Accrediting System Postponed for Year

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 681, 5 June 1929, Page 11

Accrediting System Postponed for Year

UNIVERSITY’S MOVE CONFERENCE SHORTLY Press Association WELLINGTON, Today. Tbe Executive Committee of the New Zealand University has issued tne following statement: At its last meeting in Dunedin in January, the council of the University of New Zealand considered the ques;i On T , 0f accrediting and referred to the Executive Committee the followmg schemes: witv? ♦7 hat .q t^e Exe cutive Committee, ad \ lce of the Education Deo? r t t nl e ? t and „ the Professorial Boards 25 lour colleges, draw up a list of T l ?ir2 ) n t dary . school « which shall, on apaorrifl?/ 1 he recognised as qualified to accredit candidates for matriculation. sch ° ol not placed in S tS? C TT al - hst * nay ’ at time, apply Uon l ljniversit > r Council for recogniv, the case ot Pupils who att ®* lde< * a recognised school for thnt lC f S 5J? an t . hr . ee y ears « a certificate inat in the opinion of the headmaster with o d i miS j res ‘ s (after consultation with and endorsement by a secondary inspector), the candidate has (without question) reached the standard of the University Entrance examLV a ; 10 . n *2 the sub jects required by the statute, be accepted in lieu of a Uni\ersity Entrance examination. (4) That each Professorial Board be provided with a register of students sent forward as accredited by each school, and report annually to the Uni.versity Council upon the general perTor mane e of candidates from each school. (5) That if, in the opinion of the Professorial Board, accrediting by any school has proved unsatisfactory, the University Council may denrive the schooi of its right to accredit. (6) That the University Entrance exap^inatipn be contined for candidates other than thqse who have been accredited. CONFERENCE TO BE HELD The committee has obtained the necessary information from the department and colleges, and has decided that accrediting will not fcre introduced this year, but that a conference of representatives of the University, the department, and the secondary schools, shall be held with the object of working out details and providing the necessary safeguards. The conference will be held probably in July, and its resolutions, after consideration by, the Entrance and Academic Boards, will be submitted for final decision to the University Council at its next meeting. Some misapprehension exists as to the principle of accrediting. It does not mean the complete abolition of examinations nor does it mean that the mere stroke of a pen by the principal of a secondary school is to be the sole qualification for an entrance to the University. During his secondary course a pupil will be examined at the end of each term by the head of the school. There are three terms in each year and the recorded results of the pupil in these term examinations and also his papers, will be available for scrutiny by the secondary inspector who endorses the certificate. What accrediting really means is that a weighed and deliberate estimate of each pupil’s progress and attainment during the whole three or four years of his secondary course will be accepted in lieu of the present single ex-, animation at the end of the final year of the school course.

The principle of accrediting was adopted years ago by the Education Depiirtment in granting junior and senior free place certificates. An enormous amount of examining has been saved, and all agree the system has worked well.

It is generally admitted that schools and the public have come to look upon the matriculation examination as a school examination. As a result the University has b6en called upon to examine about 5,000 candidates

a year, and in this examination to handle and mark nearly 40,000 scripts. Secondary schools have been limited seriously in their freedom to adapt their courses to the natural aptitudes of their pupils. If the accrediting scheme Is introduced, it is expected it will reduce the number sitting for the examination, not only by those who are accredited, but by those who will then realise that adequate preparation is necessary. The University Commission reported that a general system of accrediting could not safely be instituted in New Zealand until there were more inspectors of secondary schools, and the University has brought this vital question under the attention of the Minister of Education, the Hon. H. Atmore.V