The Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) was introduced in the 1960s. This qualification was available to all students.
The CSE qualification had a lower level as to O Level because it was administered on a regional basis, while O and A-Levels were administered by examination boards who had contact with universities. Since part of the CSE system was evaluated within schools, it caused criticisms of low standards. In addition, the nature and value of qualifications, because there were two different systems, were confusing for some people.
Throughout the 1970s, the pressure to merge the systems began to rise.
Under the Callaghan Labour government, Education Secretary Shirley Williams (now Baroness Williams of Crosby) took the political decision to proceed with a merged “GCSE” system, but the election of the Conservatives in 1979 postponed any action for several years.
In 1984, Conservative Education Secretary Sir Keith Joseph decided to proceed with a merger, on the premise that the new qualifications should be based on general and subject-specific criteria approved by himself.
IGCSE & GCSE; what’s the difference?
The IGCSE is the International General Certificate of Secondary Education.
The GCSE in uk is more difficult than IGCSE because the rules and regulations of GCSE are more strict. Therefore, most people think that IGCSE is easier.
The UK government has declared that IGCSE does not have the same standards as the GCSE. However, some universities don’t dwell on the difference between these GSCE and IGCSE when it comes to admissions. Private schools can offer IGCSE but the state schools don’t have this option anymore. Two main boards, Cambridge Assessment International Education, and Edexcel offer IGCSE.