A Case Study of the Development of an International Curriculum Leading to IGCSE Certification

UK Beginnings and International Interest

Since its inception 20 years ago, IGCSE has developed into the most popular international programme for students aged 14–16 (Cambridge International Examinations 2006a). It has found a comfortable place in many educational contexts. It thrives in what might be termed archetypal international schools with nomadic student bodies and teaching faculties, independent English-medium and bilingual schools, and schools working in a predominantly or entirely national context. IGCSE, or its variants, has [Page 165]also been used to form the basis of national examination systems by governments in Africa and the West Indies or as an alternative to local systems in public (state) schools in a growing number of countries, including the United States and New Zealand.

IGCSE's current reach results from what was initially a series of British, or more accurately English initiatives, which reflected the spirit of educational change during the final decades of the twentieth century. IGCSE's roots can be traced back to the early 1970s, when Cambridge Assessment (then the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate – UCLES) and the East Anglian Examinations Board (EAEB) joined forces to develop a new 16+ examination to replace the existing Ordinary (O) Level and Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE). Until then there had been significant examination segregation between O Level, traditionally managed by examination boards with a university base and targeted at more able students, and CSE, aimed at those of lower academic ability. This reflected the national pattern of academically selective grammar schools and secondary modern schools.

With the development of comprehensive schools during the 1960s and 1970s and the abolition of secondary selection examinations within most local education authorities, the continued segregation of students into O Level and CSE seemed increasingly anachronistic. The development of a joint 16+ examination reflected a general desire for a more inclusive assessment system. The 16+ was targeted at the top 60 per cent of the school population and enabled one examination to lead, as appropriate, to either O Level or CSE certification. It soon became very popular and the collaboration between Cambridge and EAEB was mirrored by other university and regional boards. Where the 16+ was not in use, there was a growing and expensive trend to enter students for both O level and CSE. In 1978 the Waddell Committee, established by the then Secretary of State for Education Shirley Williams, considered the possibility of a unified examination system and reported strongly in its favour. These developments set the background for national change in the mid-1980s – the abolition in the UK of separate O Level and CSE examinations, and their replacement by the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) (Roy 1986).

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