640 ON THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS. 



total presentations in Geography are now actually more numerous than they were 

 under the old conditions. 



Some further particulars under this head may be of interest to the Committee. 



(1) The number of schools conducted under the Secondary Schools (Scotland) 

 Regidations which have courses including five and four years of Geography 

 study beyond the Primary stage is 36 and 7 respectively. In addition there 

 are 35 schools which prepare candidates for the Leaving Certificate Examina- 

 tion in Geography in combination with another Science at the end of a course 

 extending as a rule to five or six years. The remaining 174 schools under 

 the Secondary Schools (Scotland) Regulations include in their curriculum a 

 course of three years study of Geography. Two himdred and twenty of the 

 schools under the Secondary Schools (Scotland) Regulations present candidates 

 for the Day School Certificate (Higher) ; in addition there are 169 other schools 

 which present for that Certificate. The number of schools which present 

 candidates in English, including Geography as an obligatory subject, is 

 already 50 in excess of the number examined in 1924 for the Intermediate 

 Certificate. 



(2) The total average enrolment of post-primary pupils in schools conducted 

 under the Secondary Schools (Scotland) Regulations in 1926-27 was 80,506. 

 Of these 66,399 (or 82-5 per cent.) were enrolled in the first three years of the 

 secondary course, in which the study of Geography is universal. If the 

 average enrolment of classes in which Geography is studied in the fourth, fifth 

 and sixth years is added, the result would be an appreciable raising of the 

 percentage. 



(3) The number of pupils presented in Geography and Science combinations on 

 the Higher grade in 1927 was 62 ; in 1928 it was 75. At the lower stage the 

 number of presentations in Geography increased from 76 in 1927 to 127 in 

 1928. These figures indicate a growing appreciation of the new arrangements. 



5. It should be added that the Department have not confined themselves to a 

 statistical watchfulness in this matter. H.M. Inspectors are required to report 

 periodically not only upon the instruction in individual schools, but also upon the 

 general position of the various subjects throughout the country. In this respect 

 Geography has had its full share of attention. The reports indicate that the instruc- 

 tion in Geography is sound and thorough ; that the system of presentation in the 

 Geography-Science combination has made a very promising beginning ; that at the 

 lower stage of presentation in Geography- Science the work is good and well beyond 

 the old intermediate standard ; and that the subject of Geography has received a 

 marked stimulus in the Secondary Schools. 



6. The Committee state that approval of courses ' is presumably in the hands 

 of Inspectors wliose University traimng has not included Geography, and whose 

 sympathies consequently tend to favour other sciences.' The presumption is ground- 

 less. The approval of courses lies with the Department ; and, while the conditions 

 governing the framing of courses and the subjects of presentation are now very elastic, 

 expert and sympathetic consideration is given to each subject included in every scheme 

 submitted by the schools as a genuine contribution towards a sound course of 

 instruction. 



7. The Department note the Committee's reference to the regulations of the 

 Scottish Universities Entrance Board of February 1927, but they would point out 

 that whereas under these regulations a pass in Science could not be coiuited as a 

 Higher pass unless it included Physics, a pass in a combination of Geography and 

 Natural Science will, under the more recent regulations, count as a Higher pass. 



In conclusion the Department, while thanldng the General Committee and the 

 Council for their commuiucation, the contents of which will certainly not be lost 

 sight of, would suggest that some further time should be allowed to elapse before a 

 definite judgment is passed on the effect of the recent changes so far as the position 

 of Geography is concerned. It is probably in the meanwhile inevitable that the 

 treatment of this, as of other individual subjects, may appear to be inadequate to 

 those who are specially interested in them, but who may not have a full opportunity 

 of appreciating the strength of competing claims or the magnitude of the task which 

 pupils have to face in the whole range of their school work. 



I have the honour to be, Sir, 

 The General Secretary, Your obedient Servant, 



British Association for the (sgd.) W. W. McKechnib. 



Advancement of Science. 



