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34-689: Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations ( OCR ) is an examination board that sets examinations and awards qualifications (including GCSEs and A-levels ). It is one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland 's five main examination boards. OCR is based in Cambridge , with an office in Bourn, Coventry . It is part of the University of Cambridge 's Cambridge Assessment which merged with Cambridge University Press in August 2021. OCR delivers GCSE and A Level examinations in

68-600: A GCSE Music paper was given away by accident in the copyright declaration printed on the back of the question paper. 2011 : OCR set an impossible maths question in the 2011 AS Mathematics paper. In addition, there were errors in Section B of the Latin Literature paper, confusing names of both authors and characters. 2011 also saw the start of, by now regular, social media protests against the content in exam papers. An A2 Biology paper on Control, Genomes and Environment (F215) had

102-580: A large emphasis on Ecology, deemed by many students to be 'unfair'. This issue was made public on a Facebook page which generated support from thousands of students. The Times and The Times Educational Supplement reported on this story. 2012 : A Channel 4 News investigation revealed that examiners were making the most basic errors, such as wrongly adding up marks on hundreds of papers, which in some cases led to candidates in 2011 getting an incorrect grade. A senior supervisor at OCR, David Leitch, ordered his team perform supplementary checks on scripts by

136-485: A new range of qualifications and activities to the UCLES Group because RSEAB's principal activity was in vocational qualifications. The formation of OCR represented the culmination of several decades of corporate activity on the part of UCLES, activity that came about as a response to the policies of successive British governments towards public examinations and the provision of qualifications, as well as moves to strengthen

170-529: A region are served by the regional OKE. Universities are not part of that system. It is allowed by law to sit an exam in other regional board than the home one, but practically it does not happen. Each OKE is responsible for the content and administration of the entrance tests to primary schools , Gymnasiums and secondary schools in accordance to the Ministry of Education annual guidelines. Final secondary school examination called Matura (analogous to A Levels)

204-421: Is a Capulet himself. OCR apologised, undertook to ensure no candidates would be disadvantaged while the regulator Ofqual stated it was "very disappointed to learn of the error". OCR also apologised for "poorly wording" an A Level Psychology Paper and assured candidates that it could correct it in its marking. Ofqual asked OCR to go through all its remaining papers again to make sure there were no further errors. OCR

238-399: Is not accountable to government ministers and is independent from ministerial government. Whereas Ofqual regulates and accredits British examination boards (e.g. Edexcel , AQA , OCR etc.) and their GCSE and GCE A-Level specifications; the examination board CAIE ( Cambridge Assessment International Education ) which offers international GCSEs and GCE A-Levels predominantly for schools outside

272-540: Is often referred to as the exam "watchdog". Ofqual was established in interim form on 8 April 2008 as part of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), taking over the regulatory functions that had previously been undertaken by the QCA directly through its regulation and standards division. It was always intended that Ofqual would be an entirely separate body from the QCA. This was achieved on 1 April 2010, when Ofqual

306-540: Is prepared each year by the Ministry of Education and administered by regional examiners, who are recruited, trained and paid by regional OKE boards. Each regional OKE has an authority to issue an official certificate of an examination. The members of this list all provide A-Level and GCSE qualifications : Traditionally, schools were restricted to one of a large number of regional examination boards, but now they can use any (though few outside Northern Ireland choose to use

340-736: The Belfast -based CCEA). Furthermore, a number of boards have merged making a much lower number overall. Primary and secondary school tests are generally administered by the state boards of education - or in the case of private schools, private organizations whose affiliations align with those of the school. Tertiary school entrance qualifications and vocational qualifications are provided by other organizations. In India various state,national and international public & private examination authority or board conducts secondary and higher secondary examination called as Board examination in India which are held during

374-570: The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment . Ofqual is the authority which regulates and accredits British examination boards offering GCSEs and GCE A levels while it is the Joint Council for Qualifications which regulates administration of actual GCSE and A Level examinations. The Conservative Party under Prime Minister David Cameron initiated reforms for A Levels to change from

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408-684: The Ministry of Education is mainly responsible for major education examinations, including overseas examination and gaokao in Mainland China. There is one state run central system of examination boards in Poland called "Centralna Komisja Egzaminacyjna" ("Central Examination Board") established within the new legislation on education issued by Polish parliament in 1998. The central board has eight regional branches called "Okręgowa Komisja Egzaminacyjna" (OKE) - "Regional Examination Board". All primary and secondary schools and other education institutions in

442-667: The Scottish Qualifications Authority is also accredited by Ofqual. Ofqual collaborates closely with the UK government and the Department for Education on general qualifications, such as GCSEs and A levels , and with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on vocational qualifications such as NVQs and BTECs. In Northern Ireland Ofqual regulated NVQs on behalf of the Department for Employment and Learning until May 2016; this responsibility has since been handed to

476-539: The 2018 award, after being asked to look at them again by the regulator. 2023: OCR was criticised by pupils and teachers for the level of difficulty in Paper 2 of the Computer Science GCSE . Students took to social media to express concern at the disparity between Paper 1 and 2, as well as the change in style of the paper. OCR assured students that the final mark scheme would reflect the different approaches taken to

510-529: The Internet to research information during examinations. This statement evoked a heated debate with support on the one hand and criticism on the other. 2017: A question in the reformed OCR GCSE English Literature exam, sat by over ten thousand students, swapped the surnames of the families in the play Romeo and Juliet , asking how Tybalt's hatred of the Capulets influenced the outcome of the play, when in fact, Tybalt

544-819: The SEC are available in both the Irish and English languages. The Irish SEC Leaving Certificate is also examined at The International School of the Martyrs (ISM) in Tripoli , Libya . The examination in Libya is available to students in Arabic. Ofqual The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation ( Ofqual ) is a non-ministerial government department that regulates qualifications, exams and tests in England. Colloquially and publicly, Ofqual

578-401: The UK schools examinations and vocational qualifications of the UCLES Group were transferred to OCR. Subsequent Physics syllabuses released by OCR included the fictional units the "Ocrawatt" and "Ocrajoule" due to overzealous find-and-replace on MEG's part (in previous and later syllabuses, the units were correctly written as "Megawatt" and "Megajoule".) 2008: The answer to one question in

612-469: The United Kingdom operates independently without British governmental intervention. Therefore, although CAIE qualifications are accredited by Ofqual, they are not regulated by it and thus may differ significantly in subject content and exam structure from UK GCSEs and GCE A-Levels. Ofqual has four directorates: The chief regulator is the leader and figurehead of Ofqual. Originally, the chief regulator

646-402: The United Kingdom whereas for other countries Cambridge Assessment operates the examination board Cambridge Assessment International Education . An important distinction between the two is that OCR qualifications must comply with UK government regulations set by Ofqual while Cambridge International Examinations international GCSEs and GCE A Levels do not. The name OCR reflects the fact that it

680-527: The current modular to a linear structure. British examination boards ( Edexcel , AQA , OCR and WJEC ) regulated and accredited by Ofqual responded to the government's reform announcements by modifying syllabi of several A Level subjects. However, in 2014 the Labour Party announced that it would halt and reverse the reforms and maintain the modular A-Level system if it got into government. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge have expressed support for

714-490: The exam board "to carry out extended checks, identify the weaknesses in its processes and to put these right in time for the January exams". The Department for Education said the level of error was "simply unacceptable". 2014: UK exam regulator Ofqual investigated OCR's "near miss" on issuing GCSE and A level results on time. 2015: The then Chief Executive of OCR suggested that students should be allowed to use Google and

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748-524: The exam, and that the grade boundaries would take into account the challenges faced. They also stated they planned to make it free for schools and colleges to access candidate's marked papers. The exams regulator, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation ( Ofqual ) reports on the frequency of errors from all exam boards annually. Examination board Malaysia The National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA; Chinese : 教育部教育考试院) under

782-418: The grade boundaries this year were "sound", so shifted their focus onto the previous year's grade boundaries for the new Mathematics A-Level for the 2,000 students who sat it after studying it for one year. Ofqual said "We want to understand why the grade boundaries were so different between the two years.", and had called the significant shifts in boundaries "unusual". None of the exam boards decided to re-open

816-623: The merger, the OCR name replaced all previous names. UCLES had previously taken over the University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (founded 1857) and the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examinations Board (founded 1873). Both were acquired by UCLES in 1995; earlier, it had taken over the Southern Universities Joint Board (SUJB). The acquisition of RSAEB was completed in 1998 and brought

850-435: The modular system. Recent reports reveal that the linear examination approach and the toughening educational reforms initiated by Ofqual provoked many schools to "play the system" by requesting test remarking and supplementary aid for students (e.g. special consideration and extra time) in order to uphold high exam grade levels so as to not drop in league tables. Rising numbers of students taking GCSEs and GCE A Levels over

884-589: The past decades has led to an increase in the quantity of examination results being enquired for re-marking and reported to Ofqual. Ofqual's remit and responsibilities are established in law by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 and the Education Act 2011 . As a Non-ministerial department Ofqual is accountable to Parliament , through the Education Select Committee . It

918-553: The period from February to May every year .The following examination conducts the exam are Ireland In Ireland , exams are run through one main examination board called the State Examinations Commission (SEC) . This exam board provides examinations for secondary school level students, including Junior Certificate / Junior Cycle for students aged 14-16 and Leaving Certificate /Leaving Cert Applied (LCA) examinations for students aged 17-19. Examinations from

952-587: The regulatory framework. Cambridge Assessment is a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge, making Cambridge the only British university to maintain a direct link with a school exam board. Cambridge Assessment, which celebrated its 160th anniversary in 2018, became part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment in August 2021. The following exam boards are now part of OCR: In some of its material, OCR has made mistakes and inaccuracies, sometimes including inaccurate or fictitious content in subject specifications or errors in exam papers. 1998: All

986-407: The same markers, and found hundreds of errors. This led to OCR ordering these additional checks to stop, and to only inform those schools which had specifically requested scripts to be re-marked. David Leitch was suspended from OCR, after reporting the incident to Ofqual , and informing 30 schools about the mistakes himself. Ofqual have said to have subsequently investigated the exam board, and asked

1020-456: Was also the chair of Ofqual. When the chief regulator position was vacant during 2010 and 2011, the Deputy Chair, Dame Sandra Burslem , took on 'many of the responsibilities', though was never formally named chief regulator or chair. On 1 April 2012, in line with the Education Act 2011 , the chief regulator role transferred from the chair, to the chief executive. When the chief regulator post

1054-600: Was created in 1998 through the amalgamation of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) and the Royal Society of Arts Examinations Board (RSAEB). At the time of the merger, UCLES' qualifications were offered by two wholly owned subsidiaries: the Oxford and Cambridge Examinations and Assessments Council (OCEAC) for A Level and the Midland Examining Group (MEG) for GCSE and Certificate of Achievement. RSAEB offered vocational qualifications. After

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1088-528: Was established as a non-ministerial government department under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 . In 2020, Ofqual was involved in an GCSE and A-Level grading controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ofqual's role is "to maintain standards and confidence in qualifications." Ofqual regulates exams, qualifications and tests in England. Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland are regulated by each respective national government. However,

1122-640: Was eventually fined £175,000 for their error on the English Literature exam, which Ofqual deemed not fit for purpose, as the question was "unanswerable". 2019: After a leak of the A-Level Grade Boundaries ahead of results day, it emerged that in order to pass the new specification Mathematics A-Level (H240), candidates needed to score 13% (40 marks out of 300) to pass. Edexcel , another British exam board, also had similarly low grade boundaries. Subsequently, Ofqual said that they were confident

1156-431: Was vacant in 2016, the chair acted as the interim chief regulator. Until 31 March 2012, the chair of Ofqual was also the chief regulator. When the chair position was vacant during 2010 and 2011, the deputy chair, Dame Sandra Burslem , 'stepped in to provide continuity', though was never formally named chair or chief regulator. On 1 April 2012, the position of chief executive ceased to exist as an independent role when it

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