50. Having examined briefly the extent to which the passage from the elementary to the secondary school has been facilitated during recent years, it may not be out of place to examine equally briefly the extent to which the ex-public elementary school pupil profits from a secondary school education when once free admission has been secured. Statistics are, of course, at best an incomplete and unreliable guide when it is a question of estimating such imponderable factors as the benefit which a pupil has derived from a particular type of education. None the less, a comparison of the records of free pupils with those of fee-paying pupils in such matters as length of school life and leaving age, success in the first school examination and attainment of a university career, is worth making if only to show that the free place requirement has amply justified itself by results.

51. Of the 35,015 boys who, after reaching the age of 12, left school during the year ended 31st July, 1927, 21,451 were fee-paying and 13,564 free pupils. The former had an average school life beyond the age of 12 of 3 years 5 months, and an average leaving age of 15 years 11 months; the latter had an average school life of 4 years 1 month and an average leaving age of 16 years 4 months. The figures for the girl leavers, of whom 17,736 were fee-paying, and 12,023 free pupils, are even more favourable to the free pupils. In the case of the fee-payers the figures were 3 years 5 months, and 15 years 11 months; and in the case of the free pupils, 4 years 3 months and 16 years 6 months, respectively. It will be seen that, taking boys and girls together, the free pupils stayed at school 9 months longer and left at an age older by six months than the fee-paying pupils.

52. The successes in the first school examinations of free pupils, as compared with fee-paying pupils, are very striking. Taking the pupils who left secondary schools in England and Wales after the age of 12 in the school year 1926-27, we find that, whereas only 19.8 per cent. of the fee-paying pupils had obtained the school certificate before leaving, 48.1 per cent. of the free pupils had done The figures for boys and girls separately were as follows: Boys-Fee-payers, 21.1; Free pupils, 51.0. Girls-Fee-payers, 18.3; Free pupils, 44.8.

So.

53. The remaining aspect of the profit derived by attendance at secondary schools which lends itself to statistical measurement is the extent to which secondary school pupils pass on from such schools to universities. Figures on this subject relating to England and Wales will be found in Table 45 of the Statistics in this volume. From these it will be seen that, in spite of the fact that the number of free pupils whose financial circumstances are such as to enable them to proceed to a university without substantial extraneous assistance must, in the nature of things, be smaller than in the case

of fee-paying pupils, yet the number of free pupils is not far short of double the number of fee-paying pupils who proceeded to universities.

3. Ages of Pupils and Length of School Life.

54. Of the pupils in attendance at grant-earning secondary schools on 1st October, 1927, 64.7 per cent. were between the ages of 12 and 16. The number of children under 10 in the schools continues to fall, but there has been an increase in the number between 10 and 12 and a small increase in the number over 16. The average school life after the age of 12 shows a slight decrease, with a corresponding decrease in the average leaving age, and the proportion of pupils over 16 is still less than 10 per cent. of the whole. In the case of boys, the average school life after the age of 12 was 3 years 8 months, and the average leaving age of pupils who left after reaching the age of 12, 16 years 1 month. For girls, the corresponding figures were 3 years 9 months and 16 years 2 months, and for boys and girls together 3 years 9 months and 16 years 2 months.

4. Staffing and Size of Classes.

55. On 31st March, 1927, there were 17,630 full-time teachers employed in grant-earning secondary schools; of these 49.3 per cent. were men and 50.7 per cent. women. The proportion of graduates employed has decreased in the case of men to 78.5 per cent. as compared with 80.0 per cent. on 31st March, 1926, and in the case of women to 60.4 per cent. as compared with 61.6 per cent. on 31st March, 1926. The number of classes over the normal limit of 30 has increased slightly from 3,045 on 1st October, 1925, to 3,085 on 1st October, 1926, but of these only 87 contained more than 35 pupils as compared with 102 in the previous year. It is hoped that the provision of additional accommodation will result in a gradual decrease in the number of classes with over 30 pupils and in the elimination of those with over 35 pupils.

5. Advanced Courses.

56. The number of recognised advanced courses has increased by five, from 440 in 1925-26 to 445 in 1926-27. These courses were held in 311 grant-earning schools and in 3 schools not recognised for grant. Of the 445 courses 211 were in Science and Mathematics, 182 in Modern Studies and 36 in Classics. Advanced Courses in all these three groups of subjects were recognised in 14 boys' schools and 2 girls' schools. There was also a substantial amount of advanced work in certain schools in which no application was made to the Board for the formal approval of advanced courses.

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6. Pupils proceeding from Secondary Schools to Universities.

57. Of 59,789 pupils who left grant-earning secondary schools in 1926-27 after reaching the age of 14, 2,899 (1,771 boys and 1,128 girls) are known to have proceeded to universities. Of these 58.4 per cent. were ex-public elementary school pupils. For the previous year 1925-26 the corresponding figures were 3,046 out of 60,975.

7. Abolition of Duplication of Grant-Circular 1381.

58. In our report for the year 1925-26 we referred at some length to the provisions of Circular 1381 for terminating the system under which non-maintained secondary schools might receive assistance from the Exchequer both directly, by way of grant under the Regulations for Secondary Schools, and indirectly, by the recognition for grant of aid given to the schools by local education authorities. At the date of the issue of the circular (23rd July, 1926) there were in England 557 non-maintained schools on the grant list, all of which were given the option of continuing to receive direct grant, in which case any aid from a local education authority would not be taken. into account in assessing the Board's grant to the authority, or ceasing to receive direct grant and receiving the whole of their aid from the authority, in which case such aid would rank for the Board's grant to the authority, the option to be exercisable either as from 1st. August, 1926 or 1st August, 1927. As the result of the circular, 165 schools in England, comprising 7 Roman Catholic schools, 10 schools provided by Part III authorities, and 148 Foundation and other schools elected to cease to receive direct grant as from 1st August, 1926. Similarly, 162 schools, comprising 5 Roman Catholic schools, 9 schools provided by Part III authorities and 148 Foundation and other schools, did so as from 1st August, 1927. The position is, therefore, that of 557 schools to which the option was given, 327 elected to cease to receive direct grant, amounting in the aggregate to some £580,000, and 230 elected to continue to receive such grant.

8. Miscellaneous.

59. Observation Visits.-In the year 1926-27, arrangements were made for five teachers serving in grant-earning secondary schools to visit other schools for the purpose of observing methods of teaching. As stated in our last report, we should welcome an extension of this system for enabling promising but inexperienced teachers to gain experience of improved methods of teaching.

Full Inspections.-In 1926-27, 161 schools were fully inspected by the Board, 46 for the first time. These figures compare with 199 and 57 during 1925-26.

9.

Schemes under the Charitable Trusts Acts and Endowed Schools Acts for Secondary Schools and for Exhibitions.

60. During the period under review, 22 schemes were established. Of these, 10 were for secondary schools, including 6 occasioned by the necessity for increasing the maximum tuition or boarding fees allowed under the existing schemes, in order to provide for the increase in the cost of maintenance and of boarding. The remaining 12 schemes were in respect of exhibitions tenable at secondary schools or at other institutions of higher education.

10. Secondary School Examinations Council.

61. We print hereunder the report of the Council for the year 1926-27:

During the year 1926-27 the Council held four meetings and its Standing Committee also met on two separate occasions. Dr. J. T. Riley, Professor C. W. Valentine, and Dr. W. Edwards retired from the Council and were succeeded by Mr. F. P. Armitage, Professor H. Bompas-Smith and Mr. D. Vaughan Johnston respectively. The vacancy caused by the death of Col. H. Mellish has been filled by the appointment of Mr. A. R. Clegg.

The Investigators appointed to inquire into the methods and standards of award in the eight approved Second Examinations held in the summer of 1926 have reported to the Council. The general recommendations made by them, together with the criticisms of question papers, syllabuses and other matters of detail, are at present under consideration by the Council and by the Examining Bodies.

In the light of the reports of the Investigators the Council are carefully considering the suitability of the examinations for all types of pupils who remain at school from 16 to 18 years of age. They have recently received representations to the effect that the Higher Certificate Examination is too specialised in character to meet the needs of the large and increasing number of pupils who stay on at school after taking the First Examination, but do not intend to proceed to a university. This view is supported by the opinion of the Investigators that a considerable number of candidates entered for the examination who would have been better occupied in pursuing a less ambitious course of study than that demanded for the Higher Certificate Examination.

An important question of principle relating to the School Certificate Examination is at present engaging the attention of the Council, viz., the requirement of a pass in each of Groups I, II and III. Representations have been received from the Head Mistresses Association urging that the subjects of Group IV should be accorded the same recognition as is given to subjects of Groups I, II and III,

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and that a pass in Group I together with a pass in any two of the remaining Groups should constitute a pass in the examination. These representations are receiving the earnest consideration of the Council.

The Report of the Council for the year 1925-26 included certain statistics of First Examinations for the years 1918, 1924 and 1926, and of Second Examinations for the years 1920 and 1926. Similar statistics in respect of the examinations held in 1927 are given below.

First Examination.

The number of candidates entering for the Examination was 54,953, of whom 35,707, or 65 per cent. obtained Certificates.

The following table shows the number of entries and the number of Passes in individual subjects.