EXAMINATIONS

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 41, 16 February 1918, Page 9

EXAMINATIONS

EVILS OP MULTIPLICITY.

Yesterday the following committee recommendations were considered by the Council of Education:—

..- 1. That the evils arising from the multiplicity of examinations are due more to the number of examinations taken by the individual candidate than to the actual number of examinations conducted. It is the former, therefore, on which a strict limit should be put.

(Partial success in a higher examination might carry with it a certificate of lower rank.) -

2. That a distinction should; be made between- "qualifying" examinations and competitive examinations, and the same papers should not be used for both, or if the same papers are used, additional and alternative questions should be set for competitive candidates.

3. That qualifying examinations should be almost entirely replaced by the- system of accrediting. ,

■ 4. Matriculation; examination might be used for all the" subjects of the D certificate except a few professional or semiprofessional subjects, e.g., method* of teaching, reading, writing, drawing, needlework,, handwork. 5. Similarly with the C and B certificates, for which some adjwtment as to fees would be necessary. But accrediting by the training colleges should take; the place of examination, especially in professional subjects. '

6. The Public Service Senior Examination should not be abandonedl; the matriculation examination is in no sense a substitute for it. :. It should 1 consist of a paper in precis-writing and correspondence, to be ta&en by all candidate*, and of one or two professional subjects, in which university and other professional examinations should be used as fan as possible. 7. That tE«?e ho only one final examination for Standard VI. pupils. 8. That in lieu of the usual practical certificate in a science subject required of a. candidate sitting for the Claes C examination the director may accept a satisfactory paper or thesis showing the result of research in connection .with the subject.—The report was adopted.