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

201

Figure 4-3 Market Share by Board

A Level Percentage Market Shares by English Boards 1994-2000

(AQA 2000: 2)

3 Increasing Regulation: Accountabilityjustifies control

I will summarise briefly the previous stages in the regulation of the examining system
in order to emphasise the significance of the shift that took place during the 1990s.
From their creation in the 19^th century, the examining boards had been independent
bodies accountable to their founding universities, until, to oversee the national system
of School Certificates, the Secondary Schools Examinations Council was established
in 1917 as an ‘arm’s length’ regulatory body.

When after the 1944 Act the Boards lost their places on the Secondary Schools
Examinations Council and were replaced by civil servants from the Ministry of
Education, it was clear to a later analyst that:

The distribution of power over the examination structure changed significantly
in the post-war years. The Minister, Ellen Wilkinson, clearly wanted more
control of examinations; George Tomlinson, her successor, continued this
policy....

(Lawton 1984: 97))

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