1927-1928 - Department of Education and Skills

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186 187 [(4) The translator must agree to make such corrections or alterations in his translated work as the Department's advisors consider necessary. The Committee will give the translator all possible assistance in the elucidation of technical or otherwise difficult terms. {s) The duty of reading and correcting the proofs of the printed book devolves on the translator. APPENDIX VII. «6) The normal rate of payment for translations is b for each 1,000 words m the original book. Half of the sum due will be paid on the completion of the translation, and the remainder will be paid when the proofs are corrected by the translator to the satisfaction of the Committee. STATISTICS OF EXAMINATIONS (7) All rights in the translated work pass to the Department of Education as soon as the first instalment of the translator's fee has been paid. INTERMEDIATE CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS, 1928. Paper read on 30th May, 1929, before the Statistical and Social Inquiry, "Society of Ireland, by MR. JOHNHOOPER, RA., Director of Statistics, Depart- -ment of Industrv and Commerce, and included in this Report by kind permission of the Author. . SECTION I.-SUGGESTED CRANGES IN METHODS OF DETERMINING FAILURES, PASSES, HONOURS AND SCHOLARSHIPS. In search of material for a paper on a wider subject I found so much of interest tin the above statistics that I decided to confine myself to them provided the 'Department of Education considered that an investigation would be usefuL On :putting my ideas for a paper on these statistics before the Secretary of that Department, I was immediately informed that the material in the first section bad been fully dealt with in respect of the same type of examinations in England an a recently published booklet (" Secondary School Examination Statistics," Longman, Green & Co., Ltd., pp. VII.+88, 1928), written by J. M. Crofts, M.A., D.Sc., Secretary to the Joint Matriculation Board of the Northern Univer- -sities, and by the well-known Statistician, D. Caradog Jones, l'i.l.A., Senior Lecturer in Social Statistics at the University of Liverpool. Still, as the Depart- -ment were keenly interested in the matter, I was urged to proceed with the paper and I am reading it with their approval. Part of the first section includes a criticism of the methods always adopted here of using the examiners' results, but this criticism applies to examining bodies not only in this but in other -countries also. My interest in this paper is not from the point of view of general education .alone. Inmy official duties I find that too much reliance in statistical matters is placed on official statisticians. Unlike our colleagues tn other countries we have no school of expert statisticians to criticise and shape our work. The theory -of statistics has not found its proper place in the educational courses of this -country, and it is in the hope of getting our educationists to examine their con- -sciences in this matter, and of enticing a few professors and teachers, especially -those with mathematical qualifications, to study the theory of statistics for -themselves that I have endeavoured in this paper to interest them in a few "technical statistical methods through the medium of a subject which should -:appeal to them. I am submitting many tables and diagrams, but my comments 'On them are reduced to the minimum which I think necessary to make the paper of sufficient immediate interest-it is for the educationist to interpret these -matteTs except where familiarity with statistical methods is necessary. At the Intermediate Certificate Examination held last; June 1,945 boys and 1,262 girls were examined. Table A, p. 190, shows the percentage of candidates -who obtained 0 to 10% of the marks, 10 to 20%, etc., in the subjects presented "by the largest numbers of candidates (nine subjects for boys and seven for girls). "The maximum mark allotted is different for different subjects, but all through -this paper for purposes of comparison I have treated the marks in each subject as if 100 had been the maximum, in other words I have used percentages although I refer to them as actual marks. I would like to make quite clear the meaning of the figures in the last section of Table A-" All SUbjects." The euaxima allotted to the various subjects were: Irish, English, Greek and Latin
188 189 400 each, Mathematics 600, Drawing 200, every other subject. 300. The maxima, for the subjects taken by a candidate were totted and the marks which he· obtained in these subjects were also totted. The latter figure expressed as a percentage of the former is what I have called his mark in " all subjects." YOUI may possibly object to my use of this figure, but I will be able, I think, to justify it in Section Ill. . From Table A, p. 190, I constructed the curves which appear. on p. 189. Themarks are measured horizontally and the percentages of candidates who got these marks are measured by the verticals. Let me describe the first of the curves, that for English. Starting from the left-hand side we see that the first points are very low, that is very few boys or girls got less than la marks (i.e., less than 10%), slightly more got la to 20, and about double that number got 20 to 30 ;. then there is almost a vertical ascent, very large numbers getting 30 to 40, and then the curve descends almost as steeply as it ascended, extremely few boys or girls getting 70 to 80 marks, and fewer girls still and no boys getting 80 to 90 marks. The differences between the heights of the curves for different subjects are in noway influenced by the actual numbers of candidates who presented themselves in these subjects as only the percentage of candidates is represented at each point .. We are accordingly safe in comparing the shapes of the curves; for instance, tha for Greek in which few were examined with that for.English. You will notice that some of the curves (e.g., .English I, History and Geography II and Domestic Science Ill) are high and narrow, while others (e.g. Greek VI, Irish VII and Drawing VIII) are low and broad. I had little doubt from the commencementfrom general experience in such matters-that such differences were permanent- I tested the matter for only two of the curves and found that those representing the marks of boys in Science in 1925 and 1928 were of much the same type and those for Domestic Science for girls in the same two years. The booklet already referred to states (pp. 49-50) that" the curves for subjects of an elementary standard fall into two groups, in one of which are found Foreign Languages, Mathematics and Science, and in the other English, History, Geography, Scripture, Art, etc. The curves in the first group are much flatter than those in the second group . Such differences in curves are persistent : they occur yearafter year." We are accordingly dealing with permanent differences. In our high narrow curves like that for English the marks cluster around the· average, showing that there is comparatively little difference between most of" the candidates, while in the low, broad curves, like that for Irish, the marks are well scattered at a distance from the average, showing that the candidates differ widely. This matter is worth pursuing in order to bring out clearly this type of difference between subjects, and to judge whether a particular subject is getting its proper treatment in the marking system. In order to deal with it effectively, we must find some arithmetical measure of the crowding of marks around the average or the dispersion from the average. The most important measure for this purpose is the" Standard Deviation" which is calculated as follows. Subtract the mark of each candidate in, say, Irish from the average mark of all candidates in Irish. You will then get a new series of numbers, one for each candidate in Irish; somewill be minus, some plus. Square each of these numbers, add, divide by the number of candidates, take the square root and the result is called the" Standard. Deviation." This is a delicate instrument for the type of measurement we havein mind. The smaller the Standard Deviation the more crowded are the mark around the average, the larger the Standard Deviation the more widely scattered! are the marks. . In the following Table the" Standard Deviation" is shown for each subject (the total marks allotted to each subject is assumed to be TOO). 40- 30- ~ 10- ;!5 10- 20- 2P I "I"1A'RKS 40 6.0 8.0 ENC. BOYS GIRlS __ se. BOYS_ D. Se. GIRLS __ IT 2.0 MARKS 4.0 6.0 8.0 -40 HIST&GEOG. BOYS - cf! GIRLS __ -30 Cl -" "» -205 Cl » -1 -10 ~ ru. -30 BOYS_ GIRLS __ o -20 -r-r "» z: 2 -10 ~ '-i ...., V> Or. Ir. Se. Dr. Lat. Maths. Fr. Eng, H. & G.. Dom. S. All ----1·------------------------- 21.6 20.2 19.3 18.5 17.3 16.7 13.2 11.7 10.3 12.5 -10 Girls 19.6 18.0 14.3 14.1 11.7 11.3 9.7 10 1 The subjects were ranged in order of magnitude of the standard deviation for boys, and you will notice that the order held good for girls-the figures in each case decrease from left to right. The subjects on the left, Creek and Irish, are represented by the low, broad curves on p. 189, those 011 ills right by high,. narrow curves. As one passes from subject to subject the Standard Deviation. 20 40 60 MARKS 80 80
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I EIREANN. ROINN QIDEACHAIS I . TUA
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CONTENTS. PART I.-REPORT. CHAP. PAG
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,":'/ , "j ,; INTRODUCTORY. 'I'he l
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9 As the Christian Brothers are a n
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12 otherwise, of these surplus teac
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l6 In 1924 and in 1925 the Courses
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20 21 Schools and the Circulars iss
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24 of the School Attendance Act a g
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28 'I'he vast majority of the teach
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32 the Results System, however, muc
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36 :aca, a bheag no a mhor. N a sco
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40 The question of adding to the nu
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44 A circular embodying the proposa
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48 In addition to the courses in Ir
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52 Sgm7eanna Buachail.li (N.i raibh
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56 ENGLISH. The teaching of Eno-lis
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60 MATHEMATICS. About the time of t
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TECHNICAL 64 CHAPTER V. 1. EDUCATIO
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08 VI. Comme1"ce.-The attendance at
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72 courses are in three main sectio
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76 Tbe teacher-students of the less
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so they shall continue to be the pr
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84 Irish _MiscellarvrJ. Containing"
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detailed working of the schools, wh
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92 93 The number of schools conncct
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97 PART II.-APPENDICES.
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PRIMARY 100 APPENDIX rr. EDUCATlON.
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" · ]04 105 17. The followin!; is
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108 lug 22. RETURN showing. for the
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112 113 CONVENTAND MONASTERYSCHOOLS
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116 ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS. 33: Pupil
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]20 121 SPECIAL FEES OR GRANTS FOR
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124 125 TEACHERS' PENSIONS AND GRAT
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128 lIl.-LEAVING CERTIFICATE-GIRLS.
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133 (Ll-RECOGNITION OF PRIMARY SCHO
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Co. CAVAN (2 Schools). Cavan, Royal
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Fermoy, St. Colrnans College Macroo
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Rochelle St. Aloysius ' the Isle. S
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Clonskeagh, Masonic Boys' School ..
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Co. BOROt1GltOF Dt1BLtN(32Schools)
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Holy Faith Convent, Glasnevin .. I
Page 83 and 84: l(invara, Loughrea, Tuam, C Chr Co.
Page 85 and 86: ]20 121 SPECIAL FEES OR GRANTS FOR
Page 87 and 88: 124 125 TEACHERS' PENSIONS AND GRAT
Page 89 and 90: 128 IlL-LEAVING CERTIFICATE-GIRLS.
Page 91 and 92: 132 133 (L)-RECOGNITIOK OF PRIMARY
Page 93 and 94: Co. CAVAN(2 Schools). I Cavan, Roya
Page 95 and 96: Fermoy, St. Colman's College - 120
Page 97 and 98: Rochelle Scho 01 .. .. . . 53 47 11
Page 99 and 100: Clonskeagh, Masonic Boys' School ·
Page 101 and 102: .. .. 74 58 7 2 84 12 2 17 15 10 I
Page 103 and 104: Holy Faith Convent, Glasnevin .. I
Page 105 and 106: Kirrvara. Convent of Mercy .. .. 23
Page 107 and 108: Monasterevan, Christian Brothers' 2
Page 109 and 110: Doon, Christian Brothers' Schools 5
Page 111 and 112: D D B B B C undalk, Convent of Merc
Page 113 and 114: Co. MONAGHAN (8 Schools) : - Carric
Page 115 and 116: Sligo, Ursuline Convent ., .. 109 1
Page 117 and 118: Co, WATERFORD (0 Schools) : Cappoqu
Page 119 and 120: Co. WEXFORD (r4 Schools) : Bunclody
Page 121 and 122: 163 APPENDIX IV. TECHNICAL INSTRUCT
Page 123 and 124: 165 (c) Table showing the Amounts C
Page 125 and 126: 168 TABLE F.-INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. Th
Page 127 and 128: Mc. T. G. Wood Mrs. G. Rowlette S.
Page 129 and 130: 176 Bronze axe, socketed, Kildare;
Page 131 and 132: 180 ATTENDANCE. The pupils' attenda
Page 133: 184 TRANSLATION OF CHAPTER XI. (PAG
Page 137 and 138: 192 193 If the boys are arranged in
Page 139 and 140: -0 0 196 Here we see tnat there is
Page 141 and 142: 200 or parts of questions, not only
Page 143 and 144: 204 Christian Brothers' Schools and
Page 145 and 146: 208 naturally assume that weak cand
Page 147 and 148: 212 The Table on p. 20
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1927-1928 - Department of Education and Skills

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