624 TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION L. 



and invites all members of the Association to co-operate in discouraging pupils 

 from entering for them.' 



Possible Reforms. — Acting teachers should take part in the administrative 

 work of Examining Boards, as in the system of the Joint Matriculation Board of 

 the Northern Universities. 



Question of School Record. — The difficulty of using this in all competitivo 

 examinations. 



The following resolutions were carried at the Headmistresses' Conference of 

 1911 : ' That this Conference regrets the increasing difficulty of University 

 Scholarship Examinations for girls, and asks the principals of colleges for women 

 at the universities to give the matter their serious attention with a view to 

 lessening the strain of preparation and in examination.' ' That in Matriculation 

 examinations credit should be given for the School Board in compulsory sub- 

 jects in the case of pupils who have passed through a complete course of studies 

 for not less than four years in a school (a) inspected by the Board of Education, 

 and (6) periodically examined by a University Board of Examiners, (c) on 

 whose staff there is a certain proportion of registered teachers.' ' That this 

 Conference urges that it is of the greatest importance to the best type of general 

 education that (1) the co-operation of acting teachers should be recognised and 

 allowed in all school and matriculation examinations ; (2) schools should be 

 allowed and invited to present their own syllabuses for school examinations ; 

 (3) that in testing of science teaching inspection should be more prominent than 

 examination, and that the notebooks covering a definite and consecutive course of 

 work of the candidates should be taken into consideration in the awards of 

 examinations.' 



The importance of investigating possible reforms and securing a policy which 

 may be pressed on public opinion and on examining bodies. 



(iii) The Place of Examinations in Education. By Dr. T. P. Nunn. 



(iv) Examinations and Inspections. By Mrs. Jessie White, D.Sc. 



Jevons in 1877 defended the examination system, and said that examination 

 was the sheet-anchor to which we must look. In the primary schools the 

 relation of the school to the inspector has been changed by abolition of payment 

 by results. In secondary schools the examination system judges the school by 

 what it does for the best pupils, whereas inspection claims to consider the 

 weaker pupils. There was a vicious alternative involved in Jevons' answer to 

 the argument that the examination system curtailed the liberty of the teacher. 

 It is not the single teacher but the whole body of teachers in committee that 

 should frame the curriculum. This is not yet sufficiently recognised. The 

 externality of the curriculum to the teachers is reflected in the method of 

 inspection, and also the failure to recognise that the work of a school cannot 

 properly be gauged without an attempt to estimate the general standard of 

 attainment of the different classes. To do this inspection may require to be 

 supplemented by examination of a special kind. The three methods of inspec- 

 tion are hearing lessons, questioning the pupils, and examining the exercise 

 books. There are certain drawbacks connected with each. They require to sup- 

 plement each other, and certain popular fallacies with regard to inspection need 

 uprooting. There is need for a well-defined etiquette of inspection, and to be 

 of real value an inspection must include a joint meeting of the inspectors and 

 whole staff with a view to discussing the work and aims of the school. Such 

 a meeting would secure advantages to both inspectors and teachers, and the 

 necessity for taking part in such a meeting would frighten off from the 

 inspectorate those who were unsuitable. 



2. Report on Changes affecting Secondary Education. — See Reports, p. 234. 



