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

Date

Development

Rationale

Primary Effects

Indirect Effects

1944

Butler Education Act

To offer free secondary
education to all to age 15; to
reduce influence of
examinations on curriculum

Three-Ievel system with
examinations for top 20%;
exam boards ejected from
SSEC

Confirms platonic view of
learners; first sign of central
control over boards

1951 &

1953

Launch of General Certificate
of Education at Ordinary and
Advanced levels

To replace rigid grouped
qualification with single-subject
examinations

Single subject exams
established specialisation and
choice

Demand for accreditation of
wider range of pupils

1953

Associated Examining Board
created

To accredit attainment of‘new’
technical and further education
college, students__

A non-university examining
board offers new subjects

Comparability begins to be an
issue; AEB gradually loses
its distinctive quality___________

1964

Schools Council replaces
SSEC (exam boards not
included)_____________________

To involve teachers & LEAs in
curriculum and examinations

Series of proposals for post-16
exam reforms; none succeeded

Confirmed reform as
voluntary and exclusion of
boards from exam design_____

1965

Certificate of Secondary
Education introduced

To accredit attainment of 40%
of pupils below O level

Creation of 13 regional CSE
boards; financial stability for
‘old’ boards__

SheepZgoats effect built in to
examination structure

1970

Schools Council authorises
pilot schemes for single 16+
examination________________

To respond to pressure from
comprehensive schools to
replace O level∕CSE divide______

Pilot schemes succeed;
governments will not endorse a
single system_________________

Schools Council’s approach
increasingly ineffectual

1983

Sir Keith Joseph agrees to a
single examination at 16+

To respond to pressure from
schools________________________

Increases in attainment year on
year__________________________

Pressure increases for
widening 6^lh-form provision

1984

Secondary Examinations
Council replaces Schools
Council

To replace an ineffectual body:
quarrelling unions, LEAs no
longer interested

Exam regulation becomes an
issue for central involvement

A major shift in control from
boards to government-
appointed regulator