Circular 1002 Better Organisation of Examinations (1917)

A Circular outlining new arrangements for examinations in secondary schools.

The text of Circular 1002 Scheme for the better organisation of examinations in secondary schools was prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 8 December 2025.

I am grateful to Paul Newton, who found this Circular and sent photographs of the pages from which this text was created.

London: His Majesty's Stationery Office 1917
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Circular 1002.
15th June, 1917.
(Consequent on Circulars 849, 933, 996.)

Circular to Local Education Authorities
and Secondary Schools.

Letters should be addressed -
  "The Secretary,
    Board of Education,
      London."

and should show the complete postal
address and designation of the writer.

Telegraphic Address: SECONDUCATlON, LONDON.

BOARD OF EDUCATION,    
LONDON.

1. This scheme is designed for the examination of pupils in Secondary Schools recognised by the Board of Education as efficient, but provision is to be made for the admission of other candidates under the age of 19 years.

2. The Universities will supply the responsible Bodies through which the examinations will normally be conducted, but it may be found desirable in some cases that for the purpose of examinations in such subjects as Music, Drawing and Manual instruction special Examining Bodies should be approved.

3. In order to secure the necessary equality of standard and the acceptance of the examination certificates by University and Professional Bodies as exempting the holders from certain other examinations, and to provide machinery for enabling the scheme to be improved from time to time, the Board of Education will act as a Co-ordinating Authority with the help of a Secondary School Examinations Council comprising representatives of the Universities, Teachers, Local Education Authorities, and Professional Bodies.

4. All matters falling within the functions of the Co-ordinating Authority will stand referred to the Council, which will be entrusted by the Board with the responsibility for conducting on their behalf all ordinary business correspondence and conferences connected with the co-ordination of examinations. The Council will consult the Board before committing themselves on questions of principle or policy which are controversial or specially important. Officers of the Board who attend meetings of the Council as assessors may request the Council to refer any such question to the Board. Subject as above the Council will deal with the following matters:-

(a) The recommendation of Examining Bodies for approval by the Co-ordinating Authority.
(b) The maintenance by each approved Examining Body of an adequate standard both for a Pass in the examinations and for a Pass with Credit.
(c) Investigation of complaints made by School Authorities with regard to examinations.
(d) Promotion of conferences with Examining Bodies and others as occasion arises.
(e) The form and contents of the certificates granted on the result of the examinations and the arrangements for their issue.
(f) Negotiations with universities and Professional Bodies for the acceptance of the examination certificates as exempting the holders from certain other examinations.

[page 2]

5. The Council will be at liberty to submit suggestions to the Co-ordinating Authority for the improvement of the scheme of examinations, and will make an annual report of its proceedings in the exercise of the functions assigned to it.

6. Examination schemes submitted to the Co-ordinating Authority for approval must fulfil the following conditions:-

(a) Adequate provision must be made for bringing teachers in the Schools into touch with the Examining Body by means of representation on the Examining Body or of some system of regular consultation.
(b) Provision must be made for examining a School on its own syllabus if it so desires, unless in the opinion of the Examining Body (subject, in case of dispute, to the decision of the Examinations Council) the syllabus is inadequate in scope or character.
(c) Head Masters and Head Mistresses must be required to submit to the Examining Body their estimate of the merits of candidates from their Schools in each of the subjects offered by them for examination, to be taken into account in the award of certificates under the scheme.

8. (a) The first examination will be designed to test the results of the course of general education before the pupil begins such a degree of specialisation as is suitable for advanced work in Secondary Schools.

(b) Schools taking the first examination will be required to present a Form or Forms as a whole and not individual pupils.

(c) The condition of passing will be that candidates shall have reached the required standard in the three main groups of School subjects, viz., English Subjects, Foreign Languages, and Mathematics and Science.

Provision should be made for experiments directed to bringing subjects such as Music, Drawing and Manual Instruction within the scope of the examination, and for enabling them to count under suitable conditions towards the attainment of a certificate.

(d) The group of Subjects and not individual subjects will be the unit in respect of which success or failure will be determined.

(e) The standard should be such that a Pass with Credit would entitle a candidate to admission to a University, and a slightly lower standard should be accepted for an ordinary Pass.

9. The second examination will assume that the candidate has, after the stage marked by the first examination, followed a more specialised course on the lines indicated in Chapter VIII of the Regulations for Secondary Schools.

10. Subject to the exercise in particular cases of the Board's discretion under Article 35 of their Regulations for Secondary Schools, Schools will not be required as a condition of recognition for grants to take either examination, but no School will be allowed to arrange its organisation or curriculum or that of any particular Form for the purpose of preparing any pupils or Form for any examination which is not approved by the Board.

11. Certificates respectively appropriate to candidates who have and have not received their previous education in Secondary Schools recognised by the Board as efficient will be granted on the result of the examinations. The form of the certificates and the arrangements for their issue will be approved by the Co-ordinating Authority.