27

E.~ -7A

Such a Schools Board has been operative within the Melbourne University since 1911, and similar Boards have been instituted in other Australian universities. Under the regulations of the Melbourne University,— " The Board shall consider all questions relating to school studies, the inspection and examination of schools and public examinations, and shall advise the Council upon all such questions. " The Board may consider questions relating to the conditions for matriculation and for admission to courses for degrees or diplomas, and shall transmit its recommendations under this section to the Professorial Board. " The Board shall prescribe annually all books and details of subjects for the public examinations, and shall transmit its resolutions under this section to the Council and to the Professorial Board. " The Board shall report to the Council on all applications for appointment as examiner in the public examinations. " The Board shall from time to time recommend for appointment by the Council the names of persons whom it considers suitable to act as Inspectors or Examiners of Schools, and from those so appointed the Board shall choose persons to conduct such inspections or examinations as it thinks fit. " The Board shall, subject to the Council, exercise a general control over the conduct of all public examinations and school inspections and examinations." It is further provided that there shall be a number of Standing Committees of the Schools Board, which shall deal with special subjects or groups of subjects : — " Each Committee shall consist of persons who may or may not be members of the Schools Board, chosen on account of expert knowledge in the particular branch of educational work." I'll esc Standing Committees, we are informed, have exercised an important and most beneficial influence in minimizing the difficulties incidental to an efficient system of external examinations as a test of school work. The duties of a Standing Committee are, — " (a.) To take into consideration early in the third term and report upon the courses of study for the school intermediate and leaving certificates, and upon the details of subjects for the public examinations of the next year but one. " (b.) To report annually to the Schools Board on the public examinations last held. The report should be made early in the first term, and should deal mainly with matters of general educational importance arising out of the examinations and with any special features or defects in curriculum, teaching, or examination that require attention. " (c.) Generally to advise the Schools Board, and to consider and report upon any matters referred to it by the Schools Board." The Schools Board has been an important factor in bringing about improvement in the courses of study followed in secondary schools in Victoria, and in the general organization of these schools. The Board has from time to time issued time-tables and syllabuses, but these are " neither prescriptive nor mandatory : they are suggestive only." But, after all, even with a representative Schools Board watching over the examinations, the evils of an external examination are in some subjects as evident in a secondary school as in a university. In this connection the report of the University Commission, South Africa, contains some excellent advice : "In many respects the influence of external examinations exercises a not less prejudicial effect on the methods of schools than on those of colleges. The work of both teachers and pupils appears to be better tested and controlled by judicious inspection than by uniform examinations conducted ab extra, sometimes by examiners with little practical experience of the conditions of such work. The function of the university is to maintain an adequate standard of admission, to satisfy itself that the students whom it admits shall be capable of profiting by its teaching. Should such a level

Example Of Melbourne University-.

External examinations have many defects.