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1997) as a motive force in the shift of power from the Boards to the centre. Yet, apart
from occasional glimpses like those cited, one cannot pierce the blanket of obscurity
provided by anonymity in order to distinguish between the influence of civil servants
and the politicians they advise. Therefore, I have decided to include both within the
concept of the “managerial state”. The analysis as to the exact source of various
policy decisions will have to await a more transparent age than the current one. This
concludes my ‘prologue’. With what might be described as the English educational
map’s essential philosophical features in place, I shall now proceed to the narrative
which details the origins and growth of the examining boards.
r∙"-
A The Origins and Development of the Independent English
Examining Boards
The unusual structure of England’s independent examining boards came into being
well before a national secondary school system existed. They emerged as a classic
Victorian solution to a problem: devised by products of the ancient universities and
quite outside any government involvement. The problem was the unreliable standard
of the products of post-elementary education. Whether proceeding to imperial
administration or to university education, the young men emerging from the range of
educational institutions were difficult to evaluate as suitable for their chosen direction.
It was unfortunate, in view of how the initial structure has survived, that from the
outset the essential difference between accreditation and selection was not recognised
and has survived to bedevil examinations to this day. However, as a solution to an
immediate problem, the Boards created to solve it were so well suited to the society
they served that they could fit a slightly edited version of R H Tawney’s description,