MATRICULATION

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 129, 5 June 1929, Page 13

MATRICULATION

ACCREDITING SYSTEM

N.Z. UNIVERSITY SCHEME

By direction of the Executive Committee of the New Zealand University Council the following statement has been supplied by tho Vice-Chancellor:—

At its last meeting, held in Dunedin in January, the Council of the University of New Zealand' considered the question of accrediting, and referred to the Executive Committeo the following scheme:—

(1) That the Executive Committee, with the advice of the Education Department and of the Professorial Boards of the four colleges, draw up a list of secondary schools which shall on application be recognised as qualified to accredit candidates for matriculation.

(2) That any school not placed in the official list may at any time apply to the. University Council for recognition. (3) That in the case of pupils who have attended a recognised school for not less than three years a certificate that in the opinion of the headmaster or headmistress (after consultation with and endorsement by a secondary school inspector) a candidate has (without question) reached the standard of the University Entrance Examination in the subjects required by the statute, be accepted in lieu of the University Entrance Examination.

(4) That each Professorial Board be provided with a register of students sent forward as accredited by each school and report annually to the University Council \upon the general performance of the candidates from each School. i ■■.'■:

(5) That if in the opinion qf a Professorial Board the accrediting by any school has proved unsatisfactory the University Council may deprive the school of its right to accredit. (6) 'That .the University Entrance Examination be continued for candidates other^than those who have been accredited. -.*

CONFERENCE TO BE HELD.

The committee has obtained the necessary information from the Department and: the colleges, and has decided that accrediting will nofc be introduced this year, but that a conference of representatives of the University, Department; _ and secondary schools shall be held with :the object of working out details and of providing the necessary safeguards. The conference will be held probably. in July, and its resolutions, after consideration by the Entrance and ■. Academic Boards, will be submitted for final decision to the University Council at its nest meeting. Some misaprehension exists as to the principle of accrediting. It ddes not mean the complete abolition of examinations, nor does it mean that the mere stroke of a j pen by; tho ; principal, of a secondary school is to be' the %ole quali; fication for entrance to the University. During hjs secondary course a pupil will be examined, at the end of each i;erm by the head ;l of his. school. 'There are three terms in: the year, and.'the recorded results, of the pupil, in these term examinations rand; also, his papers will be available if or, the scrutiny,;.of: the secondary inspector who : endorses the certificate. What accrediting really means is that a weighed and deliberate estimate of the-pupil's progress and attainment'during the whole''of a three or four years' secondary course will be accepted in lieu of the present single examination at the end of the final year of his school course. ; "

GREAT SAVING OF EFFORT.

The principle •of accrediting was adopted-years' ago by the Education Pepartment in., the granting of:junior and senior- fr¥e" plaqe^ certiflcatesi 7' Aiv enormous amount of examining has been saved, and all *: agree...-; that the 1 system has worked well. ■

It is generally /admitted that the schools and the public have come to look upon the matriculation, examination as a school-leaving examination. As a result,- the. University has been called upon to examine about 5000 candidates a year, and in this examination to handle and mark nearly 40,000 scripts, and the secondary schools have been seriously limited in their freedom to adapt their courses to the natural aptitudes of their pupils. '

If an accrediting scheme is introduced it is expected that it will reduce the number sitting for the examination not only by those who are accredited, but by those who will then realise that adequate preparation is necessary.

The University Commission reported that a general system of accrediting could not safely be instituted in New Zealand until there were more inspectors of -secondary schools, and the University has brought this vital matter under the attention-of the Minister of Education. :■;■■■. .■:/.'; ■:'• ■