The English Examining Boards: Their route from independence to government outsourcing agencies

194

pressure from Guaranteeing Standards admittedly speeded up what Cambridge was
already planning.

In concluding his recollection of this period, the interviewee added a sort of
postscript:

You may know that subsequent to that there was an attempt at what I call “The
Grand Merger’’...which was everything except Edexcel. Including City &
Guilds. But it didn ^,t come off. It was never going to come off because of course
the University of Cambridge was never going to merge Itselfinto anything.
(0CR2 2003)

This statement might serve as a warning to the body in New Zealand that has recently
embarked with UCLES on creating a new university entrance selection test, to be
considered in the concluding chapter.

AEB and NEAB: The North/South divide eventually bridged by AQA

The birth of the third unitary awarding body followed a longer gestation than the other
two. It differed too in that it resulted entirely from governmental pressure. In the mid-
1990s neither the Associated Examining Board (AEB) nor the Northern Examinations
and Assessment Board (NEAB) was interested in altering what were established and
successful organisations. However, following a strong nudge from the DfEE official
in December 1996, referred to in the two interviews above, both Boards felt they had
no choice but to seek a partner who could provide the GNVQs without which they
could not continue to be accredited.

There has been subsequent speculation that they might have had other choices, which
suggests that officials at QCA were unaware of the clear instruction from the

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