few of the subjects* mentioned in the above list do not count towards a certificate. Statistics of the subjects actually taken are not published by the College.

The number of candidates for the examinations of the College of Preceptors has been declining in recent years. The total number for the Certificate examinations in 1908 was 8,648, of whom 5,860 were boys and 2,788 girls. The candidates for First Class Certificates numbered 1,005; for Second Class Certificates 4,102; and for Third Class Certificates 3,541.

There is no limit of age for any of these examinations; but only those who are under 18, 16, or 14 years of age, respectively, in the First, Second, or Third Class, are eligible to receive prizes.

The names of successful candidates are published in the "Educational Times" (the journal of the College). In each class they are arranged in order of merit in an Honours and a Pass Division. Distinctions in individual subjects are indicated by letters placed after the names of the candidates. The names are also given of those who obtain prizes, and of the 1st and 2nd in each subject on First Class papers (provided they obtain the number of marks required for distinction in that subject and secure a certificate). The names of the schools from which the candidates come are stated. Heads of schools receive complete statements of the marks obtained by their pupils in every subject. Further, when whole classes are examined, the schools may (on payment of an additional fee) be furnished with written reports on the work.

A number of prizes are offered for candidates who are not above certain ages. They include four for general proficiency in each class, and one each to the 1st and 2nd candidates in certain groups of subjects.

*These are marked (4) in the list.

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Success in the Certificate examinations is recognised for certain purposes and under certain conditions by the Board of Education, the London County Council, and a number of professional bodies.

It may be remarked that although this examination is called the Lower Forms examination it is not necessarily an examination of whole Forms or classes, nor is it restricted by the regulations to pupils in lower Forms, nor, again, need it even be held at the school in which the pupils are taught.

Candidates may be examined either at local centres or at their own schools, the examination being held simultaneously with the Certificate examinations at Midsummer and Christmas.

The fee is 5s [25p] for each candidate, together with local charges.

The subjects are as follows:

1. English Dictation, Handwriting, and Reproduction of a short story read twice.
2. Arithmetic.

3. Scripture History.
4. English Grammar.
5. English Literature.
6. English History.
7. Geography.
8. Elementary Algebra.
9. Elementary Geometry.
10. French.
11. Latin.
12. Drawing.

The syllabuses are laid down by the College and are not varied to suit individual schools. English Literature consists of a choice of set books; in History there are alternative periods; there are no set books in foreign languages and no oral tests.

The teachers take no direct part in the examination.

The number of candidates for this examination in 1908 was 2,914, of whom 1,501 were boys and 1,413 girls.

There is no limit of age for candidates.

The names of successful candidates are published in the "Educational Times" in one alphabetical list, the name of each pupil being followed by the name of his school. There are no honours or distinctions. Heads of schools are furnished with complete statements of the marks obtained by their pupils in every subject of examination.

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The College of Preceptors has never conducted many inspections, and has conducted none at all quite recently. The "List of Schools examined or inspected in the year 1910" contains the names of only seven schools. Under these circumstances a few general remarks only are needed in regard to the College's schemes for the examination and the inspection of schools by visiting examiners.

Scheme A, Examination. The subjects of examination are those taught in the school: all the pupils (of 7 and over) in the school must be presented or the reasons for their absence stated. The examination is partly viva voce and partly written, at the discretion of the examiner.

The report deals with the results of the examination, stating if required the marks awarded in each subject; it also comments on the teaching, and (if necessary) contains suggestions for improvement in teaching and organisation. If printed it must be reproduced entire.

No certificates are granted on the results of the examination.

The fees are as follows: For each examiner, £3 3s [£3.15] the first day and £2 2s [£2.10] per day after, with travelling and hotel expenses, together with the cost of printing examination papers, if any, and a fee of £1 1s [£1.05] for office expenses. The time occupied by the examiner in marking papers is taken into account in addition to the time spent at the school.

Scheme B, Inspection. The inspection of a school deals with premises, teaching staff, equipment and organisation. The inspectors' report consists of three sections, viz. (i) a detailed report; (ii) a general report; (iii) an appendix containing suggestions for improvement. Each or all of these sections may be published, provided that the section or sections published be given in full. Information as to fees is not given in the regulations, but may be obtained from the Secretary of the College.

It may be added that the examination and inspection of a school can be combined with the Certificate and Lower Forms examinations.

Most of the Universities in England and Wales conduct an examination - called a Matriculation examination - which has to be taken by all candidates for admission to the University unless exempted either by virtue of their having passed some other examination which is recognised as equivalent, or for some other special reason. The Universities which have

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Matriculation examinations of this kind are the following - London, Durham, Manchester, Wales, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, and Bristol. Although intended, in the first place, for candidates for admission to the University, there is nothing to prevent these Matriculation examinations being taken by students who have no intention of passing through a University course: and there is no doubt that some of them, at any rate, are taken by many such students.

The requirements for entrance to the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are of a different nature. In these cases the University itself does not hold any Matriculation or Entrance examination at all; but makes it a condition of Matriculation that a student shall have been admitted as a member to one of the Colleges or other societies within the University, which frame their own regulations for the admission of students. Almost all these separate societies, however, require in all ordinary cases that a candidate for admission shall pass some specified examination - not necessarily in every case specially set for the purpose. It should also be pointed out that in many cases the first examination of the University course Responsions at Oxford, Previous at Cambridge), which may be taken before residence, is accepted by the Colleges as an entrance examination, and many candidates enter in this manner. It thus becomes in practice a University Matriculation examination.

Certain of the University entrance examinations have already been described in the preceding section. As regards the remainder, it will be most convenient to treat them in two groups according as the Universities to which they apply have, or have not, one uniform examination for entrance.

For the Universities of Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, and Sheffield there is one common Matriculation examination, which is conducted by the Joint Board of these Universities. This examination has already been described (see pages 209 ff.), as has also the Matriculation examination of the University of London (see pages 195 ff.). There are thus only four Universities remaining to be dealt with in this subsection, viz. the Universities of Durham; Birmingham, Bristol, and Wales.

The intention of this examination is of course to qualify for entrance to the University. It may, however, be used by schools for the purpose of the School examinations conducted by the University; and there appears to be nothing to prevent its being taken by individual candidates who have no intention

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of proceeding to a University career. But there is no evidence as to how far (if at all) it is actually taken otherwise than as a University Entrance examination.

The examination is held at Durham and Newcastle three times a year.

The number of candidates in 1908 was 193.

There is no age limit for examination or for Matriculation.

The subjects of examination are as follows:

The subjects required for a pass vary considerably in the different faculties. In each faculty six subjects must be taken, except in Arts, in literis antiquis (four), and Music (two). It is unnecessary here to state the exact requirements of each faculty: but it may be said that, as a rule, Mathematics, English, English History, and a foreign language (ancient or modern, or one of each) are compulsory. Religious instruction or ancient history is obligatory in Arts, geography in Medicine and in Engineering Science, and in the latter a science subject as well.

As regards the syllabuses, those in modern foreign languages include grammar and unseen translation, with the option of an essay in the foreign language. In Latin and Greek, in addition to grammar and translation, some books are prescribed; but candidates may take additional unseen translation instead of the latter, if they prefer. There are no oral tests.

In Botany the examination includes some practical questions, and in Physics it is expected that candidates shall have had practical experience in a laboratory; but there does not appear to be any actual practical test in Science.

There are set periods in Scripture and Ancient History, but not in English History.

The examination fee is 30s [£1.50] for each candidate.

The regulations do not state in what form the list of successful candidates candidates is issued, nor do they refer to the acceptance of this examination by professional or other bodies, with the exception of the General Medical Council. It is understood, however, that it is recognised by a few other bodies also. Two or three scholarships are awarded on the results of the examination.

This examination, intended for entrance to the University, may, like the one just considered, be used for the purposes of

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the University's School examination, and a candidate who passes in the required subjects in the Senior School examinations thereby qualifies for Matriculation. There are no statistics to show to what extent (if any) it is used by pupils not intending to take a University course.

The examination is held twice a year - in July and September - and only at the University buildings in Birmingham.

The number of candidates taking the examination is not published; but the Committee are informed that the total number who took it in 1908 was 495.

There is no limit of age for candidates, nor does there appear to be any for entrance to the University.

The following are the subjects of examination, and candidates must pass in five of them at one examination:

(1) English History and Literature.
(2) Mathematics.
(3), (4), (5) Three subjects (of which one must be a language) chosen from the following list:

The requirements as to the subjects that have to be taken vary in different faculties. In Science, Commerce, and Music, the only condition as regards the three subjects, 3-5, is that one must be a language. In Engineering, experimental mechanics is compulsory, and if Higher Mathematics is also taken, a special Engineering Matriculation Certificate is awarded to a successful candidate. In Arts, two of the subjects must be Latin and a modern language; and for Medicine, candidates must take Latin, another language, and either experimental Mechanics or Chemistry. In no case, therefore, is the choice of subjects particularly wide, while in some cases it is very restricted. Those who pass in five subjects, but do not satisfy the special requirements of particular faculties, may take additional subjects afterwards. Six subjects may be taken in the first place, but credit is only given for five.

The syllabus in English History and Literature comprises (a) the History of England on general lines from 1066, and (b) compositions based on set books, of which four alternative groups are given.

In Latin and Greek there are translations at sight, questions on grammar, easy composition, and prepared work. For the latter certain books are suggested; but others may be submitted for approval.

The Modern Language syllabuses include sight translations, grammar, easy composition and dictation, prepared work, and a viva voce test. Books are suggested; but others of similar length and standard may be submitted for approval.

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In Chemistry candidates are expected "to show knowledge of a concrete and experimental character throughout", and in Botany to "have practical familiarity" with the matters dealt with: but apparently there is no actual practical examination. In Geography there is a practical test in the reading of topographical maps, the measuring of distances on maps, etc.

The fee for examination is £2, but unsuccessful candidates may sit again for £1. Successful candidates may take additional subjects at subsequent examinations for a fee of 10s [50p] each subject.

The list of successful candidates is published in two divisions, Class I and Class II, in each of which the names are arranged in alphabetical order and are followed by the names of the schools from which the candidates come. Unsuccessful candidates are informed, on application, of the subjects in which they have failed. There are no honours or distinctions; but a few scholarships are awarded on the results of the examination.

The Birmingham Matriculation Examination is accepted for certain purposes and under certain conditions by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Board of Education, and some professional bodies.

The Matriculation examination of this recently constituted University is held twice a year, in July and September. We have no information as to the numbers of candidates who have entered for it.

There appears to be no limit of age for the examination itself; but for Matriculation the minimum is 16 for male and 17 for female students.

The subjects of examination are:

(1) Mathematics.
(2) English Grammar and Composition.
(3), (4), (5) Three of the following, of which -

(a) one must be a language, and
(b) one must be either Latin, Greek, or Physics:

In the Faculty of Medicine a candidate must take Latin and one other foreign language. Candidates who have qualified for Matriculation but have not complied with this condition may take the omitted subject at a subsequent examination.

The syllabus does not include oral or practical tests. The examinations in foreign languages comprise grammar and unseen translation; there are no set books. A choice of two

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periods is given in the History paper. In Geography special attention is given to Bristol and its neighbourhood.

The examination fee is two guineas [£2.10].

The Pass List contains the names of successful candidates in alphabetical order. Unsuccessful ones receive information as to the subjects in which they have failed.

The examination is accepted (with or without conditions) by several professional bodies.

This examination is held twice a year, in June and in September, on each occasion in Aberystwyth, Bangor, and Cardiff.

The numbers of candidates in 1908 at the June and September examinations respectively were 448 and 228. The total of these (676) is in excess of the number of individual candidates, since some who failed in June entered again in September.

Candidates must be 16 years of age on the 1st October following the examination.

The subjects of examination are arranged in six groups as follows:

English Language and History of England and Wales.*
Latin.
Mathematics.

Additional Mathematics.
Advanced German.

*In 1912 English Language and History will form separate subjects.

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two if Additional Mathematics be one of them) may, on the recommendation of the examiners, be allowed to complete his examination on a subsequent occasion by taking only that subject (or those subjects) in which he failed. Further, a subject (or, including Additional Mathematics, two subjects) may be reserved from the outset and taken at a later examination.

The syllabus includes set books in English and in Greek, and, as an alternative to a part of the translation, in Latin also. In all the foreign languages the papers include unseen translations. There is a reading test in Latin, and reading and dictation in French and German. In History a choice of two periods is given, and some knowledge of Geography is required. There are no practical examinations in Science.

For the June examination the fee is £2. For the September examination it is £3, except in the case of those who entered and failed in the preceding June for whom it is only £2. For a single subject the fee is 10s [50p] in June and 15s [75p] in September.

The Pass List contains two Divisions, in each of which the candidates' names are arranged alphabetically. The names of those who have completed their examination after a second entry are shown separately; and a further list contains the names of those who, having satisfied the examiners in part of the examination, are recommended as deserving of being subsequently admitted in the remainder only. Neither honours nor distinctions are awarded.

The examination (in some cases with special conditions) is accepted by several professional bodies as satisfying their requirements as to a preliminary examination.

In their general features the requirements for Matriculation at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are similar. In neither case does the University itself prescribe any examination for admission, but in both cases it does require that a candidate for Matriculation shall have been admitted as a member of one of its Colleges or Halls, or as a non-Collegiate student. In nearly every instance also (save where special exemption is granted), the passing of an examination is a necessary preliminary to such admission to a College or other society; but this is a requirement of the separate society and not of the University. The regulations for entrance to the separate Colleges vary considerably.

The first examinations of the general University course (called "Responsions" at Oxford, and the "Previous" examination at Cambridge) cannot properly be regarded as Matriculation examinations; but they may be taken before residence commences, and, in fact, certain of the Colleges require them to

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be taken before admission, while others accept them in lieu of their own Entrance examination. To some extent, therefore, they are, or may be used as, University Entrance examinations, and in considering the requirements for admission to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge they must be taken into account.

The individual College Entrance examinations are distinguished from the entrance examinations of other Universities in that it is not at all likely that they are ever taken by candidates who do not intend to proceed to the University. At any rate it seems fairly clear that not one of the Colleges would allow a candidate to enter for the examination (even if there should be anyone desirous of doing so) unless they believed that to be his intention. As regards Responsions and the Previous examination, neither of the Universities will admit a candidate, not already a member of the University, without a declaration that he bona fide desires admission to one of the Colleges or Halls or as a non-Collegiate student as the case may be.

As some of the Colleges require a candidate to have passed Responsions before admission and others accept it in place of their own examination, it will be well to consider this first. The entrance requirements of the separate Colleges will be dealt with afterwards.

Except where some other examination has been accepted as equivalent, this examination must be passed by all candidates for a Degree (except in Music, Letters, or Science), and may be taken instead of the Preliminary examination for the Degree in Music.* It is open to candidates whether members of the University or not, provided that in the latter case they are bona fide desirous of entering the University. The names must in such cases be submitted by the Head or a Tutor of the College or Hall to which admission is sought, or by the Censor or a Tutor of non-Collegiate students.

The examination is held four times a year and at the University only. There is no limit of age for candidates. The examination fee is £2 2s [£2.10], unless an additional subject is taken, when an extra charge of 10s 6d [52½p] is made. It may be mentioned here, however, that there are other fees in connection with entrance to the University, viz. a Matriculation fee of £3 10s [£3.50],

*Candidates for a degree in Music who do not pass Responsions, or an equivalent examination, must take the Preliminary Examination for Students of Music, passing in two of the languages - Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, Candidates for a degree in Letters or Science must give evidence of having received a good general education.

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and (generally) a College Admission fee which varies in amount with the different Colleges.

The examination is in two parts: (1) Stated Subjects and (2) Additional Subjects; but it is only necessary to pass in the Stated Subjects. The second part of the examination (i.e. in Additional Subjects) is only taken for the purpose of securing exemption from the classical part of the First Public examination.

The Stated Subjects are:

(1) Arithmetic.
(2) Elements of Algebra or of Geometry.
(3) Greek and Latin Grammar.
(4) Translation from English into Latin prose.
(5) One Greek and one Latin book for either or both of which may be substituted easy unprepared translation.

The Additional Subjects are:

(1) A Greek or Latin historical or philosophical work.
(2) A French, German, or Italian historical or philosophical work.
(3) The Elements of Logic, Deductive and Inductive.

The examination in stated subjects is in writing; but in the additional subjects there is a viva voce as well as a written test in the languages.

The names of successful candidates are published in alphabetical order in the "University Gazette". Information as to the work of a candidate is given only on the application of an officer of the Society presenting him for examination.

The number of entries for Responsions in 1908 was 1,013. The number of individual candidates, however, was only 736, some having entered for more than one of the four examinations held during the year.

There are a number of examinations in which success (under certain conditions) entitles a candidate to exemption from Responsions; and, on the other hand, a success in Responsions is accepted for certain purposes by other Universities and bodies.

There are in the University of Oxford 21 Colleges, one Academical Hall, and a body of non-Collegiate students, each of which makes its own regulations for the admission of students. There are also three private Halls; but these may be disregarded

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for the present purposes.* For the sake of convenience, the term "Colleges" will in this section be taken to include the body of non-Collegiate Students and St. Edmund Hall.

With two exceptions all the Colleges have special Entrance examinations of their own. In one of the two exceptional cases, candidates for admission are, as a rule, required to have passed Responsions. In the second case no examination is prescribed; but candidates must satisfy the Principal that they are likely to pass their University examinations within a reasonable time.

In five Colleges candidates are, or may be, required before being admitted, to pass Responsions (or an equivalent examination) as well as the College Entrance examination.

In six other Colleges, in which candidates are generally required to have passed Responsions (or an equivalent examination) before coming into residence, success in Responsions, if gained before taking the special Entrance examination, is accepted, either wholly (in one case) or partly (in five), in lieu of the latter.

In the remaining nine Colleges Responsions is not a necessary qualification for admission, but in seven of these it is accepted as a complete, and in two as a partial, substitute for the Entrance examination.

From the above it is seen that of the 20 Colleges which have Entrance examinations. eight forego their own examination entirely in the case of those who have passed Responsions, while seven others allow such success to count in lieu of a part of their own examination. The remaining five do not appear to accept Responsions as even a partial substitute for their own examination.

All except two Colleges accept some other examination or examinations in place of their own. Nine accept any examinations which exempt from Responsions. Seven others accept a Certificate of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board. Nine admit students who have done well in a Scholarship examination (but without winning a Scholarship) without further examination. And a few other qualifications are also accepted.

Persons elected as Foundation Scholars, Bible-Clerks, Exhibitioners - which election is almost invariably secured by means of a competitive examination - do not have any further entrance examination to pass.

It will not be necessary to give in detail the subjects set in these entrance examinations. In many cases they are exactly the same, or almost the same, as the Stated Subjects in Responsions. But even where the subjects are the same, the detailed requirements within the subjects are sometimes different. In Latin, for instance, Prose Composition is sometimes required,

*Information as to one College not being available, this has also been omitted from the following analysis.

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and in some cases both set-books and unprepared translation are obligatory in the languages instead of being alternative as in Responsions. In some cases subjects which are not included in Responsions are required; while in a few, certain subjects of Responsions are omitted. For example, an English paper is set in several of the examinations, and a paper of general questions in a few others. One of these general papers includes questions on Scripture, English Literature, History, Elementary Natural Science and political and general information. A modern language is alternative to Greek in two cases, and is an optional subject in two others. History, Mathematics, Natural Science, and French or German are optional subjects in one examination. The examination in which the requirements are most in excess of Responsions is probably that in which a candidate who has not already passed Responsions has to take all the Stated Subjects, and also: (1) An English Essay or a paper of general questions; (2) Gospels (including the Greek); and (3) one of the following: (a) Classics; (b) Mathematics: (e) Natural Science; (d) Modern History; or (e) some other approved subject; in addition to which he may take a modern language as an optional subject. Candidates who have already passed Responsions do not have to take the Stated Subjects again for the purposes of this examination.

It is worthy of note that two at least of the Colleges refuse, as a rule, to admit students who are over a certain age, viz. 21 and 20 respectively. These appear to be the only instances in which age is specifically made a qualification for entrance to the University.

There do not appear to be any fees for the examinations; but there are generally (though not always) fees for admission to College. These do not usually exceed £5.

As in the case of Oxford it will be well to begin with a description of the first examination of the University - called at Cambridge the "Previous Examination" - and afterwards to deal with the separate entrance requirements of the individual Colleges.

This examination must be taken by all candidates for a degree unless they obtain exemption. It is open to members of the University, and also to persons who are not members,* provided that in the latter case they are bona fide applicants for admission. In such cases a certificate to that effect must be given by the tutor of a College or Hostel, or the Censor of non-Collegiate students.

*It is understood that a large proportion of candidates now take this examination before commencing residence.

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The examination is held, at the University, four times a year. There is no limit of age for candidates. The fees for examination are £1 5s [£1.25] for Part I, £1 5s for Part II, and £1 5s for an Additional Subject. Single subjects, taken for the purpose of completing a qualification for exemption, are charged at the rate of 5s [25p] each subject. There are in addition fees for Matriculation (£5) and, generally, for admission to College (varying from £1 to £5).

There are three parts to the examination, viz. Part I., Part II., and Additional Subjects. Candidates for the ordinary degree have only to pass in Parts I and II, but Honours candidates have to take those parts and also an Additional Subject.

From the following lists of subjects, it will be seen that Part I consists mainly of Classics, and Part II mainly of Mathematics.

(1)(a) One of the Gospels in the original Greek; or
     (b) One of the Greek or Latin Classics.
(2)(a) One of the Latin Classics; or
     (b) Two or more unprepared passages of Latin of ordinary difficulty. to be translated without the use of a dictionary.
(3)(a) One of the Greek classics; or
     (b) Two or more unprepared passages of Greek of ordinary difficulty, to be translated without the use of a dictionary.
(4) Two or more easy unprepared passages of Latin, the use of a dictionary being allowed.

(1) Either Paley's "Evidences", or Elementary Logic, or Elementary Heat and Chemistry.
(2) Geometry, Theoretical and Practical.
(3) Arithmetic and Elementary Algebra.
(4) English Essay (the subjects for which are selected from a set standard work or works).

Candidates for Honours are required to pass in one of the following:

(1) Mechanics.
(2) French.
(3) German.

The examination is wholly in writing.

The names of successful candidates are published in four classes in Parts I and II, and in two classes in the Additional Subjects. The names in each class are in alphabetical order.

The numbers of entries in the several parts of the Previous examination in 1908 were 1,260 in Part I, 1,270 in Part II, and 804 in an Additional Subject. Doubtless these figures include

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some candidates who entered more than once during the year; but information is not available as to the number of individual candidates either in the examination as a whole or in the separate parts.

Success in the Previous examination is accepted (with or without conditions) by certain other Universities and professional bodies in lieu of their own Preliminary examinations; and either partial or complete exemption from the Previous examination is allowed to candidates who have satisfied certain conditions in other examinations.

There are 17 Colleges and one Public Hostel in the University of Cambridge, and there is also a body of non-Collegiate students. All these institutions will for convenience he referred to as "Colleges" in this section.

With three exceptions, all the Colleges have special Entrance examinations. In the three exceptional cases some evidence of attainments is required.

None of the Colleges makes it a condition that the Previous examination shall have been passed before admission. But of the 16 Colleges which have Entrance examinations, 13 accept the Previous Examination as exempting (one only partially) from their own examination. For this purpose success in both Part I and Part II of the Previous examination is generally required; but in two cases a pass in only one part will suffice, while in one case, on the other hand, it is necessary to have passed in both Part I and Part II and also in an Additional Subject.

All the Colleges accept some other examinations in lieu of their own. The ones most generally accepted are those of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board or of the Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, the London Matriculation, and other examinations which are recognised as equivalent to the Previous examination. Many Colleges admit without further test candidates who have done well in the Scholarship examinations without receiving a Scholarship. Those who do obtain Scholarships or Exhibitions are, of course, not required to pass any further examination.

The subjects of examination in nearly every case consist of Latin and Greek and Mathematics, sometimes with the addition of an English Essay. They therefore correspond very closely to Parts I and II of the Previous examination with the omission of the Greek Gospel and Paley's "Evidences" (with its substitutes, Logic or Heat and Chemistry). In one case there is also a more advanced paper in one of the Tripos subjects, and in another case a higher paper is optional. One College sets a paper to test general information, and another allows French and German translation as optional subjects.

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There do not appear to be any limits of age for admission to any of the Colleges.

An examination fee of £1 is charged in one College; but in that College there is no entrance fee. It seems to be the only one to charge an examination, as distinct from a College entrance, fee.

Attention is called to the remarks on the question of Scholarships contained in the Introduction to this Report. In view of the circumstances there alluded to, the Committee have not attempted to collect detailed information with regard to examinations for Scholarships at the Universities. They are not, therefore, in a position to include in this memorandum a description of these examinations.

It may be pointed out that the question of Scholarships in general is referred to briefly in section 9 of this memorandum, where an account is given of the examinations conducted by the Joint Scholarships Board. The award of Scholarships by Local Education Authorities is dealt with in section 8.

The possibility of examinations which are intended to form part of a University degree course being taken by pupils in Secondary Schools depends on whether the university imposes any restrictions as to the residence of students preparing for its examinations, or as to the manner in which their instruction shall be obtained. Conditions might, of course, be made as to the age of candidates which would influence the extent to which these examinations were actually taken by pupils in Secondary Schools; but they would hardly be such as to preclude absolutely the possibility of some such pupils entering for the examinations. It will therefore be best to commence this section by stating what are the requirements of the various Universities in regard to residence and instruction and (where necessary) the age of candidates.

In the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge the Degree examinations, subsequent to Responsions and the Previous examination, are confined to students resident at the University.*

In each of the Universities of Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, and Sheffield, admission to the Intermediate examinations for degrees is confined to students who have attended courses of study at the University. It will be remembered that in connection with the Joint Matriculation examination for these four

*With the exception of the Degrees in Music at Oxford, which may be obtained without residence.

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Universities higher papers in certain subjects may be taken by candidates for Matriculation or by those who have already matriculated. It is therefore possible for a student after Matriculation to take another University examination of a more advanced character; but such examination is not accepted as a substitute for any part of the Intermediate examinations for degrees.

In the University of Wales a student cannot matriculate until after admission to one of the constituent Colleges of the University (or an approved Theological College), and the pursuance of courses of study in College is in every case a condition of entrance to the post-Matriculation examinations for degrees, save that provision is made for the acceptance of University Extension courses in lieu of not more than one year's attendance at a College.

At Durham the examinations subsequent to Matriculation are, as a rule, open only to resident students. In the Faculty of Letters, however, the Intermediate examination may be taken as an entrance examination , and for the degree of Bachelor of Music it is not clear that any residence is required.

Birmingham University allows students to take the Intermediate Science or Arts examinations or the first examination in Engineering, Metallurgy, or Mining, or the first professional examination in Medicine, before entrance. There does not appear to be any age limit for these examinations.

In the University of Bristol, candidates for the Degree of B.Sc. with Honours are required to pass the Intermediate examination before entering the University. Candidates for the B.A. (Honours) may pass the Intermediate before Matriculation, and candidates for the B.Sc. (Pass) and the B.Sc. (Engineering) who hare qualified for Matriculation and have attained the age of 17 may take the Intermediate without previous study in the University.

It is only in the University of London that all the examinations for degrees are open to external students. Here not only the Intermediate but the Final examinations for degrees may be taken by candidates who have never studied at the University, nor under the University's supervision, and those who pass the requisite examinations are admitted to degrees without any requirements as to residence, or attendance at University courses.* It should be stated that the examinations for external candidates differ in some cases from the corresponding examinations for internal students. As a rule a degree may be obtained after passing two examinations subsequent to Matriculation - an Intermediate and a Final. But in Medicine and Veterinary Science there are three examinations between the Matriculation and the Final. The Final examination for a degree may not be

*In the Faculty of Medicine, however, external candidates are required to have pursued their professional studies at one or more of the Medical Institutions or Schools recognised by the University for this purpose.

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taken until the expiration of three years from Matriculation "unless the Senate in special cases or classes of cases otherwise determine".* The Intermediate examination may be taken within less than one year after Matriculation, that is to say, a student who has passed Matriculation in January may take the Intermediate in the following July. The age limit for Matriculation being 16, it follows that the Intermediate cannot be taken before 16½ nor the Final before 19.

It will be seen, therefore, that London, Birmingham and Bristol are the only Universities in England and Wales (with slight exceptions in the case of Oxford and Durham) in which it is possible for any examinations in a degree course, subsequent to Matriculation, to be taken by a pupil in a Secondary School. As to the extent to which these examinations are actually taken by such pupils, there is, unfortunately, no definite information. In the case of Birmingham it would seem to be quite small, since, although the number of external candidates is not published, the Pass Lists of 1908 show that only 17 such candidates were successful that year in the Intermediate Science and Arts examinations and in the First examinations in Engineering, Mining, and Metallurgy; there is nothing to indicate the ages of these persons, nor whether any of them were attending school up to the time of the examination. At Bristol also the number of persons taking the Intermediate Examinations before entering the University is certainly very small at present; but the actual figures are not published. In the case of London, we know not only the total number of external candidates who sat for all the examinations, but also, in the faculties of Arts and Science (which attract the great bulk of the candidates), the numbers who were below the age of 22. These figures are given in the following table for the year 1908:

*Those who matriculate in January may take a final degree examination in the year next but one ensuing. In Arts and in Science the final examination is held at the end of October.

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These tables show the number of candidates below the age of 22, but there still remains the question of how many of them were still attending school, and as to this very little information is available.

Cases do actually occur of students taking a Final degree examination direct from school; but they are no doubt very rare. At the same time it is important to remember that such a thing is possible, especially as any general increase in the age of leaving the Secondary School, if unaccompanied by a corresponding advancement of the standard of degree examinations, might, other conditions remaining unaltered, tend to a growth of the practice.

As regards the Intermediate examinations, some light is thrown on the question by figures supplied to the Committee by the University of London. These are based on returns made by schools under inspection by the University. They show that at 42 of these schools work of a post-Matriculation character was being done, and that approximately 160 pupils reached the standard of the Intermediate.* It does not follow, however, that all these 160 pupils actually took the Intermediate examination. But, on the other hand, there may have been other candidates in schools which were not under the inspection of the London University who yet took the University's Intermediate examination. In fact, it seems certain from a consideration of the Pass Lists that this was so. In these lists is given after the name of each successful candidate the name of the College or school (if any) from which he proceeded to the examination. Judging by the names of the institutions so given in the lists relating to the examinations of July 1910 it would appear that at the Intermediate Arts over 100, and at the Intermediate

*The year to which the returns relate is not stated.

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Science over 50, pupils from Secondary Schools were successful at those examinations. No information is available as to the place of education of the candidates who failed.

From what has been said above, it seems clear that the number of Secondary School pupils who take University degree examinations after Matriculation is at present not large. But this does not mean that the question is unimportant, especially as there are reasons for thinking that the practice of taking University examinations in school (if unchecked) is likely to grow. Probably the most important of these reasons is the fact that certain definite advantages may be gained by taking the Intermediate examinations at school. A student who takes the London Intermediate before leaving school can take the external degree after only two years of post-school study. While if he becomes an internal student of the University he can take the Final examination for the internal degree in two years, though he does not get the degree itself until he has had a further year of approved study. But the fact that the examination can be taken after only two years is in certain circumstances so convenient that in at least one important London Training College preference is given to candidates for admission who have passed the Intermediate examination. Such students can complete their degree course in the first two years at the College, and then devote their third year to professional training. At Birmingham a student who has passed the Intermediate examination before entering the University can, in the faculties of Arts and Science, take the Final examination for the bachelor's degree after only two years. He cannot get the degree itself until after a third year of study at the University, but in that year he can qualify for the master's degree. In the faculty of Engineering the passing of the first examination (after Matriculation) before entrance reduces from four to three years the period of study required for the degree. At Bristol, the passing of the Intermediate examination before entrance exempts from the Intermediate course, but does not reduce the period of University study required for the degree.

It will not be necessary to describe in detail all the degree examinations that can he taken by pupils at school; but in the case of the two which are so used more than any others a brief account of their general character may usefully conclude this section. The examinations referred to are the Intermediate Arts and the Intermediate Science examinations of London University. These examinations as taken by external candidates (and as described below) differ from the corresponding examinations for internal candidates.

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The examinations are held once a year (in July) in London and also in a few provincial centres (17 in 1910).* They are open only to those who have matriculated not later than the preceding January. The fee is £5. Candidates may be examined either for a Pass or for Honours. Those who fail in Honours may be recommended for a Pass.

The lists of successful candidates are published in a supplement to the University Gazette. Copies are also sent to colleges or schools from which successful candidates have come, to successful candidates themselves if they have supplied stamped addressed envelopes, and to the press. The names of candidates, followed by the names of their colleges or schools (if any) are arranged in alphabetical order - in one list in the Pass examinations and in three classes in the Honours examinations. Unsuccessful candidates are informed of the subjects in which they have failed; but information as to marks or position on the list is not supplied.

As regard the subjects of examination:

(i) For the Intermediate Art Examination they are as follows:

(1) Latin, with Roman History, or Greek with Greek History.
(2) One of the following:

Latin with Roman History, if not taken under (1).
Greek with Greek History, if not taken under (1).
French.
German.
Hebrew.
Chinese.

(3) One of the following:

Pure Mathematics.
Applied Mathematics.
Physics.
Chemistry.
Botany.
Geology.
Logic.

(4) Any one of the previous subjects not already taken, or History, or Geography, or Italian, or Spanish.
(5) English Literature and Essay (this subject may - in the case of candidates for a Pass - be postponed until a subsequent Intermediate examination, or until the Final examination).

*Only the Pass examinations are held out of London. All Honours papers and practical examinations in Science must be taken at the University.

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Candidates for Honours are not examined in the corresponding subjects of the Pass Examination.

In modern languages there are oral tests, and there are practical examinations in Science. In the Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Geology papers, questions are set involving (1) the translation of passages in French or in German, and (2) answers with regard to the subject-matter thereof.

(ii) For the Intermediate Science Examination, a candidate for a Pass must take four out of the following seven subjects, one at least being selected from the first three:

Honours papers may be taken in one or more of the following subjects:

Mathematics (Pure and Applied).
Experimental Physics.
Chemistry.
Botany.
Zoology.
Geology.

Questions are set involving (1) the translation of passages in French or in German, and (2) answers with regard to the subject-matter thereof.

There are practical as well as theoretical examinations.

Examinations play a very prominent part in the appointment of persons to situations in the Civil Service. In fact for the great majority of such posts (except such as are filled by promotion in the ordinary course) some special examination is normally required. These examinations are of three kinds, namely: (1) Open competitions; (2) Limited competitions; and (3) Qualifying examinations. Of these different kinds of examinations, the first mentioned are by far the most important in relation to the question of examinations in Secondary Schools, not only because the number of candidates entering for them is larger than in the case of the others, but also because where previous service is a condition of entrance, as it is in many, if not most, of the examinations under the other two heads, the candidates cannot be school pupils. The third class of

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examination (i.e. the purely qualifying tests) applies to cases where persons who are already serving are promoted to higher offices and to some other appointments of a kind which need not be entered into here. They do not appear to be of such a nature as to affect Secondary Schools. As regards the limited competitions, it has already been mentioned that most of them are restricted to persons already in the Service, and are therefore not open to pupils in Secondary Schools. The number of limited competitions is considerable, and the precise conditions in each case have not been ascertained; but it is clear that those in which either the restriction mentioned or some other circumstance which precludes or makes improbable, the entrance of Secondary School pupils does not exist, are taken by so small a number of candidates that they can have but very slight influence (if any) on Secondary Schools. Under these circumstances it seems hardly worth while to consider them in this connection.

This leaves only the open competitions to be dealt with, and some even of these cannot be taken by pupils in Secondary Schools. This is either because the limits of age for competing are so high as to exclude the candidature of such pupils, or because candidates are required to have had some previous professional or technical training and cannot therefore enter the examination direct from a Secondary School.

As regards the question of age, it should be pointed out that in almost every Civil Service examination there is some limit of age for candidates, and often this is such as to confine the examination to candidates above Secondary School age. But the difficulty of course arises of deciding what we mean by Secondary School age, there being no fixed age at which pupils leave school. In view, however, of the fact that the number of pupils who remain at school until the age of 19 or beyond is, comparatively speaking, quite small, and that of those who do so probably the majority are intending to proceed to a University, we may perhaps (ignoring exceptional cases*) regard all examinations which are confined to candidates of 19 or over as being unlikely to affect Secondary Schools.

A list of the more important Civil Service examinations for which Secondary School pupils are eligible to compete will be found in the table at the end of this section (page 268). Examinations for grades of appointment which are usually filled by open competition, but in connection with which no

*Probably the most important exception would be the examination for the India and Colonial Police Services, the age limits for which are 19-21; but the number of candidates is small - on the average rather over 100 a year. The examination for Assistants of Customs and Excise, for which the age limits are at present 19-22, is, on the other hand, taken by large numbers of candidates (two or three thousand a year), but is not of a kind for which a pupil who had remained at a secondary school until so late an age as 19 would be likely to enter.

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such competitions were held in the years 1907-9, are not included in this list; nor are those for which the number of competitors is quite small, nor those which are restricted to candidates above 19. The table shows the number of candidates who entered for the various kinds of examination, and the number of posts competed for, during each of the three years 1907, 1908, and 1909. In regard to these figures it is necessary to point out that by no means all the candidates at the examinations were Secondary School pupils. Many of them had left school and were in employment (either in the Service itself or elsewhere), and many had been under instruction at establishments other than Secondary Schools. This point will be dealt with more fully later on; but a warning is given here, because the bare figures might otherwise give a false impression.

It should be pointed out that the examinations included in the table form a very small proportion of the total number held in connection with the Civil Service. This fact will he appreciated when it is stated that the total a umber of candidates for competitions conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners, the results of which were announced in 1909, was over 22,000,* while the number of different classes of situation in connection with which those competitions were held was about 60. But having regard to the various circumstances (especially the limits of age) likely to affect the candidature of pupils of the kind with which we are here concerned, and ignoring those examinations for which the number of candidates is quite small, we find that there are only three or four Civil Service examinations which call for detailed consideration in connection with the question of examinations in Secondary Schools. Of these the principal ones are the examinations for Boy Clerkships, Second Division Clerkships, and "Intermediate" Appointments; while on the side of girls the examinations for Girl and Woman Clerkships in the Post Office are the most important. The other examinations mentioned in the table are probably of little importance in relation to the question under consideration, being so far as we can judge of a kind that would not usually be taken by Secondary School pupils. Since we have no certain information as to the type of pupil entering for these examinations, it has been thought best to include them; but it will be seen that the examinations are very simple ones and not at all of the character which might be expected in examinations for which it was anticipated that the candidates would be Secondary School pupils.

It may help to a better understanding of those Civil Service examinations with which we are mainly concerned to give a very brief sketch of the kind of way in which the clerical

*Excluding examinations in connection with the Army and Navy, as to which see pages 268 ff. and 274 ff., and examinations for promotion.

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establishments of the Service are organised. When the principle of open competition for posts in the Civil Service was first adopted an attempt was made to divide the clerical establishments into two classes. viz. Class I and Class II. Class I still exists, but Class II became obsolete after a few years, when a Lower Division of the Service (including both men and boy clerks) was created. This Lower Division was in 1890 renamed the Second Division, and the Boy Clerks were excluded from it. The Service now contains therefore a First Class and a Second Division; but it must not be supposed that throughout the Service there is a complete and uniform organisation of the clerical staffs into these two grades. On the contrary, in addition to other grades of clerk more or less common to the whole Service, there are situations of varying kinds designed to meet the needs of particular Departments. Leaving out of account, however, these miscellaneous appointments (which, however numerous and important in themselves, do not appear to have much bearing on the question of examinations in Secondary Schools), there remains an organisation of which some parts are found in nearly all, while others obtain in several offices. It consists of the following divisions:

1. Boy Clerkships, filled by open competition.
2. Assistant Clerkships, recruited entirely from the Boy Clerks.
3. Second Division Clerkships, filled mainly by open competition.
4. Staff appointments filled by promotions from the Second Division.
5. A group of situations, known by different names in different Departments, but filled (mainly by open competition) by means of a single scheme of examination, and intermediate between the Second Division and Class I.
6. Class I Clerkships, filled mainly by open competition.

In regard to the Boy Clerks, there are some points which it is important to notice, especially in view of their probable effect in greatly lessening a Secondary School pupil's chance of success in the competition for certain higher posts. A person who enters the Service as a Boy Clerk between 15 and 16 has still a chance of passing one of the higher examinations by studying in his spare

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time. In fact, he must pass some other examination or else leave the Service at a certain age, this age being 18* in the case of those appointed under the present scheme for Boy Clerks and 20 in the case of those who were appointed under the old scheme. Of the more general examinations mentioned above only two can be taken before the age of 18, viz. those for Assistant Clerks and for Second Division Clerks. Many Boy Clerks have in the past entered direct for the Second Division Clerks' examination, and doubtless some will still do so even when the old class of Boy Clerk has entirely passed away, and when none may remain in this grade after the age of 18.* Of the remainder, and those who fail, probably the majority try for Assistant Clerkships, which are given only to ex-Boy Clerks. The Assistant Clerk is of a grade inferior to the Second Division Clerk and has a comparatively low scale of salary. He has, however, a permanent and pensionable place in the Service, and it is therefore open to a boy to make his retention in the Service safe by securing one of these posts while continuing his efforts to pass into the Second Division, the Customs or Excise,† one of the situations coming under the head of "Intermediate Appointments", or some other post. This is, in fact, what many boys do. Those Assistant Clerks who fail in the examinations have still a possibility of promotion to the Second Division on the merits of their office work. Boy Clerks are encouraged to work for a higher appointment by the allowance of "Service marks" in certain competitions. The allowance is made at the rate of so many marks for each period of three months of approved service up to a maximum of eight‡ such periods. The actual number of marks awarded for each period is not necessarily the same at all examinations, even for the same post. In the regulations for Second Division examinations, dated February 1910, it was stated that the number had been provisionally fixed at 10. This would make the maximum number of Service marks obtainable by any one candidate 80.§ Past examinations show that this allowance has a considerable influence on the results, and that it is responsible for the success of a number of candidates who would otherwise have failed.|| Boy Clerks are

*A slight extension is allowed under certain circumstances, as when a boy is waiting for an opportunity to compete for an Assistant Clerkship, or for the results of an examination to be announced or has passed an examination and is waiting for appointment.

†Assistants of Customs and Excise: Limits of age for admission to competition, at present, 19-22; but it is stated that no announcement can be made as to the limits of age for these situations in future. See also footnote on p. 247.

‡The maximum is 12 in the case of boys who entered the Service by the competition of September 1908, or a previous one.

§See note (3) above. In the cases there referred to the maximum is 120, and the Service marks are allotted on a somewhat different basis (see page 257).

||For further information on this point see pages 257 and 266.

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also allowed (in common with other Civil servants), after two years' service, to make deductions from their age in reckoning their eligibility to enter certain open competitions. The amount of deduction allowed is generally either one or two years. The effect of this privilege is of course to extend by one or two years the length of time during which a person who has served for a sufficient time as a Boy Clerk remains eligible to compete for a higher appointment. Thus for the Second Division examination (for which the ordinary maximum age limit is 20) such a person could continue to compete until he was 22.

We may now consider certain features of the regulations for Civil Service examinations which are more or less common to all the open competitions. The detailed requirements of the more important examinations will be dealt with in the following section.

The examinations are under the control of a Government Department called the Civil Service Commission, which is charged with the duty of testing the qualifications of persons seeking appointment to posts in the Service. The rules governing such appointments appear to be settled (always subject to the approval of the Treasury) by the Commissioners alone, or by the Commissioners in consultation with the Heads of the Departments concerned. The examinations are not (as a rule) held at any fixed times of the year, but whenever the requirements of the Service make them necessary. The number of posts offered for competition on each occasion depends on the number of vacancies existing at the time or estimated as likely to occur within a limited time after the examination. It frequently happens that the number of candidates to whom appointments are given considerably exceeds the number of places offered beforehand. The examinations may be held at such places as the Civil Service Commissioners determine. In practice certain examinations take place in London only, others in London, Edinburgh and Dublin, and others in those cities and also in a few provincial towns.

As regards the qualifications for admission to the examinations, the rule is that - subject to certain restrictions - all natural-born or naturalised British subjects are eligible, provided they are of the requisite age, health, and character. But persons already serving the State or having been trained at the public expense are eligible only when they are given permission to compete. Without special permission from the Head of the Department concerned, a candidate is not assigned to the Admiralty, War Office, or Colonial Office unless he is a British subject and the son of a father also a British subject; nor to the Foreign Office unless he is a natural-born British subject born within the United Kingdom of parents also born therein.

As regards the age of candidates, there is nearly always

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both a lower and upper limit of age*; but some allowance is made as a rule to persons already in the service of the State. Those who have served in the Army or Navy are generally allowed to deduct from their actual age any time during which they have so served. In the case of civil servants (and persons who have served in the Royal Irish Constabulary) the amount allowed to be deducted in this way is usually restricted to one or two years, except in the case of persons whose service commenced before a certain date, and who are allowed by older regulations to deduct as much as five years from their age.

The results of the examinations are published in lists in which either all the candidates or all those who reach a certain standard are placed in order of merit; but the names are given only in the case of those successful, the others being represented by their examination numbers. The marks awarded in respect of each subject are stated throughout the lists.

The principal examinations may now be considered in detail.

It is not proposed to describe here all the examinations which are included in the table on page 268. For reasons already stated some of them have very little bearing on the question under consideration, and it seems unnecessary therefore to enter into details in regard to them. It will probably be quite sufficient to give an account (in more or less detail as circumstances seem to require) of those examinations which are of most importance in connection with this inquiry, and in regard to the others merely to state the subjects of examination. In accordance with this plan the examinations for the following situations only are described in this section: (i) Boy Clerkships; (ii) Second Division Clerkships; (iii) Intermediate Appointments; (iv) Girl Clerkships and Woman Clerkships.

The age for admission to the examination for Boy Clerkships is 15-16, the age being calculated up to one of four specified dates according to the period of the year in which the examination is held.

The salary of the post commences at 15s [75p] a week, or 4½d [2p] an hour, and may be raised, after a year's approved service, to 16s [80p] a week or 5d an hour.

*It may be explained with regard to the limits of age for these examinations that when a competition is said to be restricted to candidates between (say) 17 and 20 what is meant is that only those are eligible who have reached the 17th anniversary of their birth and have not passed the 20th. The ages are generally calculated, not to the actual date of the examination, but to some fixed date in the year, half-year, or quarter during which the competition is held.

[page 253]

The number of candidates for the examination is large, and the number of appointments made is also considerable. It is understood, however, that the present intention is to increase the employment of Assistant Clerks (a class, it will be remembered, recruited entirely from the Boy Clerks) and to make a corresponding reduction in the number of Boy Clerks. At present there are about 2,800 Boy Clerks and about 2,600 Assistant Clerks in the Service. The numbers of candidates during the three years 1907, 1908, and 1909 were 2,411, 2,753, and 2,029 respectively. The numbers ultimately declared successful as the result of the examinations in those years was 1,092, 889, and 809.

Examinations are held, when necessary, at London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and about 10 provincial centres. The frequency of the examinations (as well as the number of appointments offered for competition) depends, of course, on the requirements of the Service. As a matter of fact, however, they seem to be held pretty regularly, three competitions having taken place in each of the years 1907, 1908, and 1909, each year in the months of January, May, and September.

The fee for examination is 5s [25p].

Seven subjects may be taken in the examination. It is not actually stated that any of them are obligatory; but a sufficient aggregate of marks must be obtained to indicate a competent amount of general proficiency. What this aggregate may be is not stated; but in practice it seems at present to be one-half the possible total. In any case a candidate who did not take the full number of subjects allowed would probably stand very little chance of success in the competition.

The subjects are:

1. Handwriting and Orthography.
2. Arithmetic (including Vulgar and Decimal Fractions).
3. English Composition.
4. Copying Manuscript.
5-7. Three of the following, including not more than two languages:

The Commissioners issue particulars of the examinations in certain of the subjects, and more detailed information of the kind of questions asked may be obtained from the examination papers themselves which are on sale. The principles upon which handwriting specimens are judged, in this and also in other Civil Service examinations of which handwriting is a subject, are set out in some detail. The subject "Copying Manuscript", which is perhaps peculiar to Civil Service examinations, consists in making a fair copy of a badly written document in a given time. English Composition appears usually to comprise an essay, the correction of ungrammatical

[page 254]

or badly expressed sentences, and the writing in the candidate's own language of the substance or a piece of verse. The geography paper requires a knowledge of the British Isles in some detail and of the World in outline. There are no set periods in history, and in languages no set books or oral tests. The examination in elementary science is confined to paper work. The arithmetic paper includes a special test of speed and accuracy in adding long columns of figures.

It may be assumed that every candidate takes the four fixed subjects, Handwriting and Orthography, Arithmetic, Composition, and Copying Manuscript. As regards the other subjects (of which a candidate may select three), in the examination of January 1910 they were taken by the number of candidates stated below, the total number of candidates at that examination being 793:

The maximum number of marks obtainable in each subject is 400, with the exception of Copying Manuscript, in which it is 200. As to the marks actually obtained by candidates, the aggregate numbers awarded to the highest candidates in the three examinations held in May 1909, September 1909, and January 1010 were 2,173 (i.e. 84 per cent), 2,268 (87 per cent), and 2,155 (83 per cent) respectively, out of a possible total of 2,600 in each case, and to the lowest successful candidates* 1,583 (61 per cent), 1,556 (60 per cent), 1,617 (62 per cent) respectively.

Second Division Clerks are now employed in most of the Departments of the State. It is understood that there are altogether over 3,500 of them in the Civil Service.

The salary of the post (revised in 1907) now commences at £70 a year, and (subject to satisfactory certificates of conduct and efficiency) rises to £300. Higher positions may be attained by promotion.

*200th, 200th, and 150th respectively.

[page 255]

For admission to the examination for this post a candidate must be between 17 and 20 years of age on the 1st March or the 1st September according as the examination is held in the first or second half of the year. The only other conditions of admission to the examination are those which apply to all "open competitions" under the Civil Service Commissioners (see page 251).

The number of candidates is large, the examination being one of the most popular of those conducted by the Commissioners. But it must not be forgotten that many of these candidates are persons already in the Service. The numbers who attended the examinations held in 1907, 1908, and 1909 were 2,185, 2,484, and 1,565 respectively, and the numbers of places offered for competition in those years were 200, 181, and 50. But many appointments over and above the number advertised were made on the results of the examinations in question, bringing the totals of successful candidates up to 265, 261, and 265 respectively. Yet, even so, the percentages of candidates who were successful in these years were only 12, 11, and 17 respectively. It will be seen therefore that this examination directly affects a body of students sometimes eight or nine times as numerous as the successful candidates, to say nothing of the possible indirect influence which it may exercise over the work of other pupils who do not sit for the examination.

The examinations are not held at regular intervals, but, like most Civil Service examinations, whenever the requirements of the Service make them necessary. In 1907 two examinations were held (in March and September); in 1908, two (March and October), and in 1909, one (September). They are "held from time to time at such places as may be deemed expedient". In practice they are held in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and about a dozen other towns.

The fee for examination is £2.

The scheme of examination was modified in 1900, the changes including the addition of certain fresh subjects which helped to bring the examination more into harmony with the ordinary Secondary School curriculum. The subjects are now as follows:

1. Handwriting and Orthography including Copying Manuscript.
2. Arithmetic.
3. English Composition.
4-7. Not more than four of the following, of which not more than two may be languages:

Précis, including Indexing and Digest of Returns.
Book-keeping and Shorthand Writing.
Geography and English History.
Latin.
French.
German.
Elementary Mathematics
Inorganic Chemistry, with Elements of Physics.

[page 256]

Although it is not stated that any subjects are obligatory, a candidate who did not take the full number allowed would have practically no chance of success.

The Commissioners issue syllabuses in Handwriting, Geography, and Elementary Mathematics only; but full information as to the character of the questions can be obtained from the papers, which are on sale. In arithmetic there is a special test of long addition, both vertical and horizontal. In the subject "Indexing" a candidate is required to enter on a form certain particulars of a number of printed documents (usually consisting of a series of official letters and papers relating to some matter of public interest) including a concise statement of the gist of each. The candidate has then to make a "Précis" or brief narrative account, of the whole correspondence, omitting anything which is not material to the main issue. The "Digest of Returns" involves ruling a form (according to pattern) and filling it up with statistics of which some are supplied ready for insertion and others have to be calculated from data furnished. In History and Geography there are two separate papers, one of which is confined to geography, while the other deals mainly with history but contains a few questions combining the two subjects. The language papers consist of unseen translation from and into the foreign language and composition, there being no set books and no oral test. In science there is no practical examination.

The subjects chosen by the 1,565 candidates at the examination of September 1909 were as follows:

In Handwriting (etc.), Arithmetic, and English Composition the maximum number of marks obtainable is in each case 600. In each of the other subjects it is 400. The aggregate marks obtained by the highest candidates in the competitions of October 1908 and September 1909 were 2,549 and 2,690 respectively - i.e. 75 and 79 per cent of the possible total of

[page 257]

3,400; while the lowest of the successful candidates* obtained respectively 2,269 and 2,428 marks, i.e. 67 per cent and 71 per cent of the maximum. At the examination or September 1909 more than half of the candidates (i.e. just over 800) were in receipt of "Service marks", granted on account of service as Boy Clerks or Boy Copyists. These were given at the rate of 5 marks for each of the first four periods of three months of approved service; 10 marks for each of the second four of such periods; and 15 for each of the third four, the maximum allowable being 120 marks. This maximum of 120 was claimed by no fewer than 233 candidates at the examination in question. Of the Service candidates 31 were included in the 50 who were declared successful when the results were announced, and the marks of 19 of them, without counting the Service marks, were less than those of the lowest successful candidate. Had no Service marks been given 14 of them would have failed to be placed amongst the first 50 candidates. It may be added that the allowance for Boy Clerks appointed as such on the results of an examination later than that of September 1908 will be different from that stated above. At present it is fixed provisionally at 10 marks for each period of three months up to a maximum of eight such periods.

The title "Intermediate Appointments" is used for convenience to indicate a group of situations recruited by means of a single scheme of examination but actually known by different names in the seven Departments which make use of them. The scheme was instituted in 1892 in the Admiralty, and has since been adopted by other Departments; but it has been revised several times and did not attain its present form until 1906. The scale of salary is the same in the several offices, viz. £100 a year rising to £350 (subject to satisfactory certificates); but the prospect of promotion to higher positions varies.

A candidate must be between 18 and 19½ years of age on the 1st May or the 1st November, according as the examination is held in the first seven or the last five months of the year. Persons who have served in the Army or Navy are allowed to deduct from their age the time during which they have so served, and persons who have been two years in the Civil Service† or the Royal Irish Constabulary may deduct one year from their age.

The number of candidates for these examinations is not nearly so large as in the case of the other two examinations we

*i.e. at the time the results were announced (viz. 70th and 50th respectively in order of merit); but since then many other appointments have been made on the results of these same examinations.

†Except Boy Clerks who were appointed on the results of a competition later than that of September 1908.

[page 258]

have already considered, and the number of appointments made is also smaller. The candidates in the examinations held in 1907, 1908, and 1909 numbered 146, 282, and 572 respectively, and the numbers of appointments made from amongst them were respectively 37, 82, and 63. The proportions of candidates successful in these years, therefore, were 25, 29, and 11 per cent respectively, the examination thus directly affecting from four to nine times as many pupils as were successful.

In each of the three years named there were two examinations. They were held in June and November in 1907 and in July and December in 1908 and in 1909. The main part of the examination is conducted in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, but the oral and practical tests take place in London only.

The fee for each candidate is £3.

The subjects of examination are as follows:

Both the subjects in Class I must be taken up, and no candidate is eligible who fails to pass a qualifying examination in Arithmetic and English. From Classes II and III may be selected subjects carrying marks up to a certain maximum. This maximum, including the two subjects of Class I, is 14,000, and since each subject in Classes I and II carries 2,000 marks and each subject in Class III 4,000, it follows that a candidate need take only five subjects, and may not take more than seven. The same subject may not be taken both in Class II and Class III. One of the subjects selected must be a language.

The Commissioners issue a syllabus of the subjects of examination, and the examination papers also may be purchased. English consists of an essay and précis-writing. In modern languages, in addition to translation from and into the language, there are oral tests. There are no set books in any of the language examinations. The history paper presumes some knowledge of geography; in Class III a choice of periods is given. Practical examinations are held in Mathematics (I, II, and III) and in the Sciences. The oral and practical examinations are held at a later date than the written examination, and, as stated above, in London only.

[page 259]

The subjects taken by the 290 competitors at the examination of December 1909 are given here in the order of preference:

Remembering that it is not permissible to take the same subject in both Class II and Class III, it will be seen from the above figures that 92.1 per cent of the candidates chose French; 62.1 per cent chose Mathematics; 53.8 per cent History; 49.3 per cent Latin; 41.4 per cent Chemistry; 32.7 per cent Physics; 22.4 per cent German; and 14.5 per cent Greek. It is compulsory to take at least one language (either ancient or modern); all except 13 candidates (i.e. 95.5 per cent) took either French or German, while 55 candidates took both. Every candidate who took Greek took Latin as well; there were therefore 42 taking both Latin and Greek. One candidate took all four languages; 45 took three languages; 134 took two; and 110

[page 260]

took only one. As regards Science, 143 took either Chemistry or Physics, and 72 took both. Most of those who chose Science took also the Mathematics of Class II or Class III; but 37 of them did not do so.

As regards the marks awarded to candidates at the examination in question, the one highest on the list secured an aggregate of 10,445 (out of a maximum of 14.000), i.e. 75 per cent, while the lowest successful candidate (25th* on the list) obtained 9,164, or 65 per cent. Thirty out of the 290 candidates failed to qualify in one or both of the subjects English and Arithmetic. Amongst these candidates were some who, but for having failed to qualify, would have been comparatively high up in the list; but none would have been so high as to be reckoned amongst the successful ones.

The maximum number of marks in each subject in Classes I and II is 2,000 and in Class III 4,000; but the marks for Arithmetic and Mathematics in Class I are given separately, 400 being allotted to the former and 1,600 to the latter. The marks awarded in respect of the oral and practical tests are not stated separately, but it is explained that 25 per cent of the marks assigned to French and German in Classes II and III were given on the oral examination, and 20 per cent of the marks for Mathematics I. (including Arithmetic) and 40 per cent of the marks for Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics, in Classes II and III, on the practical examination.

The scheme of examination for these two posts is the same, though their limits of age are different. For admission to the examination for Girl Clerkships a candidate must be between 16 and 18; for admission to the examination for Woman Clerkships she must be between 18 and 20. The age is calculated up to the 1st March or the 1st September, according as the examination is held in the first or the second half of the year.

Girl and Woman Clerks are engaged upon clerical work in the several central departments of the General Post Office (not at the ordinary local post offices). Woman Clerks have a scale of salary commencing at £65 a year and rising, by £5 a year, to £110, with prospects of promotion to higher grades. Girl Clerks start at £42 a year and rise, by annual increments of £3, to £48. They are eligible (after two years' service and if certified competent) for promotion to the grade of Woman Clerk, or they may be transferred to the class of Female Sorter.

*i.e. at the time the results were announced , but seven others were ultimately declared successful.

[page 261]

The numbers of candidates at these examinations during 1907-9, and the numbers of places competed for, were as follows:

The examinations take place in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and about eight or nine provincial towns. As a rule they have been held twice a year - in the spring and autumn; but in 1909 there was only one examination for Woman Clerkships, and it is intended that, in future, competitions for these posts shall, as a rule, be held only once a year, in the spring. While, however, the examinations are held at pretty regular intervals, the number of posts offered for competition has varied a good deal, especially in the case of the Woman Clerkships.

The examination fee is 10s [50p] in each case.

The subjects (in regard to which some changes have recently been made) are now as follows:

1. English Composition (including Writing and Spelling).
2. Arithmetic.
3. Geography.
4. Latin, or French, or German.
5. Précis Writing.
6. Not more than one of the following:

English History.
Mathematics.
One of the languages (Latin, French, German) not offered as subject 4.

This new scheme of subjects came into force for the first time in October 1910. Previously the subjects were as follows:

1-3. As above.
4-5. Not more than two of the following:

Latin.
French.
German.

6-7. Not more than two of the following:

English History.
Mathematics.
Shorthand.

Thus it will be seen that the number of subjects has been reduced from seven to six, the alternative subject Shorthand has been removed, a new subject (Précis Writing) introduced,

[page 262]

and the choice given in regard to other subjects slightly modified.

A syllabus of a few of the subjects is issued; and the papers actually set in the past may be purchased. The examination is conducted entirely by means of written papers. The same set of examination papers is used by candidates for both classes of post.

None of the subjects is said to be obligatory; but, in order to qualify, candidates must obtain a certain aggregate of marks. That aggregate appears to be half the maximum. The following particulars as to the subjects actually taken by candidates relate to the examination of April 1910, which was held under the old scheme of subjects. It was attended by 1,078 candidates, of whom 414 were competing for Woman Clerkships and 664 for Girl Clerkships. All the candidates took the first three subjects -English, Arithmetic, and Geography. Five took only one, instead of two, languages; and five took only one, instead of two, of the other group of alternative subjects. None of the candidates who took fewer subjects than they were allowed to take gained a sufficient aggregate of marks to qualify. The most popular of the languages was French, which was taken by all except two of the candidates. Latin was chosen by 23 per cent of the candidates, and German by 77 per cent. As to the other three subjects, 90 per cent. took History, 64 per cent Mathematics, and 45 per cent Shorthand.

The maximum number of marks is 3,900, of which 500 is assigned to each subject except English and Arithmetic, which carry 800 and 600 respectively. Of the candidates for Woman Clerkships, the highest on the list obtained 3,118 marks (80 per cent of the maximum), while the lowest of the successful ones (20th on the list) seemed 2,820 (72 per cent). Of the candidates for Girl Clerkships, the highest obtained 2,960 marks (76 per cent) and the lowest of the successful ones (40th) 2,629 (67 per cent). Out of 1,078 candidates, 444 failed to qualify by obtaining half marks; of these, 132 were candidates for Woman Clerkships and 312 for Girl Clerkships.

The subjects of the examination for the situations named in the table on page 268, other than those described in this section, are as follows:

Male sorter*
Male Sorting Clerk and Telegraphist*
Male Learner†

†After the next examination (probably early in 1912) open competitions for this situation will, as an experimental arrangement, be discontinued.

[page 263]

Female Learner.

1. English Composition (including Writing and Spelling).
2. Arithmetic.
3. Geography.

Female Sorter.

1. Reading and Copying Manuscript.
2. Writing.
3. Spelling.
4. Arithmetic.
5. Geography of the United Kingdom.

Female Typist and Shorthand Writer.

1. Writing.
2. Spelling.
3. English Composition.
4. Copying Manuscript.
5. Arithmetic.
6. Typewriting.

Statistics as to the previous education of candidates for the Civil Service are unfortunately very incomplete. The Forty-fifth Annual Report of the Civil Service Commissioners contained the results of an investigation into the question; but that took place eleven years ago and can hardly be accepted as giving a reliable indication of the conditions existing today. The Secretary of the Civil Service Commission, who gave evidence before us, kindly furnished us with some useful information which he had obtained from an analysis of some recent competitions.* These particulars, however, and also those contained in the Report before mentioned, relate only to the candidates who were successful in the examinations. They are therefore inadequate for a complete consideration of the question, not only because the successful ones generally form but a small proportion of the total number of candidates, but also because they do not enable us to compare the manner of education of the successful and unsuccessful candidates.

The main points upon which information is needed are: (a) the number of candidates who might be Secondary School pupils, i.e. the number who were of school age and had not prior to the examination entered employment; (b) the proportion of these candidates who did actually attend Secondary Schools up to the time of the examination; (c) the degree of success of Secondary School pupils as compared with other candidates. We may say at once that we have absolutely no data upon which to base any observations in regard to the third of these points.

First of all, it is again necessary to point out that some of the examinations named in our table on page 208, (i.e. the examinations for situations in the Post Office, except Girl and

*See pages 421 ff.

[page 264]

Woman Clerkships) are of a kind for which it seems unlikely that many Secondary School pupils would compete. They are included in the table, because we have no certain information on this point, and because their age limits are not such as to prevent the entry of Secondary School pupils; but we may perhaps assume for the present purpose that, as a rule, candidates for these examinations are not, and would hardly be expected to be, Secondary School pupils who enter the examinations direct from school. It has to be remembered, however, that there are probably some such pupils amongst them.

The remaining examinations in our table are those for Boy Clerkships, the Second Division, "Intermediate" Appointments, and Girl and Woman Clerkships. The average annual number of candidates for these examinations during the three years 1907-9 was 5,995, and the number of posts completed for, 1,566. We will take each grade of examination separately and see how far we can estimate what proportion of candidates (a) had been in employment before the examination; (b) entered direct from a Secondary School; (c) had been preparing for the examination at some institution other than a Secondary School.

In the case of the Boy Clerks' examination the limits of age are so low that very few of the candidates are likely to have been in employment prior to the examination. A table in the Forty-fifth Report of the Civil Service Commissioners shows that out of 190 candidates who were successful at the examination of October, 1900, 111 had been attending Secondary Schools, 59 Public Elementary Schools, and 20 Higher Grade Schools. The requirements of the examination, however, have since that time been made a good deal more severe,* and it hardly seems likely that a boy who had received no education beyond that given in the ordinary Elementary School would now stand much chance of success in the examination. But perhaps even in 1900 most of the Elementary School boys taking part in the examination had had a period of special preparation between the time of leaving school and entering for the examination. The report gives no information on this point. Mr. Hammond's statistics, however (see page 424), show that of 271 successful out of 751 candidates, at the examination of September 1909, 107 had

*The present scheme is described on pages 252 ff. The subjects of examination in 1900 were as follows:

1. Handwriting and Orthography.
2. Arithmetic.
3. English Composition.
4-5. Any two of the following:

Copying Manuscript.
Geography.
English History.
Translation from Latin, French, or German.
Euclid and Algebra.
Chemistry and Physics.

[page 265]

undergone special preparation, 22 had studied privately, and 14 did not say whether they had prepared specially. That is to say, about half of the successful candidates did not enter the examination straight from school. We have no means of knowing whether an analysis of the unsuccessful competitors would show a similar proportion; but it is no disparagement of the Secondary Schools to suggest that the proportion who had received special preparation might be found to be less over the whole competition than when only the successful candidates are considered. If half the latter did not enter the examination direct from school, it might be that only (say) one-third of the total number were in the same position. In the case of the competition referred to above this would mean that about 500 entered direct from school and about 250 after special preparation. We may probably take it that the number who remained at school up to the time of the examination was somewhere between 350 and 500.

Turning now to the Second Division examination, we have the analysis, furnished by Mr. Hammond (see page (424), of the successful candidates at the examinations of March 1907 and September 1909. These figures show that, out of 184 successful candidates at the two examinations, 79 had certainly undergone special preparation, 21 had studied privately, and 71 did not state whether they had prepared specially, but probably had done so* - leaving only 13 (7 per cent) as having remained at school until the time of the examination. We have rather more information in regard to the examination of September 1909 than to the earlier one. More detailed statistics, supplied to us by Mr. Hammond, as to the first 50 candidates at this examination show that, of these 50 candidates, 33 had been employed in the Civil Service since leaving school (all except 2 as Boy Clerks), 1 other had been employed elsewhere, 12 others had received special preparation, and 3 others had studied privately since leaving school, while 1 was at school up to the date of the examination. Of the 3 who studied privately only 1 had left school any considerable time before sitting for the examination, the other 2 sitting within less than 12 months of leaving. We have further ascertained from the published list of marks awarded at this examination that 807 of the 1,565 candidates received "Service marks", which they could only have earned if they had been in the Service as Boy Clerks since leaving school. Probably not less than 100 more had been employed in some other capacity either in the Service or elsewhere, leaving about 650 who might have attended school up to the time of the examination. We saw, however, that only 7 per cent of the successful candidates at the two examinations referred to above came direct from school, and if this same

*These were doubtless persons already in the Service whose probable attendance at evening classes was not mentioned on their entrance forms (see Mr. Hammond's evidence, page 422).

[page 266]

proportion could be applied to the whole of the 1,565 candidates at this later examination we should find that only just over 100 remained at school up to the time of the examination. The percentage might be larger over the whole examination than in the case of the successful ones only; but it hardly seems likely that the number would be more than (say) 300, i.e. approximately 20 per cent of the total number of candidates.

Before leaving the Second Division Clerks, it may be interesting to notice the degree of success of the Service candidates as compared with the others. It was seen that 31 of them were amongst the 50* successful ones in September 1909 (i e. 62 per cent), and now we find that the total number of Boy Clerks or ex-Boy Clerks competing was only 52 per cent of the total number of candidates. It must be remembered, however, that these candidates were in receipt of "Service marks" (up to a maximum of 120), without which many of them would have failed to reach the first 50. Had there been no Service marks, candidates of this type would have formed only 34 per cent of the successful ones. At the examination of October 1908, 50 per cent of those successful and 50 per cent of the whole number of candidates were Service candidates; but had there been no Service marks only 20 per cent of the successful ones would have been Service candidates.

We now come to the "Intermediate" Appointments, in regard to which we may again turn to Mr. Hammond's evidence for information as to the successful candidates. Taking together the three competitions referred to by him, we see that 473 candidates competed for 91 posts, and that of the 91 successful, 44 had been specially prepared, 13 had prepared privately, and 4 more did not say whether they had received special preparation. The 61 candidates thus accounted for probably include those of the successful ones who were already in employment. We are informed that of the 151 candidates at the competition of December 1908, 40 were Civil Servants; but we have no similar information in regard to the other two examinations. It is probable that over 100 of the 473 candidates at these examinations were in employment, leaving only about 350 who might have been Secondary School pupils. From what we know of the successful candidates, it seems likely that about half of these had special preparation, the other half coming straight from school.

As regards the examinations for Girl and Woman Clerkships, we see from Mr. Hammond's evidence that a large proportion of the candidates receive special preparation. In the case of the Girl Clerkships, at least 145 out of 176 successful in September 1908 and April 1909, and in the case of the Woman Clerkships at least 108 out of 140 successful in September 1908 and

*As a matter of fact other candidates afterwards received appointments; but at the time the results were announced only 50 were declared successful.

[page 267]

October 1909, had had special preparation or studied privately. It is probable that very few of the candidates for Girl Clerkships have been in employment before the examination; but Mr. Hammond informed us that 25 of the 120 successful candidates for Woman Clerkships in September 1908 were already in the Service. The total number of candidates at the two examinations for Girl Clerkships referred to above was 715. If the proportion who received special preparation were the same for unsuccessful as for successful candidates, the number who entered direct from school would have been not more than 125; it seems likely that it was well under 300. In the case of the two Woman Clerkship examinations, the total number of candidates was 866, of whom probably not less than 200 were already in employment. Judging by the conditions noticed in the case of the successful ones, it might be found that between 200 and 300 came direct from school.

The foregoing calculations have been based on the examinations about which we happened to have information, and they do not refer to any single year. We do not consider that the data upon which they rest are sufficient to justify us in offering any definite estimates as to the numbers of candidates who do or do not receive special preparation. In view, however, of the importance of getting some idea of the general state of affairs, it seemed desirable to give what information we had been able to procure, scanty though it is. From statistics published in the Annual Reports of the Civil Service Commissioners, it would appear that each year, on an average, about 6,000* boys and girls take Civil Service examinations of a kind for which Secondary School pupils might be expected to compete. Of these we have good reason for thinking that well over a thousand are in employment at the time of the examination. As to the remainder, we can do little more than guess at the proportion (a) who enter the examination direct from school, or (b) who have received special preparation or studied privately. We are inclined to think that about half the candidates may be of one kind and half of the other - say about 2,500 candidates of each type annually. The reasons which have led us to this conclusion are those which are stated in the preceding paragraphs; they admittedly depend largely on conjecture, though having throughout some foundation of known fact.

With regard to the question of special preparation and private study, it may be pointed out that the period during which this took place may have merely filled up a few months between the time of leaving school and of sitting for the examination; while, on the other hand, it may have extended over several years. We have, however, no definite information bearing on this point.

*This average is based on the years 1907-1909. The separate figures for each of these years are given in the table on page 268.

[page 268]

(The figures given in this table have been supplied by the Civil Service Commission. They show the number of candidates who actually attended the examinations held during the years specified, and the numbers of appointments made on the results of those examinations.)