The origins of the registrar's office are complex. According to common tradition, the registrar was, or evolved from, the office of the beadle (sometimes referred to as "bedel") in the medieval university. This tradition is incorrect; the story is more complex. The beadle sometimes performed functions similar to those performed by the…

The General Certificate of Education (GCE) A* grade was first awarded to students in 2010. It was introduced to assist higher education institutions in differentiating between the highest performing students and to promote and reward greater stretch and challenge. This paper, based on a synthesis of key policy documents, an analysis of…

This paper presents a detailed quantitative analysis of the use of seen questions within examinations in Economics option modules at one UK university. 4622 marks for seen and unseen questions awarded over a period of three years were analysed; the impact of personal characteristics was analysed using a sub-sample. It was found that the number of…

This paper presents results of a questionnaire survey of 1400 Year 13 (final-year) school and sixth-form pupils in two contrasting areas of England, which asked them about their thoughts and plans to study at university abroad. Key questions that the survey sought to answer were the following. How many and what proportion of all higher education…

This study investigated the differences and similarities in the impact of school leadership on student mathematics achievement in different global regions using TIMSS international data. Three-level unconditional and conditional hierarchical models were fitted to the data in each country. The findings showed that the variables of teacher…

Discusses the role of judgments and the teacher as judge in the classroom. Describes how judgments may be communicated through the written word, with emphasis on judgments communicated via school records. (RJC)

Progress Files have been set by the government as a specific element of all higher education provision in England and "should consist of two elements: a transcript recording student achievement which should follow a common format devised by institutions collectively through their representative bodies; and a means by which students can …

Reports findings of University of Bristol's Primary Records of Achievement Project. Discusses strategies for developing primary school records of achievement (ROAs), examining four examples of how local education authorities (LEAs) have implemented ROAs in primary schools in England. Presents six substantive issues emerging from research on…

The North Warwickshire (England) College of Technology and Art created student profiles of students enrolled in a precaring course, a one-year course conceived as an introduction to work in the caring field for young people of low academic achievement. It was decided that a master profile should be created to cover all low-level courses across the…

These six papers examine the issues and review some of the current practices in the developing field of profile recording of young people's attainments. An introductory paper, "A Burst of Interest," looks at some reasons why profiling has developed and examines some major issues involved. "Profiles in Training" discusses…