The records comprise the administrational papers of subject committees at UCLES and subject specific tutor support publications.
The function of subject committees was to oversee and administer all matters affecting the scheme of examination in a particular subject, including the nomination of examiners and external moderators, the consideration of the syllabuses and responses to the examinations from teachers’ organisations and schools. The committees met at least annually. The earliest subject committee records are among the manuscript Syndicate Minutes in the Assistant Secretaries Minute Books (C/AS). Following the introduction of the School Certificate and Higher School Certificate in 1918 the committees reported to the new Joint Committee for Examinations (C/JCE). For committee minutes from these years see C/CB 3. The JCE became the School Examination Committee (C/SEC), 1944 - 1982 and in 1982 split into the Council for Home Exams (C/CHE), 1982 - 1995 and the Council for International Exams (C/CIE), 1982 - 1998.
Committees originally comprised the relevant UCLES Subject officers and externally-based examiners. However, in 1945 a new constitution for subject committees included representatives of regulatory bodies, examiners and teachers from a range of schools. By 1990 representatives from related professional bodies and local education authorities were also included. Some of the papers include material showing collaboration with universities and other external organisations involved with examination development.
Not all subject committee records in this collection commence with the first meeting, particularly with subjects continuously examined from the early days of UCLES.
Committee papers generally include agenda and minutes as well as accompanying material from sub-committees. Many include revised and draft syllabuses, results statistics and grade correlations, comments and criticisms on the examinations from teachers’ organisations, scrutiny of examinations by regulatory bodies, research reports and correspondence with regulatory bodies, universities involved in curriculum development, and schools.
An accrual of examination publications and teacher support material was added in 2016 and comprises information leaflets, draft syllabuses and specifications, standards booklets, booklists and inset materials. These ‘occasional publications’ are in addition to the Group Archives extensive collection of question papers, syllabuses, mark schemes and examiners’ reports.
A few records, such as pass lists, include personal information and are kept for reasons of historical interest but remain closed for the lifetime of the individuals concerned in accordance with data protection legislation, and these are marked on the catalogue. Examination publications accruals will be added to this catalogue from time to time.
The collection is arranged alphabetically into 56 subjects.