HC Deb 27 July 1911 vol 28 cc1883-4W
Mr. M'KEAN

asked the Chief Secretary whether he will explain the drop in the numbers of candidates for the King's Scholarship examination who were placed in the first division as compared with the numbers in previous years; is he aware that candidates for training who passed in the first division last year have this year been placed in the second and third divisions; and will he say why students are not permitted to know the marks they have obtained nor any information beyond the fact that they have been placed in the first, second, or third division, and are in consequence working at a disadvantage in their preparation for a succeeding examination; whether his attention has been called to the hardship inflicted by the rule prohibiting condidates from competing for training oftener than twice; and will he say to what extent the Commissioners of National Education are prepared to enforce the rule under which the Commissioners reserve to themselves the power to require a certain number of places in a training college to be set apart for untrained teachers employed in national schools?

Mr. BIRRELL

The Commissioners of National Education inform me that the reduction in the proportion of passes in the First Division at the King's Scholarship examination of 1911, as compared with previous years, is due to the fact that the qualifying percentages of marks for the first and second divisions have been raised. No comparison of the results of the examination in the case of individual candidates from year to year is made. The Commissioners do not consider the notification of the marks obtained by candidates at the annual examinations desirable in the interests of the candidates or of the colleges concerned. There has been no case of hardship inflicted under the rule referred to, as no candidate has yet been excluded from examination under its provisions. With regard to the last paragraph of the question the Commissioners have formulated for the guidance of the college authorities regulations on this point, and a proportion of the vacancies in each college is reserved for untrained teachers employed in national schools.