EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22911, 19 June 1936, Page 11

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

PRIMARY SCHOOL SYSTEM PROFICIENCY EXAMINATION CONDEMNED Strong condemnation of the proficiency examination and of the value attached to it by employers and by parents was expressed by the headmasters of several of the leading Dunedin primary schools at a meeting of the Vocational Guidance Association last evening. At a previous meeting Mr A. Hanna, headmaster of the Kensington School, had asked the vocational guidance officer (Mr T. Conly) what value the employer attached to the competency certificate, and was informed that, unfortunately, it was quite disregarded. Prompted by this information, Mr Hanna and several of his colleagues addressed last night’s meeting on the aims of primary education generally, and, in particular, of the proficiency certificate system.

WRONG IMPORTANCE ATTACHED Mr Hanna, opening the discussion, said that the generally-accepted criterion' of a successful primary school education was the proficiency certificate. In recent years the attention of the child had been directed more and more to this goal, with tlie result that more concentration was given to the subjects necessary for the examination. A large section of the public looked on a child as a failure if it failed to secure it<j proficiency. In roalitv, the competency certificate was regarded aa evidence that a child had satisfied the requirements of the primary school syllabus. Yet it was found that this qualification was not recognised by the employer. The _ proficiency examination had gained an importance out of all proportion. It had to be admitted, however. that it had not been over-difficult of attainment, and too many got it. The value of the proficiency certificate' was that it was a test of special qualifications. Was it fair that the child’s standard should be judged on the result of one day’s examination? Certainly there was an accrediting system, and those who were passed were not required to sit the examination.. He would ask employers how much they remembered of their proficiency examination, and whether or not they had passed it easily. Also, it would be interesting to find what proportion of those who had been clever at schools had continued to lead their fellows in after years. They had every reason to believe, however, that before long the proficiency system would he abolished, ho concluded, and that then the minority who failed annually and who, probably, developed inferiority complexes, would have an opportunity to show their own special qualifications on equal terms. At present the education system aimed in reality, not so much at a preparation for life, but at a preparation of qualifications for employment. He believed there were obligations devolving on teachers ami on employers to co-operate with the young people in bringing to them a wider realisation of life. He felt strongly that it was absurd to bar a boy or girl froni employment simply because he or she did not have the proficiency certificate. "NO VALUE AT ALL"

Mr D. Forsyth, headmaster of Port Chalmers Special School, said he would go further than the previous speaker and contend that the proficiency certificate was of no value at all. This was not merely his own idea, but the conclusion drawn by an important committee of educational authorities in England after exhaustive research work. In one instance, examiners had been given identical nets of papers to mark and results had been astounding. Even when the examiners w e re working to a detailed scheme there was a very great difference in the seal? of markings. It could not be said that the same conditions did not apply to Now Zealand, for an experiment carried out some years ago showed even more appalling results. The speaker then proceeded to point out the very small differences between the proficiency and competency certificates. The issue might easily depend on the result of a five minutes' rending from a book. In conclusion ho said that all life was education, and the teachers were trying to guide the children through a certain stage of that education. They wanted to teach the child how to learn, and he ventured to suggest that eventually the children so educated would be of greater value to employers. There was a tendency to make things too easy for thfe modern child, ami the teacher had to endeavour to get the pupils to face up to life. It was wrong to pamper them till the age of 14 and then turn them unprepared on a hard and heartless world. The school teacher to-day wanted to get into touch with the business world and to exchange points of view with the men in it. He thanked the association for the opportunity afforded him that night.

PLACE OF INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS

Mr \V. A. Sprout, headmaster ot the Dunedin North Intermediate School, said he did not know of a headmaster who would not welcome the day that the proficiency examination was abolished. From his own experience of the intermediate schools ho could say that they had a great future before them, and they would begin to realise this when the bonds imposed by the present system were removed. When the schools were equipped for manual and craft work many boys and girls would he afforded the opportunity they were entitled to, but were at present denied because they were not of an academic turn of mind, As long as the teachers encouraged the pupil to develop his or her character they were doing something which was of incalculable value. It was unfortunate tl)at the depression had hindered investigation into the possibilities of the intermediate schools, but lie believed that this would soon receive attention.

Mr L, Deadstock, headmaster of the High Street School, supported the remarks of the previous speakers. In reply to a remark that a child who did not pass must ho unintelligent, Mr Hanna said that the proficiency was a test of temperament rather than n test of ability. So much emphasis was laid uiiou it that when the day for the examination arrived a child was in a highlynervous condition, and not able to do itself justice. Mr F. W. Mitchell said that years ago he had heard the remark of Oliver Wendell Holmes that capacity to pass competitive examinations was evidence of ineompeteney to pas« anything else. He was very pleased to hear the speakers, men of practical experience, so completely in accord in hearing out this statement. STRONG CONDEMNATION

Mr W. G. Aldridge, principal of the Dunedin Technical College, said that onethjrd of the children who attended schools in Dunedin passed through the Technical College. In his position he naturally heard a great deal from employers about the proficiency examination. With all the primary school headmaster,* had said op the subject ho was entirely in agreement. In fact, ho considered they had greatly understated the ease. What he had against, the system, he said, was that it was such a rotten, inefficient means of sorting. So far as the employer was concerned, some definitely demanded an applicant should have the certificate, and some did not. Many had found it a very convenient fend-off and the parent got the impression (hat the lack of the certificate caused the loss of a position. Tie got the impression that, the more careful a business house should be in the selection of applicants!, the less careful it actually was. fie instanced the low standard stipulated for many years by the Post Office and Railways Departments. Concluding the debate, the president of the association fMr J. L. Salmond) thanked the speakers for their addresses. They had, he said, given the members some matter which should be highly provocative of thought.