Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Exam crisis: 'Great survivor' waits anxiously for verdict

Friday 20 September 2002 00:00 BST
Comments

Ron McLone, the chief executive of the OCR exam board at the centre of the A-level marking storm, is regarded as one of the "great survivors" in the exam world.

But Dr McLone will be anxiously awaiting publication of the results of the first of the inquiries into the fiasco, which will pass judgement on his handling of the grading of this summer's exams.

Ken Boston, the new chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, will publish his investigation today into accusations that OCR, the private company run by Dr McLone, deliberately fixed A-level results.

But his fellow educationalists say they are astonished to find Dr McLone involved in the complaints. They describe him as "fastidious" and "careful to the extreme".

He rose to the top of the OCR board despite a series of mergers which amalgamated the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA boards and which cost many other senior figures their positions. He is described as a "refreshingly pleasant person" who never has a bad word to say about anyone.

Dr McLone is a former academic who joined the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (Ucles) in 1985 as secretary to the Council for Examination Development. He had been at the University of Southampton, where he was a senior lecturer in mathematics.

The author of many research papers, he has spoken at conferences on the teaching of maths and applied maths.Dr McLone is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the Institute of Mathematics and the Royal Meteorological Society.

In 1998 he took over as OCR's director of policy before taking over as chief executive in 2000. He is also a member of the QCA's qualifications committee, which advises the authority's policy makers.

Dr McClone has been at the centre of the A-level crisis. A leaked letter from him to schools showed the pressure that the boards and the QCA were under to mark pupils down and prevent accusations that A-levels were too easy.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in