90 



NATURE 



[July 12, 1910 



T' 



factory in this respect, and to carry this property with it 

 into some of its alloys. 



The third volume of the same Journal more than main- 

 tains the character of the earlier volume ; this applies 

 particularly to such papers as those of Bengough and Hill 

 on copper-arsenic alloys, and of Hudson and Law on the 

 phosphor-bronzes, together with the discussions on these 

 papers. Such work must prove of great importance to the 

 advancement of the technology of whole classes of important 

 alloys. 



Taken as a whole, the young Institute of Metals 

 may well be proud of the present volumes, although 

 we may hope that greater experience on the part of the 

 editor and of the publication committee will lead to a more 

 satisfactory apportionment of space. The illustrations 

 throughout have been reproduced in a very satisfactory 

 manner, and this applies also to the frontispiece, an excel- 

 lent likeness of the first president, .Sir William H. White, 

 although the portrait of the second president (Sir G. Muntz) 

 is" not nearly so satisfactory. 



THE ASSOCIATION OF TECHNICAL 

 INSTITUTIONS. 



Examinations for Evening Students. 



"HE summer meeting of the Association of Technical 

 Institutions was held in Manchester last week. The 

 question of examinations for evening students formed the 

 basis of the discussion at the morning meeting on July 15, 

 when Sir William Mather took the chair. At the present 

 time examinations are held by the Board of Education in 

 science subjects by the City and Guilds in technological 

 subjects, and the Society of Arts in literary and fommercial 

 subjecfs. The London Chamber of Commerce also holds 

 examinations which overlap both those of the Board of 

 Education and the Society of Arts — especially the latter — 

 and there are many other smaller examining bodies. 



The Board of Education has for many years held 

 examinations in mathematics, engineering, and building 

 subjects, and in most of the sciences. Each examination 

 is conducted by examiners appointed directly by the Board, 

 and the examinations in each subject are independent, or 

 nearly independent, of those in any other subject. The 

 examiners have no official connection (and in most cases no 

 "connection of any kind) with those responsible for instruc- 

 tion in the subjects ; and even those on the staff of the 

 Board who come into contact with the teachers and the 

 students— namely, the inspectors — are not systematically 

 consulted, if they are consulted at all. Thus, although the 

 examinations in any given subject may be excellent, and 

 have been valuable in developing a higher standard of work 

 throughout the country, it was the unanimous opinion of 

 those present at the meeting that they are capable of great 

 improvement. 



Of late years most technical institutions have endeavoured 

 to develop organised courses of instruction in connection 

 with the important industries, engineering, textiles, build- 

 ing, chemical, &c. For these courses it is desirable that 

 the syllabus in the individual subjects shall be modified to 

 suit the particular course. 



So far are the Board of Education examinations in many 

 directions out of sympathy with the work that some 

 speakers at the conference were doubtful whether the Board 

 of Education was the best authority for conducting the 

 examinations ; but the ineeting as a whole considered 

 it desirable that the advanced work should be con- 

 trolled by some national examining board in order that 

 there should be a uniformity of standard, and thus the 

 certificates obtained should have a common value ; but it 

 was felt that the examinations must be' brought more 

 closely into touch with the teaching, and it was resolved : — 



" That it be repreeenjted to the controlling authorities of 

 the examinations taken by evening students in technical 

 institutions that it is desirable, for the encouragement of 

 systematic courses of instruction and to bring the examina- 

 tions into closer correlation with technical teaching, that 

 the examining authorities should constitute advisorv boards 

 upon which representatives of teaching institutions (includ- 

 ing tea.hers) and of technical and commercial interests 

 should >it. 



" That it be the function of such advisory boards to 

 receive and consider the views of persons directly concerned 

 in technical and commercial education, as to examination 

 subjects, syllabuses, and methods of conducting examina- 

 tions ; and to advise the respective examination authorities 

 thereon." 



An examination has a two-f^ld object — lo test knowledge 

 and to grant a certificate — and the two are to some extent 

 antagonistic ; the first, enabling the student and his teacher 

 to judge of his progress, is probably best attained if the 

 teacher himself conducts the examination. A certificate, 

 however, granted on the examination of an individual 

 teacher, can have no public value, and can only become 

 valuable to the extent to which it attains uniformity. In 

 the earlier stages of instruction the former object is of the 

 greater importance, and therefore in the earlier stages it 

 is probably desirable that the examinations shall be con- 

 ducted by the teachers. In the latter stages it is more 

 important that the certificates shall have a uniform value, 

 and therefore in these stages it is desirable that the 

 (■xaminations shall be conducted by a national body. Also, 

 in the higher stages, the number of candidates who would 

 be sitting for the examination in any given centre would be 

 comparatively small, and the cost of a separate examina- 

 tion for individual schools in these subjects would be 

 prohibitive except in the very large centres ; so that, even 

 if it were desirable that the examinations for the higher 

 work should be conducted by the teachers, the financial 

 burden would be too great in most cases. Thus the 

 following resolutions were adopted : — 



" That this association is of opinion that, in the interests 

 of technical education, it is essential that the Board of 

 Education or other national authority shall continue to 

 conduct examinations above Stage i Board of Education, 

 and Preliminary Grade City and Guilds." 



" That examinations of an eleinentary character {e.g. 

 Stage I Board of Education, Preliminary Grade City and 

 Guilds, Elementary Stage Society of .Arts) should, in the 

 main, be conducted by provincial boards, local education 

 authorities, or the governing bodies of the institutions ; 

 but that, pending the re-modelling of the examination 

 system, the present examining boards should continue to 

 hold these examinations." 



Even with the establishment of advisory boards there 

 would still remain fhe evils arising from the overlapping 

 and duplication of the examinations. At the present time 

 the examinations of evening students begin in .April and 

 last well into July, thus destroying the value of the last 

 part of the session for teaching purposes. So long as 

 examining bodies endeavour to arrange that any student 

 may take any subject, it is obvious that the examinations 

 will have to spread over a large period of time. With the 

 establishment of the course system, it will be possible to a 

 large extent to determine beforehand those subjects which 

 a given student will require to be examined in, and thus to 

 concentrate the examinations upon a much smaller number 

 of evenings. So strongly was it felt that the whole system 

 requires a very drastic reform that it was unanimously 

 resolved to ask the Board of Education to appoint a com- 

 mittee to inquire into the working of the present examina- 

 tion svstems, including science, technology, and commerce. 



Trade Sclwols and Trade Preparatory Schools. 



.At the afternoon meeting, a report prepared by the 

 council of the association on the above subject was dis- 

 cussed. The report includes accounts furnished by the 

 organisers of many of the schools which have recently 

 been established in various .parts of the country. 



It is pointed out that there are two very distinct types of 

 school with entirely different aims ; one, which in the report 

 is termed, for want of better title. Trade Preparatory 

 School, may be considered a form of secondary school in 

 which the ordinary education is continued, but with a very 

 distinct bias on the technical side. It is assumed that the 

 majority of the boys, though not all necessarily, attending 

 such a school will afterwards be engaged in some trade. 

 The schools differ froin the ordinarv secondary schools in 

 the large amount of time devoted to various forms of 

 manual instruction. As a rule, the curriculum includes 

 English, mathematics, one language, drawing — both free- 

 hand and model — science, and workshop practice in wood 



NO. 212' 



VOL. 



84] 



