E —7a,

be maintained we are inclined to agree with the view that ' when the universities are prepared to leave secondary education to the schools, the schools will rise to the standard which the universities demand.' "* Such an opinion may be regarded as favourable to a system of accrediting, but it is worth while to consider whether the examinations themselves cannot be improved still further by taking into account the school record of the candidate as attested by his headmaster. The school examinations conducted by the Scottish Education Department for the intermediate certificate and the school leaving certificate, the latter of which is the accepted qualification for entrance to the Scottish universities, are conducted under this method. Mr. M. P. Hansen, Chief Inspector of Secondary Schools, Victoria, states in his Report upon the leaving certificate of the Scottish Education Department, " There is a necessary, close, and continuous connection between the Scottish Leaving-certificate Examination and the curriculum and general work of the school at which the candidate has attended ; in fact, the passing of the actual examination, if that were possible, without satisfying the pre-entry conditions would give no claim whatsoever to the award of the certificate. 'No leavingcertificate will be issued except on satisfactory evidence of the successful completion of the course as a whole.' Throughout the details of every subject, and practically in each paragraph of the regulations governing the conduct of examinations and the issue of certificates, the central idea is the well-trained pupil who has pursued an approved curriculum at an approved school for at least a prescribed minimum period. The passing of the Leaving-certificate Examination is a test of knowledge and capacity —-■an incident in a school career rather than the final aim and consummation of all the school work. Consequently the presentation of isolated subjects is much discouraged, and, even where this is permitted, there is no relaxation of the official rule : ' Only those pupils will be admitted to the examination who have been in regular attendance at the school at which, or in connection with which, they are examined from January to the date of the examination, and no certificate will be awarded and 110 pass recognized in the case of any pupil who does not continue in attendance until, the beginning of the summer vacation.' " '' Every school is required to submit its course of instruction to the Department, and reference to the details of subjects, especially in history and geography, Spanish and Italian, Gaelic, drawing, domestic science, music, and commercial subjects, shows how firm is the official control in this respect. In science and drawing, music, and domestic science, 110 written examinations are held, and candidates are examined orally and practically by the inspectors at the schools. The whole school work and records of each candidate are taken into account before a pass is awarded. Even in the subjects of written examination it is provided that, ' To assist the Department in coming to a decision, the headmaster will be asked to record his deliberate judgment on the merits of each pupil's work as a whole, that judgment to be based on a careful collation of the opinions of the various teachers.' Pupils are examined at their own schools, though the teachers have nothing to do with the papers or conduct of examination. It will thus be seen that there is a very real and intimate relation between the examination and the work of the school." Naturally, there is an immense amount of detailed organization in carrying out so elaborate a scheme of examination for about eighteen thousand candidates. After explaining at length the arrangements for marking the papers, Mr. Hansen concludes, " I was greatly impressed with the thoroughness with which all the details of conducting this examination are carried out, and the way in which the standards are maintained. A purely external written examination is, apart altogether from hampering the freedom of a school in developing courses and methods, an uncertain measure of the actual attainment of pupils even in those subjects best adapted to this method of testing. When to it are added the teacher's judgment of a candidate's work in each subject, the checking of this judgment by qualified and experienced inspectors, and the testing by inspectors of subjects uusuited for written examination, a greatly improved method of measuring attainments is secured. I did not, however, find in Scotland any marked tendency at the leaving certificate stage to substitute the verdict of the responsible teachers

Proposals to make external examinations more effective.

Details of Scottish 1 saving certificate.

* Union of South Africa Royal Commission 011 University Education, 1914, p. 5, sec. 17.

28