208
I suppose, the term ‘recommendation because there is an expectation that
there will be a response to it. And there is now a formal requirement ...that the
boards produce an action plan leading to those recommendations, and we will
take oversight of the delivery of that action plan. And in the last analysis, if the
action wasn ,t taken to remedy any of the perceived deficiencies, there ,d be the
threat of de-accreditation. (QCΔ2 2003)
That seems a clear statement of where power over examinations now lies. Yet this
significant increase in central control happened, as observed in a recent analysis, in
the “absence of any sustained intellectual justification for the theory and practice of
regulation [which is] notable when one compares the open debates that took place
prior to the establishment of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000”
(Blacklock 2003: 11). Blacklock also saw the establishment of QCA as part of a trend
within the sphere of education:
Through the Department [DfES] the government has given a statutory remit to a
number of non-departmental bodies (NDPBs) with responsibilties for regulating the
provision and quality of education and training. These bodies lie outside the
immedicate sphere of government but not beyond its ultimate control and direction.
(Blacklock 2003)
The question as to why the Boards offered no resistance to what seems the loss of any
vestige of real control will be considered in the next chapter. At this point their failure
to react will be attributed to their preoccupation with the external and internal
pressures within a climate of challenges to their reliability which, I shall suggest,
grew out of a confusion in English society regarding the basis on which grades were
awarded. What might have remained the subject of academic discussions among
experts on assessment had become a matter of public debate.
4 The Standards Debate: Are grades norm or criterion referenced?
This final external factor which I have identified as affecting the examining boards in
the 1990s may seem a rather arcane one. As the debates around norm and criterion