 |  |
| |
Circular 1034 Recognition of Examinations (1918) A Circular listing First and Second Examinations recognised as approved for 1918 and 1919.
The text of Circular 1034 Recognition of Examinations 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. |
Recognition of Examinations for 1918 and 1919 Circular 1034 Board of Education (1918) London: His Majesty's Stationery Office 1918
Circular 1034.
Circular to Local Education Authorities
Telegraphic Address:
Telephone No.: Western 804. BOARD OF EDUCATION,
The Board of Education are now in a position to announce that, on the recommendation of the Secondary School Examinations Council, the following Examinations have been recognised by them for the calendar years 1918 and 1919 as approved Examinations, under their scheme for the better organisation of Examinations in Secondary Schools set out in Circular 1002. 1. The School Certificate Examination of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board. 8. The Higher Certificate Examination of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board. The Board will accordingly pay to each School on the Grant List an additional grant not exceeding £2 on each pupil entered as from the date of this Circular for any of the above-named Examinations held during the years 1918 and 1919 under the conditions set out in paragraph 12 of Circular 996. In assessing the grant payable in respect of any such Examination, the Board will have regard to the following considerations. 1. The grant in respect of the First Examination will be paid only as stated in paragraph 8(b) of Circular 1002, on the condition that (subject to withdrawals from illness or other approved cause)Forms as a whole and not individual pupils are entered for it. Pending revision of the Board's Regulations for Secondary Schools, the clause in Article 35 of the Regulations now in force which forbids the presentation of pupils under 15 years of age for an external Examination without the express permission of the Board, will be waived, in so far as it is inconsistent with the conditions laid down in the preceding paragraphs. [page 2] The principal object of the Board in making the grant is to remove the financial difficulty which at present sometimes prevents Schools from so entering Forms as a whole. To such entry of whole Forms the Board attach the greatest importance. While in theory every pupil, on reaching the proper stage in the School, should take part in the First Examination at the first attempt, it is recognised that in practice the rule by which whole Forms must be entered without regard to the fitness of individual pupils will frequently involve a considerable proportion of failures, partial or complete. For this and other reasons it will sometimes be necessary that pupils who have taken the Examination once should not be promoted into a higher Form, but should take the same Examination a second time. In such cases the Board will normally pay the fee for the second entry. On the other hand the Board reserve power to withhold or refuse payment of the fee, if this concession is abused. An excessive number of failures repeated in successive years might indicate a wrong classification of the pupils or some other defect of organisation. Numerous re-entries by candidates who had obtained a certificate might indicate that undue importance was attached to examination results. Any withholding of the grant for these reasons would not be retrospective, but would be a matter for consideration in assessing it for future years. 2. The proposals of the School with regard to the Examinations to be taken and the Form or Forms to be entered for them in any one year must be submitted to the Board through the Inspector for their approval, on a form which is being prepared and will be issued to all Schools on the Grant List in due course. If any doubt arises as to which Form or Forms should be entered for the Examinations, the Inspector should be consulted. 3. The intention of the Board is to pay the whole of the Examination charges that have hitherto fallen on the School or on the pupil, up to a maximum of £2 for each candidate entered. Account will be taken (subject always to this maximum) of the Examination fee itself, the "Centre Fee" (if any), and any extra fees for oral or practical examinations or for special papers, together with any charge for a visiting Examiner. No charge must be imposed by the School on the individual candidate, except as regards any excess beyond the limit of £2. No payment will be made in respect of candidates entered only for individual subjects to supplement a certificate already gained. 4. The Board anticipate that as a general rule the same approved Examining Body will be charged with the conduct of both the First and the Second Examinations in any one school. They recognise, however, that there may be cases in which the circumstances or organisation of the School make it advisable for the two Examinations to be conducted by different Examining Bodies, or even for different Sides or Departments of the same School to be submitted to a First or a Second Examination conducted by different Examining Bodies. 5. Finally the Board wish to emphasise the fact that in no case may the organisation or curriculum of the School be determined exclusively or principally by the requirements of any examination. It is a cardinal principle that the examination should follow the curriculum and not determine it. They hope that the Examinations now provisionally recognised will furnish Schools with a satisfactory external test of their work, but neither the proper organisation of the School as a whole nor the welfare of individual pupils must be subordinated to examination requirements.
|
