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of a long but inexorable process of the ever-tightening central control that began in
1944.
A final effect of viewing the examining boards through a marketised lens was the
requirement that they be accountable to their clients; for the examining boards,
accountability took the form of a vigorous debate about examination standards. Yet
the problem was that the range of the Boards’ ‘clients’ - students, parents, teachers,
higher education, employers and, of course, the Government - did not share the same
perception of those standards. This issue, regularly highlighted in the media, I believe
to be at least partly the result of a complex misunderstanding that has developed in
England about the basis on which grades are awarded. The assessment theories that lie
behind this debate will be analysed to illustrate the pressure that the issue brought to
bear on the examining boards. The standards debate, it will be argued, weakened their
reputation and strengthened the case for increased control over them.
The underlying theme of the chapter is that it was the effect of the interaction of these
external factors with the internal issues dealt with in the following section that
threatened the stability of these longstanding organisations. The various resulting
questions raised over their reputation for producing valid and reliable qualifications
provided the justification for policy decisions that led, in my view, to the effective
loss of their independence.
Before considering the changes the Boards underwent during the 1990s, it is
necessary to clarify the critiques that convinced policy makers that such changes were
necessary.