WHEN news broke last August of an examination cheating scandal at top public schools Eton and Winchester, few in Britain had heard of pre-U exams.

When the details of the cheating were revealed, it became clear that, in many independent schools, these examinations are taken instead of A-levels.

As if the playing field wasn’t sufficiently uneven, many privately educated pupils are able to get their qualifications for entry to university by taking examinations which most teachers, let alone the public, didn’t know existed.

Why do so many so-called “elite” independent schools favour pre-U examinations in the first place? 

It appears they were created in response to demands from private schools, because, presumably, they were not happy with the A-levels which the vast majority of sixth form students in the country take. Why? On the pre-U website, Winchester College recommends these examinations, as they “are very liberating for teachers.” 

What we do know is that Cambridge Assessment International Education (CIE), which is part of Cambridge University, runs the pre-U exams and appoints the examiners, who just happen to often be independent school teachers, which explains why there was cheating this summer. 

Winchester College was forced to suspend its head of history of art, according to the Guardian, “after allegations he gave students prior information on exam questions.”

Similarly, the “deputy headmaster of academics” at Eton was forced to leave after questions were allegedly distributed to his students from the economics examination.

So many unanswered questions and so many doubts raised about the fairness of the education system, as if it wasn’t skewed enough already in favour of the wealthy. Never mind, here comes our trusted democratic parliamentary system to the rescue.

Yes, the Commons select committee on education invited the head of Eton, a director of Ofqual and the chief executive of CIE to answer questions last week. 

The Guardian said that the Eton head would be “grilled.” Excellent! All will be revealed and we will find out the answers to our many queries about these examinations.

Sadly, however, there was no grilling, not even a mild heating and watching the recording of events is not recommended. 

The Eton head admitted that seven of his staff had set papers for exams taken by their own pupils and what also was particularly relevant was that CIE is not a member of the organisation responsible for examination regulations and inspections, the Joint Council for Qualifications. 

CIE chief executive admitted that the number of incidents of exam malpractice had risen from 269 in 2013 to 719 this year worldwide — hardly encouraging if we are to believe in the integrity of their exams. 

Ofqual does not even include CIE when reporting on malpractice. What no-one mentioned was what happens in the classroom when the teacher knows the exam questions in advance, even if the pupils don’t. There is so much room for putting more obvious emphasis on certain topics than on the others not being examined.