ABSTRACT
The concept of fairness in examinations is one which, though often used colloquially, is rarely to be found in the academic literature. To the public at large, however, the concept has a commonsense meaning which may be paramount. It implies equity and justice and consistency. The scholarship and free-place system provided the necessary financial assistance to maintain the pupils and students throughout the long period of competition. The development work which is presently taking place in alternative or complementary forms of assessment such as profile reports and graded tests has been seized hopefully by some as a way to offset the social bias of examinations. The influence of social class on performance declines in later years, although it is reiterated that those working-class children who remain in the education system at that stage have been highly selected by passing through increasingly narrow examination hoops.
