The Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) was a subject-specific qualification family awarded in both academic and vocational fields in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. CSE examinations were held in the years 1965 to 1987. This qualification should not be confused with the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education which is the school leaving qualification in India. Also, in some African and former British colonial countries (such as, Kenya) there is a qualification named the Certificate of Secondary Education based on the original and former British variant. Also, the CSE should not be confused with the African qualification CSEE (Certificate of Secondary Education Examination).

CSE

The 1960

Beloe Report The Beloe Report, commissioned in the late 1950s in the United Kingdom, led directly to the implementation of the Certificate of Secondary Education, the CSE examination which would exist from 1965 to 1987. The CSE was withdrawn at the same time ...

was commissioned to look into a new exam which became the CSE. The CSE was introduced to provide a set of qualifications available to a broader range of schoolchildren and distinct from the GCE (

O-Levels The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

), that were aimed at the academically more able pupils, mostly those at

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and independent schools (rather than

secondary modern school A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...

s). CSEs were available in both academic and vocational subjects, incorporated controlled assessment in addition to examination, and examination questions were typically offered in a shorter and more structured form than those found on an equivalent O-Level paper. Before the introduction of the CSE, the majority of schoolchildren at

s did not take externally set end of school examinations, and so left school without any nationally recognised qualifications. Though the introduction of the CSE did not, of itself, resolve the issue as the majority still left at the end of the fourth year without sitting an external qualification. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, some counties had introduced their own examinable qualifications for those leaving at the end of the fourth year. For example, the county of Monmouthshire in Wales awarded the Monmouthshire Certificate in Education. The majority of secondary modern pupils continued to leave without qualifications until the raising of the school leaving age to 16, in 1973, made a fifth year of secondary education compulsory. A number of GCE and CSE exam boards experimented with offering a combined O-Level and CSE examination, in the 1970s, for borderline candidates. The papers contained questions limited to areas of the syllabus that were common to both an O-Level and CSE. The range of courses for CSE was wider than that for the O-level and included many vocational subjects, such as car maintenance, which were not available at O-level. As comprehensive schools gradually replaced secondary modern schools, pupils could increasingly take a mixture of CSEs and O-levels until finally the examinations were merged with the new GCSE certification courses. CSEs and O-levels are the predecessor examinations of the

General Certificate of Secondary Education The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

(GCSE).

Grading

There were five pass grades in its grading system ranging from grades 1 to 5. A CSE grade 1 was equivalent to achieving an O level grade of C or higher, in the same subject, while a 4 was obtainable by someone of average / median ability. Gaining a CSE Grade 1 implied that the student could have followed an O level course in that subject. This often caused frustration for such pupils wishing to progress to A-level, who (due to incompatibilities in the syllabi) would need to take a 1-year O-level conversion course in the Lower Sixth and thus waste a year gaining a qualification they theoretically already held. Though no formal requirements existed, grades 2 to 3 were possibly set to be

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to the two (D and E) lowest O-Level pass grades.

Entrants

The 1978 Waddell Report, when comparing O-Level and CSE entrants stated: "''the O Level examination tending to be aimed at the upper 20 per cent of the full ability range and CSE catering for the next 40 per cent''", is partially supported by the statistics. For subjects where an equivalent O-level paper existed approximately 36% of the pupils entered for either exam, after 1976, sat the O-Level, the remainder (64%) sat the CSE paper. The proportion taking CSE exams increased following the raising of the minimum school leaving age to 16, in 1973, and the subsequent fall in the proportion sitting neither exam e.g.

Exam Boards

The CSE syllabi, examinations and awards were originally made by 15 independent regional boards: *

Associated Lancashire Schools Examining Board Associated may refer to: *Associated, former name of Avon, Contra Costa County, California * Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto, a school in Canada *Associated Newspapers, former name of DMG Media, a British publishing company See also *Associat ...

East Anglian Examinations Board East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

East Midland Regional Examinations Board East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

Metropolitan Regional Examination Board Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

Middlesex Regional Examination Board Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbouri ...

* Northern Ireland Schools Examination Council *

North Regional Examinations Board North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

North West Regional Examinations Board North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

* South-East Regional Examinations Board * South Western Examinations Board *

Southern Regional Examination Board Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, ...

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West Midlands Regional Examination Board West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

The West Yorkshire and Lindsey Regional Examining Board ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Yorkshire Regional Examinations Board Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

In 1979, the neighbouring Metropolitan and Middlesex boards merged to form the

London Regional Examinations Board London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

. The West Yorkshire and Lindsey and Yorkshire and Humberside boards also merged to form the

Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Examinations Board Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in 1982. Unlike GCE and GCSE examinations, the participating schools did not have a choice of awarding body, but were required to use the designated local board. Unlike the GCE and GCSE boards, the CSE exam boards were composed of elected teachers and local authority representatives from each region.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Certificate Of Secondary Education Educational qualifications in England Secondary school qualifications Secondary education in England Secondary education in Wales Secondary education in Northern Ireland Educational qualifications in Wales Educational qualifications in Northern Ireland