Examination boards in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Examination boards in the United Kingdom (sometimes called awarding bodies or examining groups) are the examination board
s responsible for setting and awarding secondary education
level qualifications, such as GCSEs, Standard Grade
s, A Levels, Higher
s and vocational qualifications, to students in the United Kingdom
.
Broadly speaking, the UK has (and has always had) two separate school systems: one for England
, Wales
and Northern Ireland
and one for Scotland
. As a result, two separate sets of exam boards have developed.
Though the exam boards have regional roots (see below), they are all nationwide, though the CCEA is not very active outside of its native Northern Ireland. Most offer a range of qualifications, though not all boards offer every qualification in every area (Edexcel, for example, offers a great deal of vocational qualifications, while the WJEC is the only board to offer A Level Film Studies). Schools and colleges have a completely free choice between the boards, depending on the qualification offered. Most schools use a mixture of boards for their GCSE qualifications, with a similar situation existing at A Level. (It is worth noting that a school using, say, OCR for GCSE History is perfectly free to pick a different board for A Level History.)
had experience of offering qualifications, such as degree
s, it was natural that they created the first exam boards. Indeed, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge each had their own exam board and a joint board they ran together. The qualifications offered were generally of the boards' own creation. Schools and colleges (with some exceptions, detailed below) were free to pick which board they wanted to use, though most went for a local board.
The early boards established included:
The Central Welsh Board differed from most exam boards, as it was not controlled by a university and only offered examinations to schools and colleges in Wales. Intermediate schools in Wales had to use the Board, though other schools and colleges were free to choose.
The University of Birmingham disbanded its own exam board and joined the JMB in 1916.
, taken at 16, and the Higher School Certificate
, taken at 18. The existing exam boards started offering the new qualifications, normally in place of their own qualifications.
In 1930, the University of London Extension Board renamed itself the University of London Matriculation and School
Examinations Council before becoming University of London University Entrance and School Examinations Council and School Examinations Department in 1951.
The University of Durham Matriculation and School Examination Board renamed itself the Durham University Examinations Board in the 1930s.
The Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) was founded by the Welsh local authorities in 1948. It took over many of the Central Welsh Board's responsibilities, including running Wales's exam system.
(GCE) was introduced. It was split into two stages: Ordinary Level
(O Level, taken at 16) and Advanced Level (A Level, taken at 18). These qualifications replaced the School Certificate and the Higher School Certificate respectively.
The existing exam boards offered the GCE, alongside the Northern Ireland Schools Examination Council
.
These boards were soon joined by the Associated Examining Board
(AEB), which was founded by City & Guilds in 1953.
The Southern Universities' Joint Board for School Examinations was founded in 1954 as a successor to the University of Bristol School Examinations Council.
The Durham University Examinations Board ceased to exist in 1964.
The University of London University Entrance and School Examinations Council and School Examinations Department was renamed the University of London School Examinations Board in 1984.
(CSE) was introduced. It was aimed at the 80% 16-year-old students who did not take O Levels and, until that point, had left school with no qualifications. CSEs were administered on a local basis with local boards offering the qualifications. The local boards in England were new organisations, while in Wales and Northern Ireland (where universities did not control the existing boards), the existing boards were used. The CSE boards were:
In 1979, the neighbouring Metropolitan and Middlesex boards merged to form the London Regional Examinations Board. The West Yorkshire and Lindsey and Yorkshire and Humberside Boards also merged to form the Yorkshire Regional Examinations Board in 1982.
(GCSE) in 1986. As O Levels and CSEs had used different exam boards (except in Wales and Northern Ireland), new 'examining groups' were created. In England, the four examining groups were consortia of regional GCE and CSE exam boards, while in Wales and Northern Ireland they were the existing boards, making six boards in total:
As CSEs were no longer offered, the CSE boards effectively ceased to operate as independent boards and instead became part of their larger examining groups (some were even taken over by larger members of their groups, such as the South East Regional Examinations Board, which was acquired by the Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations in 1985). The GCE boards, however, retained a degree of autonomy, as they still offered A Levels independently.
Though the boards were regional, schools were entirely free to pick which board they did their GCSE qualifications with and could mix and match between subjects.
When the Certificate of Achievement (now the Entry Level Certificate
, a qualification below GCSE level) was introduced, the GCSE examining groups were responsible for administering the qualification.
The Joint Matriculation Board merged with the Northern Examining Association in 1992 to form the Northern Examinations and Assessment Board (NEAB). Meanwhile, the Associated Examining Board merged with the Southern Examining Group to form AEB/SEG 1994, though both kept their respective identities. In 1995, the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) was abolished, with its GCSE functions being transferred to AEB/SEG (its A Level functions went to UCLES). NEAB, AEB/SEG and the vocational City & Guilds formed the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) in 1997, with the AEB/SEG and NEAB formally merging into AQA in 2000 (City & Guilds chose to remain independent, but closely cooperates with AQA). AQA is run as an educational charity.
The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) took over the Southern Universities' Joint Board in 1990 and the Midland Examining Group (MEG) in 1993. When the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) was abolished in 1995, its A Level functions were transferred to UCLES (its GCSE functions went to AEB/SEG). In the same year, UCLES also took over the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board (OCSEB). UCLES then merged all its A Level boards together together to form the Oxford and Cambridge Examinations and Assessment Council (OCEAC). This left UCLES offering A Levels under the OCSEB name, GCSEs under the MEG name and some vocational qualifications under the UODLE name. This situation continued until 1998, when UCLES took over the vocational Royal Society of Arts Examinations Board. Following the merger, it chose to use the name Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR) for all its UK qualifications. OCR is now the only major exam board owned by a university and is still run by the University of Cambridge
, through its Cambridge Assessment division.
Cambridge Assessment also controls CIE, a predominately international exam board that started offering some qualifications to English, Welsh and Northern Irish state schools in 2008.
The University of London School Examinations Board merged with the London and East Anglian Group to form the University of London Examinations & Assessment Council (known as London Examinations or ULEAC) in 1991. In 1996, London Examinations merged with the vocational BTEC
to form the Edexcel Foundation, the legal entity was called London Qualifications. Though it originally ran as an educational charity like AQA, the Foundation was taken over by Pearson
in 2003 (and renamed simply Edexcel), making it the only British exam board to be run by a profit-making company.
The Northern Ireland Schools Examination Council became the Northern Ireland School Examinations and Assessment Council before being replaced by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in 1994. It is a non-departmental public body.
Unlike the other boards, WJEC did not experience any major organisational changes and is still owned by the Welsh local authorities, though it operates independently.
(Scottish Qualifications Authority), which offers all Scotland's qualifications.
, while vocational qualifications were awarded by the Scottish Vocational Education Council (SCOTVEC). The two merged in 1997 to form the SQA.
The JCQ
(Joint Council for Qualifications) is a common voice for UK exam boards. The JCQ is made up of AQA, CCEA, City & Guilds, Edexcel, OCR, SQA and WJEC. Among its roles, it devises standard rules for exams and publishes statistics.
Examination board
An examination board is an organisation that sets examinations and is responsible for marking them and distributing results. Examination boards have the power to award qualifications, such as SAT scores, to students...
s responsible for setting and awarding secondary education
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
level qualifications, such as GCSEs, Standard Grade
Standard Grade
Standard Grades are Scotland's educational qualifications for students aged around 14 to 16 years, which are due to be fully replaced in 2014 when Scottish Qualifications Authority's Higher Still system becomes the main qualifications as part of the major shake up of Scotland's education system as...
s, A Levels, Higher
Higher (Scottish)
In Scotland the Higher is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate offered by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. It superseded the old Higher Grade on the Scottish Certificate of Education...
s and vocational qualifications, to students in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Broadly speaking, the UK has (and has always had) two separate school systems: one for England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and one for Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. As a result, two separate sets of exam boards have developed.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Unusually, England, Wales and Northern Ireland have several exam boards, with schools and colleges able to freely choose between them on a subject-by-subject basis. Currently, there are six exam boards available to state schools:- AQAAssessment and Qualifications AllianceAQA is an Awarding Body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds examinations in various subjects at GCSE, AS and A Level and offers vocational qualifications. AQA is a registered charity and independent of the Government...
(Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) - CIE (University of Cambridge International Examinations)
- CCEACouncil for the Curriculum, Examinations & AssessmentThe Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment is an examination board in Northern Ireland...
(Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment) - EdexcelEdexcelEdexcel, a UK company, is one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland's five main examination boards, and is wholly owned by the private-sector Pearson PLC, a UK-based media and publishing conglomerate. Its name is a portmanteau word derived from the words "educational" and "excellence"...
- OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations)
- WJEC (Welsh Joint Education Committee)
Though the exam boards have regional roots (see below), they are all nationwide, though the CCEA is not very active outside of its native Northern Ireland. Most offer a range of qualifications, though not all boards offer every qualification in every area (Edexcel, for example, offers a great deal of vocational qualifications, while the WJEC is the only board to offer A Level Film Studies). Schools and colleges have a completely free choice between the boards, depending on the qualification offered. Most schools use a mixture of boards for their GCSE qualifications, with a similar situation existing at A Level. (It is worth noting that a school using, say, OCR for GCSE History is perfectly free to pick a different board for A Level History.)
Early beginnings
Exam boards have been around as long as there have been qualifications offered by schools. As universitiesUniversity
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
had experience of offering qualifications, such as degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
s, it was natural that they created the first exam boards. Indeed, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge each had their own exam board and a joint board they ran together. The qualifications offered were generally of the boards' own creation. Schools and colleges (with some exceptions, detailed below) were free to pick which board they wanted to use, though most went for a local board.
The early boards established included:
- 1857: University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (founded by the University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
) - 1858: University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES, founded by the University of CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
) - 1858: University of Durham Matriculation and School Examination Board (founded by the University of Durham)
- 1873: Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board (founded by the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge)
- 1896: Central Welsh Board (founded by the Welsh local authorities)
- 1900: University of BirminghamUniversity of BirminghamThe University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
- 1902: University of London Extension Board (founded by the University of LondonUniversity of London-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
) - 1903: Northern Universities Joint Matriculation BoardJoint Matriculation BoardThe Joint Matriculation Board was an examination board, operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 1903 and 1992. It became part of NEAB, which itself is now part of AQA.-Beginnings:...
(JMB, founded by the Victoria University of ManchesterVictoria University of ManchesterThe Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...
, the University of LiverpoolUniversity of LiverpoolThe University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
and the University of LeedsUniversity of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
) - 1911: University of Bristol School Examinations Council (founded by the University of BristolUniversity of BristolThe University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
)
The Central Welsh Board differed from most exam boards, as it was not controlled by a university and only offered examinations to schools and colleges in Wales. Intermediate schools in Wales had to use the Board, though other schools and colleges were free to choose.
The University of Birmingham disbanded its own exam board and joined the JMB in 1916.
School Certificate and Higher School Certificate
In 1918, the first national qualifications for England, Wales and Northern Ireland were introduced: the School CertificateSchool Certificate (UK)
The School Certificate was a United Kingdom educational attainment standard qualification, established in 1918. The School Certificate Examination was usually taken at age 16 and it was necessary to pass Mathematics, English and other subjects in order to gain the certificate...
, taken at 16, and the Higher School Certificate
Higher School Certificate (UK)
The Higher School Certificate was a United Kingdom educational attainment standard qualification, established in 1918 by the Secondary Schools Examination Council . The Higher School Certificate Examination was usually taken at age 18, or two years after the School Certificate. It was abolished...
, taken at 18. The existing exam boards started offering the new qualifications, normally in place of their own qualifications.
In 1930, the University of London Extension Board renamed itself the University of London Matriculation and School
Examinations Council before becoming University of London University Entrance and School Examinations Council and School Examinations Department in 1951.
The University of Durham Matriculation and School Examination Board renamed itself the Durham University Examinations Board in the 1930s.
The Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) was founded by the Welsh local authorities in 1948. It took over many of the Central Welsh Board's responsibilities, including running Wales's exam system.
GCE (O Level and A Level)
In 1951, the General Certificate of EducationGeneral Certificate of Education
The General Certificate of Education or GCE is an academic qualification that examination boards in the United Kingdom and a few of the Commonwealth countries, notably Sri Lanka, confer to students. The GCE traditionally comprised two levels: the Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level...
(GCE) was introduced. It was split into two stages: Ordinary Level
Ordinary Level
The O-level is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education . It was introduced as part of British educational reform in the 1950s alongside the more in-depth and academically rigorous Advanced Level in England, Wales and Northern Ireland A-level...
(O Level, taken at 16) and Advanced Level (A Level, taken at 18). These qualifications replaced the School Certificate and the Higher School Certificate respectively.
The existing exam boards offered the GCE, alongside the Northern Ireland Schools Examination Council
.
These boards were soon joined by the Associated Examining Board
Associated Examining Board
The AEB was an examination board serving England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1953 until 2000. It is now part of AQA.The AEB was formed in 1953 by City & Guilds...
(AEB), which was founded by City & Guilds in 1953.
The Southern Universities' Joint Board for School Examinations was founded in 1954 as a successor to the University of Bristol School Examinations Council.
The Durham University Examinations Board ceased to exist in 1964.
The University of London University Entrance and School Examinations Council and School Examinations Department was renamed the University of London School Examinations Board in 1984.
CSE
In 1965, the Certificate of Secondary EducationCertificate of Secondary Education
The Certificate of Secondary Education was a school leaving qualification awarded between 1965 and 1987 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland....
(CSE) was introduced. It was aimed at the 80% 16-year-old students who did not take O Levels and, until that point, had left school with no qualifications. CSEs were administered on a local basis with local boards offering the qualifications. The local boards in England were new organisations, while in Wales and Northern Ireland (where universities did not control the existing boards), the existing boards were used. The CSE boards were:
- Associated Lancashire Schools Board
- East Anglian Examinations Board
- East Midland Regional Examinations Board
- Metropolitan Regional Examination Board
- Middlesex Regional Examination Board
- Northern Ireland Schools Examination Council
- Northern Regional Examinations Board
- North West Regional Examinations Board
- South East Regional Examinations Board
- South West (Regional) Examinations Board
- Southern Regional Exams Board
- Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC)
- West Midlands Regional Examination Board
- The West Yorkshire and Lindsey Regional Examinations Board
- Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Examinations Board
In 1979, the neighbouring Metropolitan and Middlesex boards merged to form the London Regional Examinations Board. The West Yorkshire and Lindsey and Yorkshire and Humberside Boards also merged to form the Yorkshire Regional Examinations Board in 1982.
GCSE
To create a more egalitarian system, the O Levels and CSE (but not the A Level) were replaced by the General Certificate of Secondary EducationGeneral Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...
(GCSE) in 1986. As O Levels and CSEs had used different exam boards (except in Wales and Northern Ireland), new 'examining groups' were created. In England, the four examining groups were consortia of regional GCE and CSE exam boards, while in Wales and Northern Ireland they were the existing boards, making six boards in total:
- London and East Anglian Examining Group (formed by the University of London School Examinations Board, the London Regional Examination Board and the East Anglian Examinations Board)
- Midland Examining GroupMidland Examining GroupThe Midland Examining Group was an examination board, operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It offered a range of GCSE and Certificate of Achievement qualifications...
(MEG, formed by the Southern Universities' Joint Board, the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, East Midland Regional Examinations Board and the West Midlands Examinations Board) - Northern Examining Association (NEA, formed by the Joint Matriculation Board, the Associated Lancashire Schools Examining Board, the Northern Regional Examinations Board, the North West Regional Examinations Board and the Yorkshire Regional Examinations Board)
- Northern Ireland Schools Examination Council
- Southern Examining Group (SEG, formed by the Associated Examining Board, the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations, the South East Regional Examinations Board, South West (Regional) Examinations Board and Southern Regional Exams Board)
- Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC)
As CSEs were no longer offered, the CSE boards effectively ceased to operate as independent boards and instead became part of their larger examining groups (some were even taken over by larger members of their groups, such as the South East Regional Examinations Board, which was acquired by the Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations in 1985). The GCE boards, however, retained a degree of autonomy, as they still offered A Levels independently.
Though the boards were regional, schools were entirely free to pick which board they did their GCSE qualifications with and could mix and match between subjects.
When the Certificate of Achievement (now the Entry Level Certificate
Entry Level Certificate
The Entry Level Certificate is a qualification offered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It lies at Entry Level of the National Qualifications Framework, pitching it just below GCSE level.-The qualification:...
, a qualification below GCSE level) was introduced, the GCSE examining groups were responsible for administering the qualification.
Creation of the current boards
It was not long before the GCE (A Level) boards and GCSE examining groups began to formally merge or enter into even closer working relationships. This made sense, as the it allowed merged boards to offer both GCSE and A Level qualifications and the boards were working together to offer the GCSE qualifications anyway. Many boards also took the opportunity to merge with vocational exam boards, as vocational qualifications became more common in schools. The government encouraged this, as they wanted to simplify the system by having fewer exam boards.AQA
The Joint Matriculation Board merged with the Northern Examining Association in 1992 to form the Northern Examinations and Assessment Board (NEAB). Meanwhile, the Associated Examining Board merged with the Southern Examining Group to form AEB/SEG 1994, though both kept their respective identities. In 1995, the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) was abolished, with its GCSE functions being transferred to AEB/SEG (its A Level functions went to UCLES). NEAB, AEB/SEG and the vocational City & Guilds formed the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) in 1997, with the AEB/SEG and NEAB formally merging into AQA in 2000 (City & Guilds chose to remain independent, but closely cooperates with AQA). AQA is run as an educational charity.
OCR and CIE
The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) took over the Southern Universities' Joint Board in 1990 and the Midland Examining Group (MEG) in 1993. When the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) was abolished in 1995, its A Level functions were transferred to UCLES (its GCSE functions went to AEB/SEG). In the same year, UCLES also took over the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board (OCSEB). UCLES then merged all its A Level boards together together to form the Oxford and Cambridge Examinations and Assessment Council (OCEAC). This left UCLES offering A Levels under the OCSEB name, GCSEs under the MEG name and some vocational qualifications under the UODLE name. This situation continued until 1998, when UCLES took over the vocational Royal Society of Arts Examinations Board. Following the merger, it chose to use the name Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR) for all its UK qualifications. OCR is now the only major exam board owned by a university and is still run by the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, through its Cambridge Assessment division.
Cambridge Assessment also controls CIE, a predominately international exam board that started offering some qualifications to English, Welsh and Northern Irish state schools in 2008.
Edexcel
The University of London School Examinations Board merged with the London and East Anglian Group to form the University of London Examinations & Assessment Council (known as London Examinations or ULEAC) in 1991. In 1996, London Examinations merged with the vocational BTEC
Business And Technology Education Council (BTEC)
The Business and Technology Education Council is the British body which awards vocational qualifications. Such qualifications are commonly referred to as "BTECs"....
to form the Edexcel Foundation, the legal entity was called London Qualifications. Though it originally ran as an educational charity like AQA, the Foundation was taken over by Pearson
Pearson PLC
Pearson plc is a global media and education company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is both the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, with consumer imprints including Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird...
in 2003 (and renamed simply Edexcel), making it the only British exam board to be run by a profit-making company.
CCEA
The Northern Ireland Schools Examination Council became the Northern Ireland School Examinations and Assessment Council before being replaced by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in 1994. It is a non-departmental public body.
WJEC
Unlike the other boards, WJEC did not experience any major organisational changes and is still owned by the Welsh local authorities, though it operates independently.
Scotland
There is just one exam board in Scotland, the SQAScottish Qualifications Authority
The Scottish Qualifications Authority is a non-departmental public body responsible for accreditation and awarding. It is partly funded by the Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate of the Scottish Government, employing 750 staff, based in Glasgow and Dalkeith...
(Scottish Qualifications Authority), which offers all Scotland's qualifications.
History
Previously, academic qualifications were awarded by the Scottish Examination BoardScottish Examination Board
The Scottish Examination Board was the academic examination board for schools in Scotland until 1997.It used to administer all of Scotland's academic qualifications, including Standard Grades and Highers....
, while vocational qualifications were awarded by the Scottish Vocational Education Council (SCOTVEC). The two merged in 1997 to form the SQA.
Examination boards working together
The UK's examination boards sometimes work together. For example, they sometimes offer qualifications jointly or share training materials for common parts of specifications.The JCQ
Joint Council for Qualifications
The Joint Council for Qualifications commonly referred to as JCQ is a council acting as a single voice for the seven largest qualification providers in the UK offering GCSE, GCE, AEA, Scottish Highers, Entry Level, Vocational and vocationally-related qualifications: AQA, City & Guilds, CCEA,...
(Joint Council for Qualifications) is a common voice for UK exam boards. The JCQ is made up of AQA, CCEA, City & Guilds, Edexcel, OCR, SQA and WJEC. Among its roles, it devises standard rules for exams and publishes statistics.