FORUM - 55 - Secondary School Examinations: a historical perspective

Sep 5, 2026

Michael Gove’s examination reform proposals are examined against the backdrop of earlier historical developments in secondary assessment. The article traces the shift from the O-level and CSE dual system to the planned introduction of the GCSE, situating policy decisions from the 1980s within longer-standing debates over selection, curriculum effects, and teacher involvement. It reviews the design aims of GCSE grading, criteria, and assessment structures in relation to critics’ concerns.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The O-level and CSE dual system

The GCSE and its Critics

FORUM Volume 55, Number 3, 2013 [www.wwwords.co.uk/FORUM](www.wwwords.co.uk/FORUM) Secondary School Examinations: a historical perspective CLYDE CHITTY ABSTRACT 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 recent proposals and set them in a historical context. Introduction Back in 1986, I collaborated with Jo and Peter Mortimore on the preparation of a second edition of a Bedford Way paper, ‘Secondary School Examinations’, which had first been published by the Institute of Education two years earlier (Mortimore et al, 1986) . A new edition was now necessary, largely on account of the Thatcher government’s rather surprising decision to introduce a single system of examining at 16-plus. The actual announcement had been made by Secretary of State Sir Keith Joseph (1981-86) in the House of Commons on 30 June 1984. It had been decided that students would begin studying for the new examination, to be known as the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), in the autumn of 1986, and that the first papers would be taken in the summer of 1988. For many years, there had been sustained criticism of the dual Olevel/CSE system, which had had a determining influence on the way upperschool examination classes were organised in the majority of secondary schools over a period of 20 years. O levels dated from 1951 when the General Certificate of Education (GCE) was introduced, with examination at two main levels: Ordinary (O) and Advanced (A) . Both O and A levels were single-subject examinations and were clearly designed for those considered to be at the top of the so-called ability range. Because of the flawed nature of the 11-plus selection process, large numbers of secondary modern school students soon proved themselves capable of securing a range of O-level passes, and alternative examinations also proliferated. Students could not normally take O levels until they were 16, but increasing numbers were staying on past the statutory schoolleaving age (which was then 15) in order to do so. In 1955 a Ministry of Education circular (Circular 289) relaxed the age restriction for entrance to O 355 Clyde Chitty level, but warned that teachers in secondary modern schools should beware of developing GCE courses merely for the sake of prestige (Ministry of Education, 1955) . The idea that large numbers of non-grammar-school students might actually be capable of passing external examinations was clearly radical and rather subversive! CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education) examination courses dated from 1963, when, as part of the implementation of the Beloe Committee’s 1960 recommendations, the CSE was established, with the first examinations being held in the summer of 1965. Beloe attached considerable importance to a major role for classroom teachers in shaping and operating the new examination, and consequently the regional boards responsible for the new CSE were to be controlled by serving teachers. In addition, there were to be three types or‘modes’ of examining: a traditional type of external examination based on a syllabus drawn up by a regional board; an external examination based on the school’s own syllabus; or an examination also based on the school’s own syllabus, but internally marked and externally moderated. In succeeding years, Mode 3 courses, as they came to be known, were to prove very popular in a large number of the country’s comprehensive schools, but they attracted the hostility of those who saw them as a means of awarding qualifications to students who did not really deserve them. The CSE was to have, officially at least, no pass/fail distinction (though a student’s performance below grade 5 was not clas

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What were the initial five design features of the GCSE system introduced for 1988?

The GCSE would be run by GCE/CSE boards and monitored by a council, use nationally agreed criteria for syllabuses and grading, expand into criteria-related grading, provide differentiated assessment and coursework links, and award grades on a single seven-point scale from A to G.

Sep 5, 2026

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