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

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Therefore, the sociological influence in this research is the endeavour to analyse one
fundamental component of the structure of the English education system’s “processes
of transmission and acquisition¹'(Bemstein 1996:5) and the shift in power from the
‘capillary level’ to central control.

Seeldng a historical position: entering the historiographical debate

With sociology having established the power function of the examining boards, their
development within English educational history must be located if their current
position is to be effectively analysed. This aspect of the research project comes within
what McCulloch and Richardson designate as “a contextualising study before
focusing in depth on a contemporary problem" (McCulloch 2000: 128). However,
seeking a theoretical position within education history means that one must venture
into what Richard Aldrich has described as “a contested and changing terrain"
(Aldrich 2000a: 63). Aldrich’s description is more than justified; history in general
and education history in particular have been the scene of a serious theoretical debate.
I was fortunate in that, as I Stmggled to grasp the issues of that debate, Roy Lowe
published his 4-volume History of Education: Major themes (Lowe 2000). This
collection of selections from the work of the principal participants in the
historiographical wars proved invaluable in elucidating the issues at stake, and inform
the following summary which I include as background to my decisions about a
theoretical framework.

Following the spread of compulsory schooling in 19^th-century western nations, the
study of education history was confined to teacher training institutions. In both North
America and Britain the subject formed an essential component in the preparation of
teachers for their role in the upward climb of society, as elucidated in the whiggish

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