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until the end of the 1980s. Then chapter four focuses on the external and internal
stresses the boards experienced during the 1990s, presenting supporting data from a
series of interviews with principal actors from the Boards and their Regulators. For
the purposes of this analysis I consider ‘the 1990s’ as stretching from 1988 to 2002,
following the example of Eric Hobsbawn, who defines the 19th century as the period
from 1789 to 1914 (Quoted by Jonathan Friedland in The Guardian 31 August 2005).
The fifth chapter turns to the only major crisis the boards have experienced: the
dispute over A-Ievel grades in September 2002, which I suggest was a direct result of
the boards’ loss of professional control following the changes made during the 1990s.
A concluding chapter summarises the detailed conclusions of the study, with a brief
section on the implications that my findings might suggest for the future of the
English examining boards.