"Facts alone are wanted in life" - Gradgrind's philosophy of education in Charles Dickens's novel Hard Times.

Edexcel did not make excuses. But clearly there has been a major strain on the examination system

And, if you'll excuse the link, these are certainly "hard times" for the exam board Edexcel, whose mistakes and record of marking errors has erupted into a flow of anger from schools, students and parents this week.

But, like Gradgrind's pupils, we could do with a few facts to understand why the school examination system is under such stress that so many mistakes are being made.

The most astonishing facts are those which show the growth of school examinations in Britain generally, and England especially.

Changes

In 1951, the year A-levels began, there were just 103,000 separate subject entries (on the basis of students taking two or three subjects each that covers about 30 - 40,000 students).

In those days, of course, most left school at 15 or 16 and A-levels were devised to sift out those with university potential. That is why the exam boards of that period were attached to the older universities.

As more students stayed on after 16, and more aimed for university, so the numbers sitting A-levels rose rapidly but fairly evenly. By 1985 there were 635,000 subject entries.

As the scale of the examinations operation grew, the university boards started to merge. Today there are just three big groups covering England, with one each for Wales and Northern Ireland.

Almost everyone now stays on in full-time education beyond 16, and a good proportion of these take A-levels. So by last summer the number of subject entries had risen to 815,000.

New exam

The growth in student numbers, and perhaps also an increase in students taking three rather than two subjects, has clearly increased demand on the exam boards.

However, 2001 saw another development which put a seismic leap into the previous rapid, but fairly even, increase: The introduction of Advanced Subsidiary (AS) levels.

The AS-level means it is now the norm for students to take four subjects in the first year of sixth form or college and take examinations in each of these. So last summer there were 850,000 AS-level subject entries.

In short the AS-level has, at a stroke, more than doubled the number of examination entries for academic subjects taken by 16 to 18 year olds.

Modular

But that is not all. When A-levels began it was usual to take two examination papers per subject and coursework had not yet been invented.

The AS-level typically has three papers per subject. Pupils will then go on to take A2s (the second half of the A-level, in layman's terms) which will, again, usually involve three papers per subject.

On that basis, even with no growth in student numbers, there will be a grand total of 1.67 million A and AS-level subject entries next year. At three papers per subject that is about five million examination papers to be devised, printed, distributed, marked and graded.

While your head is still spinning from these stratospheric numbers, let me give you another astonishing statistic.

If you add together all the examination scripts and items of coursework taken at GCSE, A and AS-level last year in England and Wales it comes to - wait for it - 24 million.

Just think of the scale of the distribution and collection operation that involves, not just to and from schools but also to and from the markers. And, oh yes, there were no fewer than 48,000 examiners required to go through that lot with their red ink.

Close to home

Now it is not my role to present these figures in mitigation for Edexcel's catalogue of errors - although frankly it is rather surprising that it was so difficult to gather these figures from either the exam boards or their watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

Clearly Edexcel has had administrative problems that the other boards have avoided

On that score, it also has to be said that Edexcel did not handle the crisis terribly well. In such cases it is vital that the top person appears immediately on the media to give, at the very least, a holding statement and an apology.

It was, however, commendable of Edexcel's chief executive, John Kerr, not to try to pass the buck.

When he did eventually speak to the media he immediately put the exam board in a better light with a thorough apology. As a parent with a son taking AS-levels he knows what it means to families.

Particular problems

As I say, Edexcel did not make excuses. But clearly there has been a major strain on the examination system. Other examination boards would agree.

But that still leaves the issue of why so many complaints from schools seemed to single out Edexcel rather than the other boards.

Clearly Edexcel has had administrative problems that the other boards have avoided. The sudden departure of the previous chief executive suggested something was not going smoothly.

Edexcel is an incorporated charity registered with the Charity Commission. This means it has the structure of a company but is exclusively charitable in its aims.

Its accounts for the year ending December 2000, showed Edexcel Group's operating deficit was �2.7m. After investment income and losses its overall deficit was �6.8m.

Clearly it has some problems. In the 1999 financial year it made an overall surplus of �6.2m despite an operating deficit - and made average bonus payments to its senior executives of 18.9% of base salary.

The recent financial problems suggest, however, some explanation for Edexcel's problems. The directors' report blames them on the increased costs of developing and promoting the new A-levels.

More to come

Edexcel is perhaps more exposed to this than other exam boards as it specialises in post-16 exams while others have greater emphasis on the GCSE, which has undergone less change recently.

Edexcel has not only had to cope with the introduction of the AS and A2 but also with the new Vocational A-levels and the "Key Skills" examinations which are all part of the government's Curriculum 2000 reforms at sixth-form level.

And it is not all over yet. Next year sees the introduction of the new Advanced Extension awards (AEAs, yet another acronym to get used to), designed to stretch the brightest students.

The government was furious over Edexcel's mistakes. Even Downing Street expressed its displeasure. In part this was prompted by genuine concern at the effect on pupils and parents.

But it may also have something to do with understandable ministerial anxiety over the bedding-in of its changes to examinations.

The worry must be that the target of anger could easily switch from the exam boards to the government.