ON SCIENCE IN SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS. 447 



to the examination of pupils in secondary schools. Questions concerning 

 jurisdiction and the appointment of the Boards of Assessors would present 

 obvious difficulties which it would be premature to discuss here. It need 

 only be pointed out that while the examinations might be, as in the case 

 of the scheme for technical schools, examinations for a National Certificate, 

 there might, on the other hand, be a variety of certificates issued as at 

 present upon the authority of the several universities or of joint boards 

 upon which the universities might be represented together with other 

 authorities. The only other matter that need be referred to is the 

 problem of the school which does not desire or is not competent to examine 

 its own pupils either in the curriculum as a whole or in a particular subject. 

 The solution would appear to be that such a school should be permitted 

 to take the.examination of another school chosen for that purpose by itself. 

 Not the least of the advantages of a scheme including this element would, 

 in fact, be that it would give means by which the influence of teachers of 

 outstanding ability or originality might be brought to bear upon their 

 less-accomplished colleagues. 



Under certain conditions the universities accept the First School 

 Certificate Examination as qualifying for entry to the university. A 

 certificate with ' Matriculation Exemption ' is accepted as qualifying for 

 several professional purposes. Some professional bodies accept the 

 School Certificate without special conditions. The endeavour should be 

 made to secure similar acceptance for the certificate awarded on the 

 internal examination under the proposed scheme. 



As regards the universities, it seems reasonable that they should accept 

 the School Certificate as evidence of general education, but might require 

 a special test for admission to a chosen Faculty, unless the Higher 

 Certificate has been obtained. 



Second School Examination. 



The position as regards the Higher Certificate differs essentially from 

 that of the School Certificate. 



In the year 1927, the number of successful candidates for the First 

 School Examination in England and Wales was 35,707 ; the number for 

 the Second Examination was 5,441. The number of candidates from any 

 particular school is small. The standard of the work for this Certificate 

 corresponds to the normal work of the university rather than to the normal 

 work of a secondary school. 



The standardisation of this examination for the award of State 

 Scholarships has become very important and it appears better that 

 universities or groups of universities should be the examining bodies 

 for such a purpose. We are of the opinion, therefore, that the Second 

 Approved Examination should remain an external examination so far as 

 the schools are concerned, and are of opinion that no fundamental change 

 is needed in the system with one exception. 



The weak side of the present examination appears to be its lack of 

 correlation with higher education in technology, agriculture, commerce, 

 art and music. It is hoped that the Committee on the Relation of 

 Education to Industry (Emmott Committee) may be able to give advice 

 which will help to bring about the desired broadening of the examination 



