The Southern Examining Group (SEG) was an examination board offering

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

s in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

formally established in 1987. In 1994, it was taken over by the Associated Examining Board, but kept its own identity until the AEB merged with NEAB to form

AQA AQA Education, trading as AQA (formerly the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance), is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds Test (assessment), examinations in various subjects at Genera ...

in 2000.

History

In the 1970s, the UK's Department for Education and Science became increasingly committed to replacing GCE

O Level O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), ...

and CSE exams with a single exam (later named the

), which it wished to be administered by regional consortia of existing O Level and CSE exam boards. Therefore, the examination boards of southern England formed a joint working group in 1978. Its members were: * Associated Examining Board (AEB) * South-East Regional Examinations Board * Southern Regional Examinations Board * South Western Examinations Board * University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (from 1981) As the GCSE was intended to replace the CSE, the three CSE boards in the group – the South-East, Southern and South Western boards – would not offer any qualifications outside the group (unlike the GCE boards – the AEB and Oxford Delegacy – who would still offer A Levels independently). Therefore, the CSE boards pursued merging with the GCE boards. Consequently, the Southern Board merged with the Oxford Delegacy in 1985 to form the Oxford School Examinations Board and the South-East and South Western boards merged with the AEB on 1 April 1987. This meant the five original exam boards in the group had been reduced to two: the Associated Examining Board and the Oxford School Examinations Board. The Associated Examining Board and Oxford School Examinations Board formally launched the Southern Examining Group in 1987 and it awarded its first GCSEs in 1988. Initially, SEG struggled, losing one third of its total entry compared to its members' combined entry for the final year of O Levels and CSEs, but recovered by 1994 when its entries increased by 34%. In 1994, the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

decided to exit the schools examinations market and broke up the Oxford School Examinations Board. It sold its A Level operations to the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate and its GCSE interests to the Associated Examining Board. Thus, the Associated Examining Board now controlled the Southern Examining Group entirely. The AEB retained the SEG's identity, meaning GCSEs continued to be offered under the SEG brand and A Levels under the AEB name. Though legally the AEB owned the SEG, both names were used equally, with the enlarged AEB sometimes referred to as AEB/SEG. In 1997, AEB/SEG entered into an alliance with NEAB and City & Guilds known as the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA). In 2000, the AEB/SEG and NEAB (but not City & Guilds) formally merged under the name AQA and the AEB and SEG names disappeared.

References

{{Examination boards in the United Kingdom Examination boards in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1987 Organizations disestablished in 2000