TIMELINE OF EVENTS
12 March 2002: Sir William
Stubbs meets the chiefs of the three English exam boards - OCR,
AQA and Edexcel. One of the topics discussed is the coming summer's
A level exams, the first under the new Curriculum 2000 system.
22 March 2002: Chief executive
of AQA Kathleen Tattersall - as chair of the Joint Council for
General Qualifications - writes to Sir William. She asks for clarification
that he was not asking the boards to disregard candidates' actual
performance as part of efforts to ensure standards of difficulty
remained the same as last year.
19 April 2002: Sir William
replies, saying grades can only be determined "using a combination
of professional judgement". To constrain awards would be
contrary to the code of practice and disadvantage students, he
adds. He also says he expect last year's A level results to provide
a "very strong guide" to this year's outcomes.
26 July 2002: Sir William
and the three exam chiefs meet again. Exam boards realise the
pass rate is set to go up by 2-4% .
29 July 2002: Sir William
contacts Education Secretary Estelle Morris and tells her of the
improved pass rate, warning that this could inflame allegations
that exams are getting easier. He suggests a review of the causes
of these statistical changes to establish that there has been
"no dilution of standards".
15 August 2002: Results
day. Pass rate reaches a record 94.3% , up 4.5 percentage points
on 2001.
1 September 2002: The
Observer runs a story claiming thousands of pupils may have had
their grades "fixed" (most notably by OCR) and had missed
out on university places as a result. Department for Education
and QCA express concerns and promise an investigation.
12 September 2002: Ken
Boston, the Australian educationist, takes over as the QCA's new
chief executive.
13 September 2002: QCA
launches an inquiry into claims examiners awarded more unclassified
(U) grades in coursework in 2001/02 to prove A levels were not
getting easier.
17 September 2002: Edward
Gould, chair of the HMC, claims the QCA has been "coordinating"
the move to mark some students down.
18 September 2002: The
HMC, the Secondary Heads Association and the Girls School Association
calls for results to be reissued and call for an independent
inquiry.
19 September 2002: Estelle
Morris announces an independent inquiry into the row, headed by
Mike Tomlinson, the former chief inspector of schools.
20 September 2002: The
QCA review of grading clears the exam boards of wrongdoing,
saying there was no evidence to back claims that coursework had
been downgraded unfairly.
25 September 2002: Sir
William accuses Ms Morris of "meddling" in the Tomlinson
inquiry after finding out her officials contacted the boards about
contingency plans should Mr Tomlinson recommend a complete regrade.
26 September 2002: Mr
Tomlinson moves to quell fears his inquiry has been compromised.
27 September 2002: Mr
Tomlinson publishes the first part of his inquiry. Later that
afternoon Ms Morris sacks Sir William as chairman of the QCA "to
restore public confidence" in the organisation.
4 October 2002: The exam
board at the centre of the grading controversy - OCR - says it
will only reconsider 63 of the 97 exam units about which Mr Tomlinson
had raised concerns.
10 October 2002: QCA chief
executive Ken Boston says the testing system needs overhauling,
with teachers being trusted to do more assessment themselves.
He promises a new "examinations taskforce" to set out
in detail how exams should be delivered.
15 October 2002:
The deadline for the boards to issue any revised results to students,
schools and colleges. Only 1,220 A level and 733 AS level students
have their results improved. Ms Morris makes an apology in the
House of Commons about the grading debacle.
24 October 2002: Estelle
Morris resigns as Secretary of State for Education and Skills.
31 October 2002: Sir William
says he will sue the government for wrongful dismissal unless
he receives a public apology from the government for being sacked
as chairman of the QCA.
2 December 2002: Mr Tomlinson
publishes his final report on A level standards.
5 February 2003: Sir William
reaches a settlement with the DfES for unfair dismissal.
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