ABSTRACT
The concern over the control of examinations has grown in recent years, possibly because examinations are now applied in some form to most students at the statutory school-leaving age. A function of government is to exercise control over society. The only question to concern us here is whether examinations come within its province, and if so, how and to what extent. The degree to which government participates, either directly or indirectly, in public examining depends on the more general climate of political opinion. The position of the Inspectorate is an interesting one, particularly in a country where it is independent of the government, at least notionally. The direct influence by teachers on the outcomes of examinations, be they scripts, objective tests, projects, or orals, is self-evident. Nearly all who have marked scripts must have felt that they were marking the teachers as much as the candidates.
