GCE Ordinary Level (United Kingdom)

The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level, also called the O-level or O level, was a subject-based academic qualification. Introduced in 1951 as a replacement for existing 16+ School Certificate (SC), the O-level would act as a pathway to the new, more in-depth and academically rigorous A-level (Advanced Level), in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Later the complementary and more vocational Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) was added to broaden the subjects available and offer qualifications in non academic subjects. The O-Level and CSE were replaced in the United Kingdom in 1988 by the GCSE and later complementary IGCSE exams. The Scottish equivalent was the O-grade (replaced, following a separate process, by the Standard Grade). An O-level branded qualification is still awarded by Cambridge International Examinations in select locations.

O-levels were predominantly exam-based; this had advantages for students in part-time or evening education. Some commentators criticised this mainly exam-based approach as offering only partial proof of the student's overall ability in comparison with other methods (e.g., coursework-based assessment). There was no summative "school certificate": each subject was a separate O-level in its own right.

Madsen Pirie found that the O-level was advantageous to boys because of exam-based learning. Pirie also observes that the GCSE focus on coursework has disadvantaged boys, reversing the gender gap in attainment, to the degree where in all subjects girls outperform boys, including traditionally male subjects such as sciences and physical education.

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