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Chapter 6 Conclusions: The Boards in the 21st century
This final chapter will begin with a summary of the answers to my research questions
and a reconsideration of the conclusions the evidence has suggested. I shall then
present my overall conclusions and finish by outlining two potential scenarios,
stemming from those conclusions, for the future of the English examining boards.
What does the evidence suggest? My answers to my research
questions
1 How did the independent examining boards evolve?
The question as to how the curious constellation of independent examining boards
evolved from their origins accrediting matriculation to particular universities was
answered with historical data presented in the form of a narrative. This approach has
demonstrated how what were initially almost random decisions hardened into
established practice, aspects of which have lasted to the present day. Perhaps the most
significant of these was the inability of Oxford and Cambridge to agree in 1859 to
offer examinationsjointly. This apparently minor difference of opinion set the pattern
of separate university examining boards. Other aspects of the initial arrangements
which were virtually set in stone from the outset were the timing of examinations in
June and the age for the two levels of external examination as 16 and 18. Despite all
that has changed, those basic elements of the pattern have survived, although the
recent move to a modular structure has eroded the dominance of June in the
examination timetable.
Then, despite recommendations in the Clarendon Report, the Taunton Report and the
Bryce Report, the concept of a single national examination system was never accepted