School Leaving Examination

HC Deb 23 July 1957 vol 574 cc211-2

44. Mr. Lawson

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether, in view of the fact that 85 per cent. of Scottish pupils leave school before reaching their sixteenth year, he will consider introducing some form of external school leaving examination for which those children may be submitted.

Mr. N. Macpherson

No, Sir. My right hon. Friend considers that the arguments on which the Advisory Council based its recommendation in its Report on Secondary Education that no such examination should be introduced are still valid.

Mr. Lawson

Does not the Under-Secretary agree that with 85 per cent. of the children leaving school before reaching the age of 16, there is no such thing as an educational aim towards which either they or their teachers can direct their energies? Does he agree that there are far too many alarming reports of children wasting their last year at school marking time until they leave school?

Mr. Macpherson

We debated this matter on Scottish Estimates upstairs, but I would remind the hon. Member that that Report suggested that such an examination as he recommends would tend to a sterile uniformity.