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159
The introduction of an examination at 10-11 years
would be a distinct advantage to children who have
succeeded in qualifying for higher education and who
enter upon their secondary school career at the age of
11 + years, that is, on an average, three years after the
date of their " intermediate " medical inspection.
Two disadvantages result from this lengthy period :—
(1) a small proportion of children may on medical
grounds be unfitted to derive proper benefit
from instruction in a secondary school and under
the present system these may not be recognised
until their secondary school life has commenced;
(2) a child's first year at a secondary school may be
interrupted by medical inspection and treatment
(perhaps prolonged) of defects which with
advantage might have been rectified before
entrance to a secondary school.
In areas where the social services are less progressive
than they are in Barking, there is much to be said for
children being examined at the age of 12 years, but
where the social services are fully developed, and there
is not much to be discovered which cannot be corrected
before the child leaves school, one is much in favour of
children being examined at the later time.
The Middlesex County Council have made representations
to the Board of Education to make the
alterations I have outlined and the Board of Education
have approved them. The ages of inspection which
have been approved are :—
5—6 years
7—8 years
10—11 years
13 + years