Prognostic value of university entrance examinations in Scotland.

Date:
1934
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Prognostic value of university entrance examinations in Scotland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/140 (page 12)
    University entrance, or he may have failed in some of them. In the extreme case a candidate debarred from the written examina- tion by illness may nevertheless, on good cause being shown, be awarded a Leaving Certificate; but such a Leaving Certificate would not as a rule count for University entrance. It may be added that the Leaving Certificate is accepted for entrance by many other bodies besides the Scottish Universities Entrance Board, by some without conditions, by others with conditions as to passes in the written papers similar to those imposed by the Entrance Board. A full list of such bodies, 52 in all, will be found on pp. 113 to 115 of the Scottish Education Depart- ment’s Leaving Certificate Examination Papers, 1934. The Scottish Leaving Certificate differs from English School Certificates in several respects. (1) In England there are two School Certificates, the First and the Second; in Scotland there is only one. (2) The English First School Certificate may be obtained after four years of Secondary education; the Leaving Certificate requires at least five. (3) English School Certificates are awarded by bodies representing Universities; the Leaving Certificate is awarded by the Scottish Education Department. No doubt the Department may employ University teachers to assist in the work, but the whole responsibility rests with the Department, by whom also the whole cost is borne. Finally, the Leaving Certificate examination differs from other examina- tions of the kind in the weight which is given to teachers’ estimates. When a school submits its list of candidates, the principal teacher in each subject gives a percentage mark to every candidate in that subject, and the Head Teacher gives a letter mark for every candidate’s general attainments. When the written tests have been worked by the candidates and marked by the revisers, and the marks standardised by the Chief Examiners, the revisers’ marks are entered in columns parallel to the teachers’ estimates, and the forms then go to the visiting inspectors. A visiting inspector’s business is two- fold: (1) to examine those aspects of his subject which do not lend themselves to written tests, ¢.g. oral proficiency in languages, experimental laboratory work in science; (2) to iron out any discrepancy that has emerged between the teacher’s estimate and the reviser’s mark, and to decide which of them more nearly represents the candidate’s true form. The marks in all subjects are then assembled, and each candidate’s claim is assessed on his whole performance, doubtful cases being