Edexcel
From Free net encyclopedia
Edexcel is a London-based organisation and one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland's five main examination boards. The others are AQA, OCR, the WJEC and the CCEA. Its name is a portmanteau word derived from the words "educational" and "excellence". Edexcel offers a variety of qualifications to UK students, including A-levels and GCSEs. It also operates on an international level, awarding over 1.5 million certificates to students around the world every year.
Edexcel was formed in 1996 by the merger of two bodies, the BTEC (Business & Technology Education Council) and ULEAC (University of London Examinations and Assessment Council). In 2003, the Edexcel Foundation (the charity which managed the board) formed a partnership with Pearson PLC to set up a new company called London Qualifications Ltd, which was 75% owned by Pearson and 25% by the Edexcel Foundation. London Qualifications Limited changed its name to Edexcel Limited in November 2004.
In 2005 Edexcel became the only large examination board to be held in private hands, when Pearson PLC took complete control. Over the last two years there has been a turnaround in fortunes as Edexcel invests heavily in new technology.
Edexcel was widely derided when it turned out some of its maths questions were impossible to answer. The answer sheet for an AS-Level maths paper contained different numbers to the exam question.[1] It was detected eight hours before the exams started in the UK, by a school in Hong Kong which immediately informed Edexcel. However, Edexcel allowed the exams in Europe and the UK to continue without alerting the candidates or invigilators. During the marking process, compensation was given to candidates by giving credit to those who had used either the figures on the question paper or on the answer sheet.
In addition to that, Edexcel has often come under fire for operational errors, unfair marking and unusually difficult paper setting. One of the most dramatic events in its history was the debacle surrounding the 2001-2002 mathematics papers and their marking. This led to an audit of Edexcel by the QCA in 2001.
In spite of all this, Edexcel continued on its modernisation drive, introducing IGCSEs in 2004 to complement their tremendously popular O-Levels outside the UK.
Edexcel's modernisation has led to the development of the DiDA qualification. DiDA (Diploma in Digital Applications) is one of three newly-created paperless qualifications: AiDA (Applications in Digital Applications) - equivalent to one GCSEs. CiDA (Certificate in Digital Applications) - equivalent to two GCSEs. DiDA (Diploma in Digital Applications) - equivalent to four GCSEs.
These 'paperless' qualifications are primarily designed to redress the perceived imbalance between those skills learnt in the classroom and the resulting application in the workplace. The new qualifications are designed to develop more practical skills whilst promoting independant learning and creativity. The qualifications have survived the initial stages of testing throughout the academic year 2005-06 and are expected to be rolled out in many more schools beginning academic year 2006-07.