The ways in which examination standards are conceptualised and operationalised differently across nations has not been given sufficient attention. The international literature on standard-setting has been dominated by the psychometrics tradition. Broader conceptualisations of examination standards have been discussed in the literature in England,…

In societies following a meritocratic ideal, educational certificates and examinations play a key role in allocating life chances to individuals. Procedures for allocating life chances need to be perceived as fair by those concerned if examinations and certificates are to possess legitimacy. This article traces and compares basic conceptions of…

When students fail an examination at the end of their first year, they are offered a resit examination, which they merely need to pass to progress into the second year. These resits anecdotally provide a dual purpose of testing that students have achieved the required level of attainment to progress, and incentivising additional effort. This paper…

Michael Gove has made examination reform a marked feature of his period as Education Secretary in the coalition government, although he has not always found it easy to bring about the changes he feels so strongly about, in the face of widespread opposition from teachers and educationists. This article seeks to analyse the Education Secretary's…

The marketisation of education in England began in the 1980s. It was facilitated by national testing (which gave objective and comparable information to parents), and by the New Public Management (which introduced a posteriori funding and competition among providers). Now a new complementary phase of marketisation is being introduced:…

Discusses difficulties inherent in assessment of oral abilities as part of a comprehensive examination system. (AA)

Reviews and critiques the British system of public examinations. (AA)

Based on a survey of examinations in drama, discusses principles, practices, and issues raised by the findings. (AA)

Reviews and critiques examination boards' comments on the Ordinary (O) level examination in English language. (AA)

This pamphlet contains a summary of the scheme of assessment to be used in each of the experimental examinations devised as part of the 16+ examination research program. The committees of the School Council agreed to the publication of this material to encourage further discussion and to inform teachers about development in the experimental 16+…

Details how England is reworking its secondary school examination system, replacing the GCE and the CSE with one examination system. (CRH)

Some of the assumptions underlying educational assessment policies in England and Wales are discussed in terms of contradictions in the aims of those policies. Two key initiatives--the national "bench-mark" testing and records of achievement--provide the focus for illustrating the potentially fundamental change of emphasis in the nature…

Discusses relationships between approaches to Advanced (A) level English literature and types of questions on course examinations. (AA)

Briefly describes what is meant by the English examination system, how it has come to take the forms that it does, and why such importance is attached to it. Thereafter, some problems and developments in examinations in art and design education are considered with six examination proposals summarizing the aims of art and design studies. (Author/RK)

Examination results were compared among pupils at three schools with different provision policies for the 16+ examinations. Results at both 16+ and "A" level confirm previous findings that intelligence and social background relate significantly to examination performance. The school policy variations were also found to significantly…