The Pool of Ability

Thomson G. H. : ‘The Distribution of Intelligence among University and College Students.’ Brit. J. Educ. Psychol., 1945, 15, 76–79.

Gray J. L. Moshinski P. : The Nation's Intelligence. Watts, 1936.

Burt C. : ‘Ability and Income.’ Brit. J. Educ. Psychol., 1943, XIII, 83–98.

Report of Committee on Scientific Manpower. H.M.S.O., 1946.

Coales J. F. : ‘Education for Automation.’ Brit. J. Educ. Stud., 1958, VI, 99–118.

McIntosh : op. cit. Furneaux: op. cit.

It is conventional for modern tests to have Standard Deviations, of 15. But on some tests, for example, Cattell's Scale III, which is often used for testing high grade secondary pupils and adults, the S.D. is much higher, and the corresponding borderlines might be 150, 133 and 117 respectively. The proportions corresponding to intermediate I.Q.s can readily be calculated from Normal Probability Curve Tables.

Cf. Mullin W. S. : ‘Predicting G.C.E. Results.’ Times Educ. Suppl., February 7th, 1958.

Professor Peel E. A. has analysed this question at some length in Secondary School Selection (edit. Vernon P. E. , Methuen, 1957).

Husen T. : ‘The Influence of Schooling upon I.Q.’ Theoria, 1951, XVII, 61–88. Lorge I. : ‘Schooling Makes a Difference.’ Teach. Call. Rec., 1955, XLVI, 483–492. Doubtless this result can be partly ‘explained’ by the large verbal or attainment content of most group intelligence tests. But there is some evidence to suggest that the same occurs with non-verbal tests, and in any case such tests give much poorer predictions of educational achievement.

Vernon P. E. : Intelligence and Attainment Tests. University of London Press, 1960. Cf. also letter in Brit. J. Educ. Stud., 1958, VII, 65–66.

Rowlands R. G. : ‘Some Differences between Prospective Scientists, Non-scientists and Early Leavers in a Representative Sample of English Grammar School Boys.’ Brit. J. Educ. Psychol., 1961, XXXI, 21–32.

Hopkins J. Malleson N. Sarnoff I. : ‘Some Non-intellectual Correlates of Success and Failure among University Students.’ Brit. J. Educ. Psychol., 1958, XXVIII, 25–36.

Furneaux W. D. provides an interesting discussion of social-class attitudes to higher education in: The Chosen Few (Oxford U.P., 1961).

Lovell K. White G. E. : ‘Some Influences Affecting Choice of Subjects in School and Training College.’ Brit. J. Educ. Psychol., 1958, XXVIII, 15–24.

Pheasant J. H. : ‘The Influence of the School on the Choice of Science Careers.’ Brit. J. Educ. Psychol., 1961, XXXI, 38–42.

McIntosh D. M. : Educational Guidance and the Pool of Ability. University of London Press, 1959.

Mann J. F. : Ph.D. Thesis in Arts, unpublished. University of London Library, 1961.

Parkyn G. W. : Success and Failure at the University, Vol. 1. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 1959 (Oxford University Press).

Dale R. R. : From School to University. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1954.