Abstract
THE City of Birmingham Education Committee has published the results of an investigation by E. Patricia Allen and Percival Smith into the value of vocational tests as aids to choice of employment (Treasurer's Department, Council House, Birmingham. 1s. net). Every child leaving school in Birmingham is carefully advised as to his future occupation, but it was felt that vocational tests might give the employment conferences more adequate data on which to base their suggestions. For the purpose of this experiment, the children leaving three schools were divided into two groups: one group was treated in the usual way, while the other was examined by special tests for manual, mechanical, and clerical ability, dress-making, and intelligence, and studies were added of social, medical, and temperamental conditions. The advice given was then based on the results. When the children had obtained work, there would be four categories, namely, the tested children who did and did not follow the advice, and the controls who did and did not. Evidence as to the progress of these groups in their industrial careers was then compiled over a period of two years. Although the report makes no extravagant claims, yet the general tendency was for the tested children, who were placed in accordance with the advice given, to be more satisfactorily placed than those in the other three categories. The writers report that a surprisingly large number of the parents had no ideas for their children, nor did the children as a rule know what they would like to do. The report is excellent, sufficient details being given, with the exception of the testing for temperament, to enable other workers to follow this up and use it for-comparison. The results are in agreement with the previous London research.
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Vocational Tests for School Children. Nature 130, 199 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130199a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130199a0