SCHOOL EXAMS.

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 173, 15 March 1932, Page 5

SCHOOL EXAMS.

("Post" Speciai Commissioner) .

system rev1sed PUBLIC SERVICE TEST TO BE REPLACED BY "SCHOOL CERTIFICATE" NO ACCREDITING THIS YEAR

^ WELLINGTON, Monfiay. ..Chariges in the preserit(system of secon'dary schpol examinations, incluhing the abandonment of the Pub7 lic Ser.vice Ehtrariqe Exaihination ahd tfie sjibstitution oi ari examination of matriculatibn standard^. hut with a "vyjder range bf shbjects, w.ere outlined, by the Minister of Education, the Hqp. R. Masters, in an ihtefview "v^ith the "Post's" comhiissioher today. « Eor some time past,,said Mr. Masters, the Departmerit had. had urider consideration the desirability of making certain. ehanges ih the exahiinations taken by pupils in post-primary schqqls. At present pupils, on completioh of their. jrinior free place cohrse, were awarded seriior free plhc'es if i'ecbmmehded by the prin-r pipal of their school, and approved by the.inspqctor. SH'ould a eandidate fail to | be accredited, he must take the , depar tment's examination for an interniediate certificate, the hqlder of which was entitled to a se-nior free place. Th'e Minister stated that he thought it desjrable to test the operatiori of the accreditihg system, just as had been done last year in the award of Woficiency pejrtifieateq, and to require all carididates for seriior free places to sit this year f-or the. examination ^ for ^ iriter niediate cqrtificates. • 4 • not mean, the Minister remafkeq, that the accreditirig system was to be.entirely abandoned. He merely desired it to he tested for the sake, both of the pupils themselves nnd of the , teachers, whq.se standard pf judgmeht iriight gradually vary. from. year to year, becoihing either too high -or too low. Public Service Exam. A further change would be the abandonment of the present public service ehtrah'ce examiriation, a pass in which was no longer a high eriongh standard for entrance to the Public service. Eor some tiriie past more than ^ suffic.ient applicants had heen pffering with a Uriiversity matricuIatiqn pass. The Puhlic Seryipe Commissioner agreed. that the present public Service entrance PYa-minn+inn

should he discontinued and that there shonld be substituted ari examination of the standard required for university entrance, but wider in range of subjects, to meet . the requirements of the. dilferent branches of the service and to fit in with the technical school, as well as the secondary school courses. . Successful candidates at this examination would be arranged in order of merit and thus applicarits for positions in the Public service or with private e-mploy.ers would have a defiriite statidard pf attainment to offer in support of their application. The examination should be particularly helpful to thqse employers who desired . to give pref erence to applicants with special qualifications which would be revealed by the subjects the applicant Jhad passed in at the examination referre-d to.

School Certificate As .the examination would generally be taken by pupils at the end, or toward the end of their post-primary coufse, the pass certificate would becalled, as in Great Britain, a "School Certificate." It would correspond in standard to the present lower leaving certificate which had proved of little .Service, , and which wouid therefore be abandoned. The present standard required for the higher leaving certificate would not be affected as a pass in either the university entrance examinatiori or the school certificate examination would be considered a sufficient prerequisite qualification. At present, said the Minister, a large riumber of pupiis left post-pri-mary schools without any definite certificate of attainnieht. Under the

new system/ qualified pupils would receive the intermediate certificate usually .at the e-nd of their second year and the school certificate at the end of their secondary eourse. The subjects for the school certificate examination would be so chosen and the presciptibns would be so framed that the examinafiori ihight be taken by technical school pupils as well as by secondary school pupils. This should have the effeet of stimulating interest in technical school courses, which heretofore had not in general enabled candidates to qualify for the lower or higher leaying certificates.