 |  |
| www.dg.dial.pipex.com | 755 readers since 27 May 2007 |
| |
| www.dg.dial.pipex.com | 755 readers since 27 May 2007 |
Spens (1938) (page numbers in brackets) Notes on the text
|
The Spens Report (1938)
Secondary education with special reference to grammar schools and technical high schools London: HM Stationery Office [page 254] 1. The history of the School Certificate Examination as now organised and conducted by the various examining bodies may be said to begin in 1912, when the Board of Education, after considering our Report on Examinations in Secondary Schools (1), addressed a letter to the Universities inviting them to confer on the scheme of examination which the Board had prepared as a basis of discussion. Subsequently, in Circular 849 the Board invited criticism of these proposals from local education authorities and other bodies and persons responsible for the management of Secondary (Grammar) Schools or interested from various points of view in the question of school examination. The Board also consulted a number of professional bodies with regard to the acceptance of certificates for the purpose of entry into the professions. From Circular 849 and subsequent circulars it is possible to learn the principal objectives of the Board's proposals, and the character of the examination which they contemplated. Among the former was a desire to limit the number of examinations which might be taken by pupils in secondary (grammar) schools. It will not be disputed that this end has been secured by the establishment of the 'First' or School Certificate Examination intended for pupils about the age of 16. 'Even its critics', it was stated in evidence, 'will agree that it has served a very useful purpose in freeing the Secondary Schools from the nightmare of a multiplicity of external examinations.' The simultaneous recognition of the 'Second' or Higher Certificate examination, intended for pupils about the age of 18, further clarified the position by removing the temptation to try to provide in one examination for two different classes of candidates. Further, it was proposed that the Universities should be recognised as the responsible bodies through whom the examinations in Secondary Schools should normally be conducted, and that in order to secure the necessary equality of standard and to provide machinery for enabling the scheme to be improved from time to time the Board of Education should perform the function of a coordinating authority with the help of an Advisory Committee containing representatives (1) Report of The Consultative Committee on Examinations in Secondary Schools Cd. 6004 (1911). [page 255] of the Universities and of local education authorities. This Advisory Committee was established in 1917 and designated the Secondary School Examinations Council. It was a further point in the Board's proposals that the School Certificate Examination should not have the entirely external character which belonged to former examinations, and 'that teachers should be brought into touch with the Examining Bodies by some system of representation or consultation; by the right to submit their own syllabuses for examination; and by a provision that Head Masters and Head Mistresses should submit their estimate of the merits of candidates from their schools in each of the subjects for examination.' (1) The School Certificate Examination, according to Circular 849, was to test the results of the course of general education before the pupil began such a degree of specialisation as was suitable for a Secondary School. The form and not the pupil was to be the unit for examination, and it was contemplated that a large proportion of the pupils in the form should be able to satisfy the test. The examination would be suitable for forms in which the average age of the pupils ranged from about 16 years to, say, 16 years 8 months. It is clear, to quote the report of the Panel of Investigators, appointed by the Secondary School Examinations Council in 1931, that 'the primary purpose of the examination was to provide a suitable test of the ordinary work of a secondary school at the fifth form stage, suitable in the sense that whole forms, and not only picked pupils, would probably be presented for it, with the expectation that a large proportion would pass (what proportion was never stated), and that without special preparation or undue disturbance of the normal work of the form.' The initial proposals treated the subjects for examination as falling into three main groups: (i) English subjects, (ii) Foreign Languages, (iii) Science and Mathematics; and a candidate in order to obtain a Certificate would be expected to show a reasonable standard of attainment in each of these groups and would be judged by this test rather than by his power to pass in a prescribed number of specified subjects. In addition to these three main groups of subjects, there was a fourth group including Music, Drawing, Manual Work and Housecraft, in which it was not proposed to require candidates to be tested, though every facility would be given to examining (1) Board of Education: Circular 933, December 1915. [page 256] bodies to offer examination in any subject in this category; nor was success in these subjects to be considered in the award of Certificates. The reason for the discrimination between these subjects and those in the other three groups was not any assumed inferiority in their educational value, but the fact that they were not, in the same way as the others, capable of being tested by written examination, and. the apprehension lest 'harm might be done to them at this early stage of their existence in Secondary Schools by bringing them prematurely into the sphere of examination.' (1) Subsequently, in consequence of the criticism raised by their original proposal, the Board agreed that provision should be made for giving these subjects a fair place in the scheme, and success was permitted to count towards the attainment of a Certificate. 2. It cannot be disputed that the School Certificate Examination has in fact performed important services for the education provided by Grammar Schools. During the past 20 years it has been one factor in raising the general standard of attainment in the ordinary school subjects to a level which could hardly have been reached without the incentive offered by the prospect of success in a public examination. The Certificate Examination has also been a powerful preventive of narrow specialisation during the period of school life which ends about the age of 16. With the passing of time, however, and the increased importance attached to the examination as shown by the numbers presented for it, (2) the character of the examination and its influence upon the education of the Grammar School have been the object of much criticism both from inside and outside the teaching profession, and it has been widely felt that the examination is affecting, and often adversely, not only courses of study and methods of instruction but also the physical health and mental outlook of children in ways which were certainly never contemplated by those who framed the original regulations. Having regard to the evidence which has been presented to us, we believe that this criticism contains much substance; and we hold that in several important respects the influence of the examination and the process of preparation for it are inimical at present to the healthy growth in mind and body of a large number of children who pass through the Grammar School. (1) Circular 933.
(2) See Chapter II, Table 11, p. 100 [page 257] 3. It is a point of much significance that at the time of the inception of the School Certificate Examination it was regarded as 'a cardinal principle that the examination should follow the curriculum and not determine it.' (1) We cannot fail, however, to note the many indications that in practice this principle has been reversed. Our witnesses, as we have stated already, almost unanimously held that the School Certificate Examination controls the curriculum, and we cannot avoid the conclusion that the requirements of the examination have put a heavy premium on certain subjects to the detriment of others, and have compelled schools, in the interest of pupils desiring to obtain the Certificate, to teach certain subjects to all pupils throughout their course, even when they might be deriving greater benefit from taking alternative subjects or from taking fewer subjects to a higher level. 4. In a previous chapter we spoke of easing the burden that the schools are at present called upon to bear, and we believe that this burden, conceived in terms of pressure placed upon individual children, is often wholly excessive. One of our witnesses spoke of 'that feature of secondary education (2) which causes the gravest alarm at the present moment among those who are closely in touch with young people - the tendency of secondary education to overwork and overstrain the adolescent pupil'. Another witness found the 'chief cause of this overpressure in the new examination system', adding that 'those who know schools from the inside are only too familiar with the sense of rush, hurry and overstrain'. It may be that the nervousness of children due to this, their first public examination, is sometimes aggravated by the anxiety not only of parents but of teachers. No doubt, the better the school the more likely will be its pupils as a whole to face this as other tests with equanimity. But we believe that the demands of the examination, as at present constituted, the rigour of the preparation for it and the importance attached to the certificate by employers are such, taken in conjunction, as often to cause overstrain and excessive anxiety even when children are receiving the wisest guidance at school. An additional factor (1) Circular 1034, March 1918.
(2) i.e. grammar school education. [page 258] is that in certain cases the possibility or degree of financial help for further education depends on the result of the examination. 5. A dominant cause, however, of the pressure exercised by the preparation for the Certificate Examination is the fact that the examination has been used at the same time for two distinct purposes - to test the results of the first stage of the education provided by Grammar Schools, and also to enable the pupils of those schools to obtain a certificate acceptable for the purpose of matriculation. Circular 849, expressing the original conception of the examination, stated that, if the examination were conducted on the principles of easy papers and a high standard of marking, the difference between the standard for a simple pass and that required for matriculation purposes would not be so great as to prevent the same examination being made to serve both purposes; and with that object a mark of credit was to be assigned to those candidates who, in any specific subject or subjects, attained a standard which would be appreciably higher than that required for a simple pass. The practical convenience of this arrangement was obvious. The abler pupils intended for the Universities would take one examination instead of two, and the organisation and timetables of schools would to that extent be simplified. Experience, however, has shown that the attempt to combine the two different objects in one examination has been disastrous. A 'matriculation certificate', which should mean nothing more than a certificate entitling the holder to admission to a University, has come to mean a superior kind of school certificate with its own special value in the eyes of employers and the general public, and to be the 'aim of thousands of Secondary School pupils who neither intend nor desire to enter the doors of a University'. Indeed many children (and their parents) are oppressed by a mistaken sense of failure if they obtain a School Certificate but do not satisfy the regulations which make it a 'matriculation certificate'. Though our evidence leads us to believe that employers are becoming more familiar with the meaning of the School Certificate and more aware that the Matriculation Certificate does not by any means necessarily imply a higher educational [page 259] performance, the traditional respect for matriculation and especially in certain circles for 'London Matriculation' (1) still prevails in the minds of many people not interested in education except as a preliminary to employment; and Head Masters and Head Mistresses are in consequence often urged by parents to enter their children for matriculation when on educational grounds it would be far better for them to take a different selection of subjects in the School Certificate Examination. The choice of subjects already restricted by the 'group' requirement is still further narrowed by the requirements for matriculation. 'Subjects which are of no value for matriculation purposes are definitely at a disadvantage. Nor would this matter seriously, if only those pupils were concerned who proposed to proceed to a University. In fact matriculation requirements dominate the situation. ... This goes far to render nugatory the idea of the School Certificate Examination as essentially an examination which provides a test of the Secondary School curriculum, but does not itself determine the curriculum.' (2) With regard to the content of the curriculum, the association of matriculation with the School Certificate Examination has, perhaps, been most unfortunate in diminishing the importance attached to those practical and aesthetic subjects which were not at first permitted to count on an equality with others towards the award of a Certificate. We recognise that there have been other causes why, particularly in boys' schools, the development of these subjects has lagged behind that of others - the prevalence of a strong tradition in favour of those subjects which a university degree best qualifies a man to teach, the qualifications of existing staffs and in many cases the lack of adequate facilities for pursuing those subjects which require more practical work. Nevertheless it must be held that the conjunction of the Matriculation Certificate and the School Certificate has helped to upset that balance between what are conventionally known as academic and non-academic subjects, which we believe should be maintained. It was not surprising, therefore, that the report of the Investigators appointed by the Secondary School Examinations Council, from which we have quoted, recommended that the School Certificate Examination should no longer be accepted by the University as alternative to their own matriculation examinations, and that as an immediate step Matriculation (1) Which is more than ordinarily rigid in its requirements.
(2) Report of the Panel of Investigators, p. 50. [page 260] Certificates should no longer be awarded on the School Certificate Examination. Severance between the two certificates is under consideration by the various examining bodies and has already been effected by the Northern Universities Joint Matriculation Board. (1) A committee representative of the Joint Committee of the Four Secondary Associations and the Association of Education Committees has had under consideration during the past two years the purpose of the School Certificate Examination, its linkage with the Matriculation Examinations of the Universities and the consequences arising from that linkage. In a memorandum which has attracted much attention they express the opinion that 'this association of examinations designed to different ends has proved to be harmful and rigidifying to the curriculum of the Secondary Schools, the form of the examinations themselves, and the regulations relating thereto', adding that evidence for this statement came from both teachers and administrators. The Committee urged that the School Certificate Examination should be considered entirely apart from the considerations relating to criteria for entrance to the Universities. With these recommendations we are in complete agreement, and we believe that the disappearance of the qualification for matriculation by means of the School Certificate Examination is imperatively necessary. We take this view not so much because we believe that this change will by itself lead immediately to that wider choice of subjects by individual candidates which we desire (though combined with other changes it will certainly contribute to that end), but because we are of the opinion that so long as the present attempt to combine divergent purposes continues, there will be in many schools and classes a constant drive of the weaker pupils to keep up with the stronger in the attempt to reach an objective for which they are not suited at a pace which they cannot maintain. 6. We welcome the proposal that matriculation should not be obtainable solely on the School Certificate Examination, but we consider that with a view to preventing premature concentration on one or two subjects a School Certificate or its equivalent should (1) The position at Oxford and Cambridge is peculiar, since admission has in general depended not only on satisfying university requirements, but on satisfying further requirements imposed by the colleges. [page 261] be a first condition for matriculation. We think it is unfortunate that a Matriculation Certificate is so often regarded by commercial and industrial firms as the proper test and objective of a grammar school education, and as necessarily an index of the suitability of the holder for employment by them. We do not feel that it is necessary in the best interests of children leaving school or of employers that the School Certificate should record, as at present, only those subjects in which credit has been obtained. We are in sympathy with the recommendation of the Panel of Investigators that Certificates should have recorded on them not only, as at present, those subjects in which credit is obtained, but also those in which the full pass standard is reached, the level of performance, pass or credit, obtained in each subject being clearly stated on the Certificate. 7. We hope that a wide consensus of professional opinion will at length prevail to secure for individual candidates the exercise of a greater freedom of choice as between the different subjects of the examination. The principal restriction on this freedom has been the requirement in respect of the groups into which subjects were classified when the School Certificate Examination was instituted. The regulations have required that for a candidate to obtain a Certificate he must obtain a pass in one subject from each of Groups I (English subjects), II (Foreign Languages), and III (Science and Mathematics), and a pass in at least five full subjects of which two might be taken from Group IV (Aesthetic and Practical Subjects). The continuance of these requirements was recommended by the Panel of Investigators who reported in 1932, though they also recommended that some modification might be permitted in the standards of Group II or Group III if a candidate passed in the other two of the first three groups and obtained three credits out of five subjects. These modifications, partially adopted by the examining bodies, have been little used. There can be no question, however, that within the past few years a movement in favour of a wider choice in subjects has grown rapidly among both teachers themselves and others interested in education. (1) The policy of those who have advocated the most drastic changes in this direction may be illustrated by the recommendations of the committee (1) To a considerable extent this movement was initiated by the Head Mistresses' Association. [page 262] representing the Four Secondary Associations and the Association of Education Committees; their recommendations included the total abolition of the group system and the recognition of all subjects of the examination as of equal value. Between those who have wished to adhere to the existing regulations and those who would willingly see an entirely unrestricted field of choice offered to candidates there is room for several gradations of opinion. We attach weight to the contention that the compulsory 'spread' of subjects, and in particular the obligation to pass in both Groups II and III, has contributed to overpressure on candidates, and has caused the failure of a large number who have accomplished a generally meritorious performance in the examination, and who might properly be regarded as having concluded satisfactorily that stage in their education which the examination is designed to test. We believe, too, that it has often meant in practice the diversion of a child's energy from a subject in which he is beginning to find meaning and interest to one from which no lasting benefit can be expected. 'If', it has been said, 'in our schools, we are to develop lively minds, keen interests and sound judgements, it is essential that the material of education should be adapted to the quality of the mind to be educated. Some patience and steadfastness may be developed by the prolonged effort to master the niceties of French idiom or of Latin grammar on the part of the child with slight linguistic ability, or to learn enough bookwork to scrape a credit in a geometry paper on the part of a girl or boy to whom mathematics makes no appeal. But the time expended is out of all proportion to the result achieved. Precious time has to be taken from subjects in which the mind rejoices and in which, for that very reason, a pass may be considered safe, that there may be additional grind at weak subjects which are put aside with joy as soon as the minimum of marks has been obtained in an examination paper.' (1) Moreover, we cannot believe that the classification of subjects into the present groups is based on any principle so profound as to justify it in exercising so decisive an influence as it has done on the character of the examination. 'Why', it has been asked pertinently, 'should there be anything particularly sacred about this special grouping? Only the first three are compulsory, presumably being supposed to indicate the (1) Miss IM Drummond in the Supplement to The Journal of Education, 1 April 1938, on The form and Aims of the School Certificate Examination. [page 263] minimum of a good general education. But can we regard as a good general education one which neglects the human or social sciences (if we may so designate history and geography) and the aesthetic subjects - art and music? Surely these are as important for the majority of the pupils as the elementary stages of a foreign language. Why should mathematics be regarded as a satisfactory representative of the whole group which includes the physical sciences and biology? Why should mechanical drawing be in the same group as art and music?' (1) It seems probable, too, that the group classification rested originally upon a conception of the all-round training of the faculties which is now largely discredited. The principle of parity between subjects, which we have advocated in Chapter IV, is hardly consistent with an arrangement which places certain subjects or groups of subjects in so sharply preferential a position and has in fact permitted one subject, French, to become in the greater number of schools virtually compulsory. The arguments which have sometimes been advanced to prove that the 'five subjects' requirement is a more common cause of failure than the Group II or Group III requirements do not seem to us to carry conviction. The two causes are indeed barely, if at all, distinguishable. An excess of time and energy devoted by a child to a compulsory subject in which he knows himself to be weak will inevitably affect adversely his work in other subjects. We suggest later such a further change in the regulations governing the examination as will permit a certificate to be obtained by taking subjects on an examination syllabus less extensive than that which is now required for a pass. This change would not in our opinion make it any less desirable to extend the choice between subjects. Provided, however, that this change be made, we see no objection to the requirement that a candidate must pass in at least five subjects; and we are of opinion that this requirement is valuable as discouraging undue specialisation at this stage. 8. We do not feel that by attributing educational values to the study of any subject wisely pursued we are committed to (12) Professor CW Valentine Examinations and the Examinee (1938), p. 20. [page 264] the position that passes in any five subjects, however widely or narrowly they may be selected, should entitle a candidate to a Certificate without any further requirement. We regard the training in the comprehension and expression of English as of such special importance, both for successful work in other school studies and for the conduct of practical affairs in later life, that we advocate a simple test in the use and understanding of the English language as a necessary qualification for obtaining a School Certificate. Again, while we realise that 'educational values inhere not in particular subjects but in the spirit of study', and that methods of teaching matter more than the subject, we recognise also that certain studies, each, as we have said, with its own distinctive individuality, have won a special place in the curriculum of the Grammar School, either because they represent great cultural and educational traditions, or for their direct bearing on the physical world in which children are living. Notable among these are the study of various Foreign Languages and the study of Mathematics or of the various branches of Science. It may be expected that a number of the abler children admitted to a Grammar School will always find the core or unifying principle which can give so much life and meaning to their work in foreign languages or in science. For the majority this centre of interest should be found in English and the English subjects. For some, though not perhaps for a great number of those for whom the education of a Grammar School is most suitable, it may lie naturally in the practical or aesthetic subjects. It was of these last two classes that we were primarily thinking when we expressed our agreement (1) to a reduction of subjects in the curriculum, but in doing so we made it a condition that they should include English itself, some Science (2), and, in the case of the abler pupils, at least one Foreign Language. We have also recommended that a child who, after a fair trial, shows no aptitude for a Foreign Language should be allowed to drop it; and we hold that the regulations governing the examination should be so framed that no candidate should be prevented from obtaining a Certificate solely by reason of the lack of linguistic or mathematical or scientific ability. Grammar school education, however, unless it is to be altered fundamentally in character and objective, can scarcely imply less than that some recognised standard has been reached in English and in at least one of (1) Chapter IV, p. 188.
(2) We include Mathematics with Science. [page 265] these two other main branches of learning. We are therefore prepared to accept the requirement that a candidate in order to obtain a Certificate must pass in English and either in a foreign language or in some scientific subject. 9. If the restriction on the candidate's choice of subjects is limited only to this extent, it will go a considerable way towards bringing the examination into conformity with the recommendations we have made for lightening the tendency to overwork and overstrain on adolescent pupils which exists in Grammar Schools today. In order that the schools may be assisted to obtain the full relief which we had in mind in Chapter IV, another reform of at least equal importance with the reform of the 'group system' is essential, namely, a reduction of the content of the examination syllabuses themselves. We recommended in that chapter a reduction in the content of Mathematics and a simpler course in Science; and we have indicated that further and desirable relief would be possible if there were greater variation in the level to which certain other subjects are carried. These proposals imply some lightening of the syllabuses for the ordinary papers, without a lowering of the standard of marking; so that these papers may correspond to such ranges of work in the various subjects as we have recommended for all pupils in Grammar Schools. (1) We see no reason why additional papers, or, in the case of science, papers in particular sciences as well as a general science paper, should not be provided. The syllabuses on which these papers are based would differ in scope and character from those adopted for the ordinary papers; but they should not, in our opinion, be of heavier content than existing School Certificate syllabuses. On the understanding that, for success in the examination as a whole, a pass in each of five subjects will be required, as well as a pass in 'compulsory English', we are of (1) In this context, we state our opinion that full use should be made of the 'upper margin' of marks, so that the better candidates may have the opportunity of obtaining high percentages. We think it equally important that the number of candidates who are allowed to pass the whole examination should depend upon the attainment of a particular standard, and should not be determined on a percentage basis. [page 266] opinion that an 'additional paper' (1) should rank as a 'subject'. We desire, however, to add the proviso that the number of subjects offered for examination purposes by individual candidates, apart from 'compulsory English', should be limited to six; or, if one or more 'additional papers' are taken, that the number of subjects offered, including such additional papers, should not exceed seven. We consider that a credit mark should be obtainable both on the ordinary papers and on the additional papers. The exact form and measure in which the changes here outlined may be brought about is a matter for expert consideration by the various examining bodies and the Secondary School Examinations Council. We trust that their special experience will enable them to make such modifications in the examination as will assist the schools towards giving practical effect both to the governing principles which we have laid down for the grammar school curriculum in general, and to the proposals which we have made as to the character and range of the instruction in particular subjects. We cannot sufficiently emphasise that our recommendations in respect of the curriculum must in the main be fruitless unless and until the School Certificate Examination is modified so as to conform to these recommendations. 10. We have said nothing so far about one of the gravest results of the present system, the danger, well recognised by teachers, that the examination should be regarded alike by parents and children as the main, or even the sole, objective of the education given in the Grammar School. 'The modern mania for examination results', one of our witnesses said, 'renders many recipients of the School Certificate less cultured and efficient than they might have been without it.' As a curriculum comes into being which may be thought of 'in terms of activity and experience rather than of knowledge to be acquired and facts to be stored', we may be sure that children will increasingly find a value in what they are studying for its own sake, and form interests quite unrelated to any extraneous objective or resultant advantage. The more closely, however, the work of a school approximates to that (1) Among these we include for this purpose papers in particular sciences. [page 267] idea the less likely will it be that any single external examination can test adequately the knowledge that children have assimilated, the skills that they have acquired, and the powers of originating, persevering and enjoying that they have developed. The ablest children will continue to pass such an examination, and the least able will continue to fail. But, at least for those who are near the borderline between success and failure, the estimate will be more just if it takes into full account the knowledge and experience of those who have watched them at different stages of their growth, who know something of their home conditions, and have seen them working in the normal conditions of school life. It was pointed out to us in evidence that, in so far as matriculation requirements are dissociated from School Certificate requirements, consultation with teachers may become even more important, and that there should be fewer objections to it on the part of examining bodies. We believe that the changes which we have advocated will render it more difficult for examiners to assess the results of school work without having before them school records, and in the event of these changes being adopted we think that school records should be brought increasingly into consideration in connection with the award of Certificates, provided that this can be done without lowering the esteem in which the examination is held by professional bodies and employers. It has been represented to us that this practice will be wholly in conformity with the main purpose of the examination as originally conceived. 
|