The Northern Examining Association (NEA) 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 ...

offering in

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 1985 until 1992, when it was reconstituted as

NEAB NEAB (Northern Examinations and Assessment Board) was an examination board serving England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1992 until 2000 when it merged with AEB/SEG to form AQA. History NEAB was formed in 1992 by the merger five of examina ...

History

The NEA was formed in 1985 to as one of the six exam boards to administer the new

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 ...

qualification, which was first taught in 1986 and first awarded in 1988. Like the other three original GCSE exam boards in England, the NEA was an 'examining group' composed of existing exam 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 ...

* 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 ...

The Joint Matriculation Board was a

General Certificate of Education The General Certificate of Education (GCE) is a subject-specific family of academic qualifications used in awarding bodies in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Crown dependencies and a few Commonwealth countries. For some time, the Scottish ed ...

board, offering

O Level 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 ...

s and

A Level 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 ...

s, while the remaining four boards provided CSEs. As O Levels and CSEs ceased to exist upon the introduction of GCSEs, only the Joint Matriculation Board continued to offer any qualifications outside the NEA. The NEA operated from the six offices of its constituent exam board: the three separate offices of the Joint Matriculation Board, Associated Lancashire Schools Examining Board and North West Regional Examinations Board in Manchester, the Northern Regional Examinations Board's office in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

and the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Examinations Board's two offices in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. With all its members except the Joint Matriculation Board now only offering qualification within the NEA, the exam boards that made up the NEA decided to merge in July 1991 and did so in 1992, becoming

(Northern Examinations and Assessment Board).

References

{{Examination boards in the United Kingdom Examination boards in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1985 Organizations disestablished in 1992 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom