Current Prospects for School‐based Examining

Recently authors as diverse as Nuttall and Bowe & Whitty have argued that teacher involvement in assessing their pupils for public examinations and in designing and administering examinations is under deliberate attack from central government, with school‐based examining being steadily eroded. Yet although school‐based examining—particularly through Mode III—is indeed under severe pressure, it is also the case that teacher involvement in coursework assessment, practical assessment and so forth in Mode I in both GCE and CSE has been expanding over recent years. The paper argues that this trend seems likely to continue so that the key questions become not so much whether teacher involvement in assessment is in absolute decline but what sorts of involvement are in decline, what sorts of involvement are likely to expand, and with what consequences for local autonomy and curriculum development. These questions are addressed in the latter half of the paper. Paper prepared for a symposium on ‘The Changing Face of Educational Assessment’. British Educational Research Association Annual Conference. 30 August‐2 September 1984, University of Lancaster.