THE SCOTTISH LEAVING EXAMINATION.

This article focuses on the new proposed changes in the conditions of awarding the Scottish Leaving Certificate in the filed of education. According to the author, the proposed changes in the conditions of award of the Scottish Leaving Certificate would at once bring it more closely into line with the recommendations of the Advisory Council on Education in Scotland and with the General Certificate of Education in England. The changes, reportedly, involve the issue of a certificate to pupils who leave school around the age of sixteen after completing four years of secondary education, by the institution of papers at a lower level than those taken usually in the fifth year. Scotland, like England, is faced with the problem of early leaving. Recent figures published by the Secretary of State show that 56% of pupils leaving five-year courses of senior secondary education do so before reaching the age of sixteen, without completing even four years of the course. It is proposed to institute advanced level papers designed for pupils who have completed the university requirements in their fifth year, and who remain for a sixth year at school. The effect of the new proposals would, supposedly, be to encourage the extension of Sixth Form work, which has never flowered so freely in Scotland and England.