NEAB (Northern Examinations and Assessment Board) was an

examination board An examination board (or exam board) is small board organization that sets examinations, is responsible for marking them, and distributes results. Some are run by governmental entities; some are run as not-for-profit organizations. List of nati ...

serving

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

from 1992 until 2000 when it merged with

AEB/SEG The Associated Examining Board (AEB) was an examination board serving England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1953 until 2000 when it merged with NEAB to form AQA. History Formation The Associated Examining Board was formed in response to the ...

to form

AQA AQA, formerly the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds examinations in various subjects at GCSE, AS and A Level and offers vocational qu ...

History

NEAB was formed in 1992 by the merger five of examination boards: * The

Joint Matriculation Board The Joint Matriculation Board of the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham (JMB), sometimes referred to as the Northern Universities Joint Matriculation Board, was an examination board, operating in England, Wal ...

* The

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 ...

* The

Northern Regional Examinations Board Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

* The

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 ...

* The

Yorkshire and Humberside 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 ...

(which itself was formed by the merger of

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 ...

and

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 1982) Previously, these exam boards had been in a consortium together, the

Northern Examining Association The Northern Examining Association (NEA) was an examination board offering in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1985 until 1992, when it was reconstituted as NEAB. History The NEA was formed in 1985 to as one of the six exam boards to ...

, to provide

GCSE 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 ...

s, while the Joint Matriculation Board also offered

A Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

independently. Merging allowed a single body to take on all these roles. The chief executive of NEAB for the majority of its existence was

Kathleen Tattersall Kathleen Tattersall (11 April 1942 – 23 January 2013) was a British educationalist, specialising in examination administration. She was the leader of five examination boards in the United Kingdom before becoming the first head of exams regul ...

, who had previously led the Joint Matriculation Board. Schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were able to choose any of the examination boards for award their qualifications and NEAB established itself as the biggest board in the UK. In 1997, NEAB entered into an alliance with

and

City & Guilds The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies – to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has ...

known as the

Assessment and Qualifications Alliance AQA, formerly the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds examinations in various subjects at GCSE, AS and A Level and offers vocational qu ...

(AQA). The 1998 examination certificates featured just the AQA name. By 1999, examination papers were dual-branded with both the AQA and NEAB names. In 2000, NEAB and AEB/SEG (but not City & Guilds) formally merged under the name AQA. As NEAB and AEB/SEG overlapped in the qualifications they offered, AQA retained two specifications for many subjects and do until this day, with schools able to choose between the two.

References

{{Examination boards in the United Kingdom Examination boards in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1992 Organizations disestablished in 2000