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responsibility for the debacle, nor did either explain why they had failed to warn the
Government of the impending storm. This failure to accept responsibility seemed to
be normal behaviour at QCA.
Following Professor Hargreaves’ sudden departure, QCA’s board faced a leadership
hiatus at this crucial time; their solution was to appoint their chairman, Sir William
Stubbs, as acting Chief Executive until they could arrange to appoint Professor
Hargreaves’ successor. This decision, like that over the weighting of AS and A2
grades, had serious consequences.
Sir William Stubbs was a very experienced education administrator who had risen to
become the last Chief Executive of the Inner London Education Authority before its
abolition, then gone on to lead the Further Education Funding Council. Descriptions
of him regularly hint at a combative nature: “rumbustious as ever"' or “respected but
not liked [in QCA]”. (The Guardian, 28 September 2002: 5) More important, perhaps,
was his complete lack of experience of the finer points of examination assessment
when he was about to be involved in a crisis which hinged precisely on assessment
details. In his combined role of QCA Chairman and Chief Executive, Sir William was
very much in charge of all the discussions with the examining boards as Curriculum
2000 took shape. The questionable decision over AS∕A2 weighting which he
commended to Baroness Blackstone was referred to above. It was only in May 2002
that a new Chief Executive was eventually appointed, to take up his post in September
2002 and face the consequences of Sir William’s actions.
The new leader of QCA was Ken Boston, an Australian who had successfully
managed the introduction of a scheme of vocational education in New South Wales.
The enthusiasm he was expected to bring to widening the appeal of vocational