ON GEOGRAPHY TEACHING. 299 



Geography Teaching.— Report of Committee (Prof. T. P. Nuxx, Chair- 

 man ; Mr. W. H. Barker, Secretary ; Mr. L. Brooks, Prof. H. J. 

 Fleure, Mr. O. J. R. Howarth, Mr. J. McFablane, Sir H. J. 

 Mackixder, Prof. J. L. Myres, Dr. Marion Newbigin, Mr. A. G. 

 Ootlvie, Mr. A. Stevens, and Prof. J. F. Unstead, /rom Section E ; 

 Mr. D. Berridge, Mr. C. E. Browne, Sir R. Gregory, Mr. E. R. 

 Thomas, Miss 0. Wright, front Section L) op pointed to formulate sug- 

 gestions for a syllabus for the teaching of Geography both to Matricu- 

 lation Standard and in Advanced Courses ; to report upon the present 

 position of the geographical training of teachers, and to make recom- 

 mendations thereon ; and to report, as occasion arises, to Council through 

 the Organising Committee of Section E, upon the practical working of 

 Regulations issued by the Board of Education and by the Scottish 

 Education Department affecting the position of Geography in Training 

 Colleges and Secondary Schools. 



The Report consists primarily of a statement prepared by the Scottish members 

 of the Committee on the position of geography in the schools of Scotland. The 

 syllabuses and regulations governing the subject in England remain substantially as 

 given in a previous report. The Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board 

 has the whole question of the status of geography under consideration. 



In the Oxford Local Examinations the syllabus in the School Certificate Examina- 

 tion of 1927 differs from the corresponding syllabus for 1926 only in one important 

 particular, viz. : in the omission of common Map Projections. The Delegates have 

 come to the conclusion as a result of the 1926 and previous Examinations that it is 

 inadvisable to expect a knowledge of Map Projections from candidates of about 

 sixteen years of age. The Delegates have also endeavoured, while giving adequate 

 choice to all candidates, to limit the range of the Regional Geography. Examiners 

 and many teachers had come to the conclusion that some limitation was essential. 

 For 1927 and future years the Higher School Certificate syllabus has been enlarged 

 by the inclusion of a practical paper in response to a recommendation received from 

 a number of geographers and teachers of geography in schools. 



In the Cambridge Local Examinations no change is contemplated in Geography 

 Syllabus in the School Certificate Examinations ; in the Higher School Certificate 

 Examination the Syndicate have decided, on the recommendation of the investigators, 

 to introduce a new paper on the geography of France and Germany, which may be 

 taken as a subsidiary subject. A list of books will be printed for the guidance of 

 teacher and candidates, and some of these books will be in French and German. It 

 is thought that such a subsidiary subject will appeal to Group II candidates taking 

 French or German, and possibly also to candidates taking History. 



The University of Durham School Examinations Board have made certain 

 modifications in the Syllabus, the subject counting in strict parity with the other 

 subjects of Group C (Science and Mathematics). 



The Report of the Scottish members is attached. 



Beport by Dr. M. I. Xewt/igin and Messrs. J. McFarlane, A. G. Ogilvie, and A. Stevens, 

 Scottish Members of the Committee. 



Leeds, September 1927. 



The Scottish members of the Committee wish to report as follows upon the 

 present position of Geography as a subject of higher stud}' in Scottish schools. 



Geography was recognised in the school curriculum by the Scottish Education 

 Department as a subject for the Higher Grade Leaving Certificate in 1914. New 

 regulations were promulgated in 1924, retaining the subject, but resulting in the 

 discouragement of its study. 



In Scottish schools the leaving certificate (Group Leaving Certificate) is awarded 

 by the Scottish Education Department as evidence of the satisfactory completion of 

 a • Secondary Course.' The award is made on the basis of teachers' estimates checked 

 by official examinations, and the certificate covers a number of subjects. The 



