| Summary: | This thesis sets out to explore why records of achievement (RoA) became part of national education policy in the English education system, whether it is just one more education initiative, like so many others, which only had a relevance and significance at a particular time and within a certain context, or whether it might have a longer-term structural significance within the national education system. The thesis focuses particularly on the significance and role of the first nationally recognised and designed record of achievement - the National Record of Achievement (NRA) - which was introduced in 1991 and has been redesigned as a result of the Dearing Review of 16-19 Qualifications (Dearing 1996).1 The thesis argues that there are three major inter-related factors which determine the role that RoA has played or might play within the English education and training system - firstly, and most importantly, the context within which it is developed; secondly, the content or features of the record itself (particularly the change from locally developed and determined records to the National Record of Achievement); and thirdly, the balance in emphasis between the use of the process of recording of achievement and the use of the RoA document itself. These three factors form the basis of a theoretical framework which is developed in Chapter 1 and is then used throughout the thesis to analyse the role of RoA (and specifically the NRA) in the past and in the future. The thesis uses this theoretical framework, as well as a detailed case study, to identify and describe the role that RoA has played in its three major phases of development: Phase 1 (1969-1991) - RoA as a widespread but locally determined education initiative, largely brought in to meet the needs of lower achievers; Phase 2 (1991-1996) - NRA as a national policy instrument for use with all learners to record achievement; Phase 3 (a potential future phase) - NRA as a tool for supporting lifelong learning. The thesis concludes by arguing that it is in the type of role described in Phase 3 that the NRA will become more than just another education policy initiative and will take on a longer-term structural significance within the English education and training system. Dearing, Sir Ron (1996) Review of Qualifications for 16-19 Year Olds, London: DfEE.
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