Associated Examining Board
Abbreviation | AEB |
---|---|
Merged into | AQA |
Formation | 8 May 1953[1] |
Dissolved | 1 April 2000[2] |
Purpose | Examination board |
Headquarters | Guildford, UK |
Region served | England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and overseas schools |
Formerly called | Joint Examinations Board for the General Certificate of Education (May–December 1953) Associated Examining Board for the General Certificate of Education (December 1953–????) |
The Associated Examining Board (AEB) was an examination board serving England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1953[2] until 2000 when it merged with NEAB to form AQA.[2]
History
Formation
The Associated Examining Board was formed in response to the United Kingdom Ministry of Education's decision to introduce the General Certificate of Education (GCE) qualification, available at Ordinary Level and Advanced Level, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1951. The new exams would attract a broader range of candidates than the School Certificate and Higher School Certificate that they replaced. While there were already eleven examination boards offering school qualifications across the UK, all eight of those based in England were affiliated with universities and focused very much on traditional academic subjects. Many involved with technical and vocational education felt that a new exam board was needed to offer a broader range of subjects and syllabi to cater for the new candidates the GCE would attract.[1]
The examination board was established as The Joint Examinations Board for the General Certificate of Education at a meeting at
Expansion
The board began small, with just 4,791 entries from 151 centres, mostly colleges, in its first year. It grew rapidly, with its exams being recognised as equivalent to other boards' by several universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, by summer 1956. By 1963, there were 228,443 entries for AEB exams.[1] The AEB grew and eventually became the largest provider of exams at both O Level and A Level.[4]
On 30 September 1967, the AEB became financially independent from City & Guilds. By now, the AEB was based in Aldershot, having moved there in January 1966. The AEB moved again, this time 10 miles to a purpose-built office on the University of Surrey's campus in Guildford, in autumn 1985.[5]
Collaboration
By the 1970s, the UK's
Despite the plans for GCSE, the AEB (and the Oxford Delegacy) would continue to offer A Levels independently. The three CSE boards, however, would now only offer qualifications as part of the group. Therefore, the CSE boards pursued merging with the GCE boards.[5] Consequently, the South-East Regional Examinations Board and South Western Examinations Board merged with the AEB on 1 April 1987[4] (meanwhile, the Southern Regional Examinations Board merged with the Oxford Delegacy in 1985 to form the Oxford School Examinations Board).[5] This left the Associated Examining Board and the Oxford School Examinations Board as the only members of their local GCSE group, which they formally launched as the Southern Examining Group in 1987 in time for the first GCSE exams in 1988.[2]
Final years
In 1994, the University of Oxford decided to exit the schools examinations market and sold its share of the Southern Examining Group to the AEB (its A Level interests transferred to the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate).[5] Thus, the Associated Examining Board now controlled the Southern Examining Group entirely. The AEB retained the SEG's identity, meaning GCSEs continued to be offered under the SEG brand and A Levels under the AEB name.[2] Though legally the AEB owned the SEG, both names were used equally, with the enlarged AEB sometimes referred to as AEB/SEG.
In 1997,
References
- ^ ISBN 9780901893031.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Kathleen Tattersall. "A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLICIES, PRACTICES AND ISSUES RELATING TO COMPARABILITY" (PDF). Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. pp. 46–47, 61, 67, 88–89. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)) - ^ "Pearson qualifications - Edexcel, BTEC, LCCI and EDI - Pearson qualifications". Qualifications.pearson.com.
- ^ a b The Associated Examining Board Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 1988. Guildford: AEB. 1988. p. 3.
- ^ ISBN 0954470508.