TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 845 
4. Discussion on School-leaving Certificates. 
Opened by the Rev. Canon G. C. Brtx, JA. 
The multiplicity of preliminary examinations either held by the various pro- 
fessional councils, or recognised by them as guaranteeing a sufficiently high 
standard of general education to enable candidates to begin professional training, 
led to a conference of all parties concerned, and ultimately to the proposals of the 
Board of Education. The want of uniformity in curricula and in details of indi- 
vidual subjects demanded by the various examining bodies causes the greatest 
possible disorganisation in a class or form in which, perhaps, several pupils are 
being prepared for different examinations of similar general standard, but varying 
greatly in detail. 
English schools have gradually become entangled in the coils of an incredibly 
complex system of examinations; such bodies as the Oxford and Cambridge 
Joint University Board and the Local Examinations Board have endeavoured to 
adapt their examinations to the needs and convenience of the schools, but have 
not completely remedied the disadvantages of the present system, in that they 
have not succeeded in getting into touch and sympathy with the teachers and 
their pupils. 
Uniform regulations for different types of schools tend to mould unwisely 
the curricula and methods of teaching. The new proposals aim at combining 
freedom with a scientific co-ordination of various types and stages of education. 
Government aid was, until 1902, given exclusively to ‘schools of science,’ but 
since that date grants have been given to ‘ Division B’ schools, in which much 
less time is devoted to scientific subjects. 
The Consultative Committee recognises that it would be an evil for the State 
to become solely responsible for examinations of school-leaving type, and recom- 
mends that considerable freedom should be allowed to schools in choosing their 
examinations, which, however, in every case are to be subject to the influence of 
the University and the teaching staff of the school. 
Effective means of co-ordinating the examination with the teaching are pro- 
vided by the following proposals :— 
(1) Schools presenting pupils for certificates will previously be inspected, and 
reported upon to the examining body, which can then adapt its examination to 
the special aims and character of the school. 
(2) The examination will be conjointly conducted by representatives of the 
examining body and of the teaching staff. 
The proposals are issued tentatively, in order to obtain by the end of the present 
year an expression of opinion as to their feasibility ; it is hoped that such opinion 
will not be so negative as to induce the Board of Education to abstain from 
action. 
Sir A. Riicker said that the subject was rather inconvenient for discussion, 
because the Board of Education had only just submitted the proposals of the Con- 
sultative Committee to the authorities concerned, and their views had not yet been 
pronounced. He must speak for himself, and not for the University of London, 
which for two years had been carrying out a scheme similar to that now pro- 
pounded by the Consultative Committee. There could be no doubt as to the 
immense importance of the proposed reform in its general character. The multi- 
plication of examinations of the same standard was indefensible. The University 
had abandoned the name of school-leaving examinations, because it made the 
parent suppose that the examination implied the desirability of the child leavin 
school at once. There was every desire to keep in close working contact with the 
schools, and though in the ordinary Matriculation Examination it was impossible 
to carry out a practical examination, such a feature was now introduced into 
school examinations for matriculation. His main feeling in regard to the scheme 
of the Board of Education was one of great disappointment, because the Consul- 
tative Committee had not really faced the difficulties of the situation. It was 
easy to draw up a scheme which would work well if we were starting aé initio. 
