Monopolising the examining board system in England: a theoretical perspective in support of reform
Monopolising the examining board system in England: a theoretical perspective in support of reform
The fiascoes that seem to accompany the annual publication of examination results in England, the subsequent inquiries instituted to ensure they ‘never happen again’ and the Secretary of State’s decision, reversed six months later because of fears about possible EU legal challenges, to ‘end competition between exam boards’ raise some interesting issues about the way Examination Boards (or ‘Awarding Bodies’) operate in what is partly a competitive and partly a cooperative market. At the operational level, they need to make sufficient profit from the fees they charge schools to operate the assessment and awards system effectively; at the stra- tegic level, they need to police the proliferation of awards so that some reasonable level of efficiency is obtained in the system. This paper models the education awards market such that the implications of the various alternative strategies for achieving the twin objectives of effectiveness and efficiency can be understood. It describes how Awarding Bodies cooperate and compete to maximise profit, and justifies the original decision in September 2012 by minister Gove to create a monopoly in the awards and assessment market
theory, quantative
44-57
Kelly, Anthony
1facbd39-0f75-49ee-9d58-d56b74c6debd
2014
Kelly, Anthony
1facbd39-0f75-49ee-9d58-d56b74c6debd
Kelly, Anthony
(2014)
Monopolising the examining board system in England: a theoretical perspective in support of reform.
Journal of Education Policy, 29 (1), .
(doi:10.1080/02680939.2013.790078).
Abstract
The fiascoes that seem to accompany the annual publication of examination results in England, the subsequent inquiries instituted to ensure they ‘never happen again’ and the Secretary of State’s decision, reversed six months later because of fears about possible EU legal challenges, to ‘end competition between exam boards’ raise some interesting issues about the way Examination Boards (or ‘Awarding Bodies’) operate in what is partly a competitive and partly a cooperative market. At the operational level, they need to make sufficient profit from the fees they charge schools to operate the assessment and awards system effectively; at the stra- tegic level, they need to police the proliferation of awards so that some reasonable level of efficiency is obtained in the system. This paper models the education awards market such that the implications of the various alternative strategies for achieving the twin objectives of effectiveness and efficiency can be understood. It describes how Awarding Bodies cooperate and compete to maximise profit, and justifies the original decision in September 2012 by minister Gove to create a monopoly in the awards and assessment market
Text
Monopolising exam board system.pdf
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e-pub ahead of print date: 7 May 2013
Published date: 2014
Keywords:
theory, quantative
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 362127
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/362127
ISSN: 0268-0939
PURE UUID: 2fb54e51-e1e5-448b-9605-7c42d0459ba3
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Date deposited: 17 Feb 2014 09:24
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:14
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