Ordinary Level - History

History

In 1988, O-level qualifications in the UK were replaced by a new system, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE); previously, the O Levels itself had replaced the School Certificate over thirty years ago. This meant that the final O-level examinations were taken in 1987, while the curriculum for the new system was introduced in 1986. However the O-level is still used in many Commonwealth countries, such as Bangladesh, Mauritius,and Singapore . Some British schools also reverted to exams based on the O-levels. The Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination was also benchmarked against the O-levels for comparable subjects. But it has switched to benchmark against the IGCSE.

O-levels continue to thrive as well respected international qualifications for students in other countries, who use them for preparation for advanced study in their own country and/or access higher education overseas. In June 2005, 12 million candidates from more than 200 countries registered for O-level examinations across the world. Institutions that offer O-levels include Cambridge International Examinations (CIE).

In 2012, it was revealed in leaked documents that Education Secretary Michael Gove planned for the return of the O-Levels in England and to scrap the GCSE's. The leaked documents suggested the plan could be that students in England sit more traditional O-Levels from 2016 onwards, with the papers set by a single examination board.