THE HISTORY OF EXAMS
marks being discounted in one examination GCSEs were designed to be inclusive and “Concerns over plagiarism and the levels
to total disqualification from all. The theft of were more about application of skills, which of support being given to students by teachers
question papers remains a criminal act. were tested through coursework. and parents could no longer be ignored.”
There were no secondary schools as we “Some papers were tiered so students could As a result, controlled assessment will
know them today, but there were fee-paying take different levels of paper. Put simply, they replace coursework in most subjects, with
public schools, such as the famous Eton and were open to everyone.” assignments being written under supervision.
Harrow, and grammar schools, such as the The period between their introduction and Other major changes have involved updating
schools of the King Edward VI foundation in the turn of the 21st century saw little change the curriculum to reflect the changing world
Birmingham. Pupils had to pay some fees to in their style and content and GCSEs remained and pupils’ lives. A whole new era of genetic
attend these or relied on charities to fund them. basically the same during this period. The first engineering and cloning has entered the
Mr Watts added: “We had reached the real – but small – changes occurred in 2001. world of science, while subjects such as
stage in the 1850s when even those students Coursework was removed from maths, tiers sustainability and climate change are being
who did not want to go to university, or were were reconfigured and minor changes were grappled with in geography and citizenship.
not members of universities, needed to have made to get the balance right in some subjects. “We have to follow the subject criteria of the
something to show for the work they had done. Since then, concerns about the relevance of national curriculum, so we have to consult with
“At this time there was not much of a state GCSE subject content, and the ever-growing the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
education system at all. It was not until 1880 controversy over the authenticity of pupils’ work before the draft specifications go out for
that education became compulsory, and that has led to the major review taking place now. consideration by teachers.”
was only until the age of 10. Most children “The changes we are about to undergo are a Schools will begin receiving the final
would have been to elementary school for four huge piece of work, particularly in relation to specifications in September 2008, with first
years, though they could stay on until 14.” coursework,” Ms Kenyon added. teaching due to begin a year later.
Having an examination system was about
more than just testing pupils and students,
however. It meant that, for the first time,
standards were being set in terms of what was
1858 E
xamina
tions
Questi
ons
being taught, and how well.
“One of the reasons examinations were Mathem
atics
developed was because teachers wanted help n thousand
and t
wenty,
to improve standards of education, and having
1 Obt
ain th
e sum
of for
ty-six
times
seve
an examination syllabus helped them,” Mr
sevent
een ti
mes on
e mill
ion an
d one
and th
irty-t
hree t
imes t
hirty
three:
A 17,
324,02
6
Watts continued.
“Until then, no-one told them what to
2 Wri
te the
year
1858 i
n Roma
n nume
rals
teach, and there was no national curriculum, A MDCCC
LVIII
so it was the universities they turned to for
guidance about what to teach and to what
3. Div
ide 23
22500
by 185
8
standard.
A. 125
0
“There were no real ‘standards’ of education
Geogra
phy
as we would describe them now. A lot of
teachers and pupils just did the best they Describe
accura
tely t
he sit
uation
of th
e foll
owing
places
:
could. So there was a need to look at ways of
improving schools.”
• Gen
oa
Today, examinations are a multi-million
• Lon
donder
ry
pound industry, with more than 900,000
• Mec
ca
• Rio
de Ja
neiro
students taking GCSEs and A levels every year.
• Sin
gapore
21 years of GCSEs
• Ita
ly
GCSEs began to be taught for the first time
• Nor
thern
Irelan
d
in 1986 under Sir Keith Joseph, with the first
• Sau
di Ara
bia
candidates taking their examinations in 1988.
• Bra
zil
• Sou
th-Eas
t Asia
The new qualifications replaced O levels
and CSEs and were designed to cater for
Histor
y
all levels of ability. Clara Kenyon, OCR’s
qualifications director, explained: “It’s fair
Name i
n orde
r the
Queens
and t
he chi
ldren
of Hen
ry VII
I. On
what
to say that O levels were designed for the
ground
s was
he div
orced
from h
is fir
st wif
e?
top five per cent of pupils, and were very
Wives
knowledge-based, end-of-course examinations.
Cather
ine of
Arago
n
“Students undertook a two-year course of
Anne B
oleyn
study, which ended with the examination. Jane
Seymou
r
Anne o
f Clev
es
Cather
ine Ho
ward
Contents Cathe
rine P
arr
Page 4: The pinch points
Childr
en
Page 5: The school’s view Ma
ry
Pages 6/7: Overview of the reforms
Elizab
eth
Edward
Pages 8/9: Controlled assessment
Pages 10/11: Maths, English & ICT
Ground
s for
divorc
e:
Pages 12/13: Global citizenship
Henry
VIII d
ivorce
d Cath
erine
of Ara
gon be
cause
the ma
rriage
had n
ever
Pages 14/15: Creativity b
een le
gal as
he ha
d marr
ied hi
s late
broth
er’s w
ife
Pages 16/17: Languages
OR
Page 18: History
Page 19: Disability legislation
He wan
ted a
son
Page 20: Resources and information
SecEd
DELIVERING INNOVATION
3
IN QUALIFICATIONS
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