GCE Advanced Level
Overview
 
The Advanced Level General Certificate of Education
General Certificate of Education
The General Certificate of Education or GCE is an academic qualification that examination boards in the United Kingdom and a few of the Commonwealth countries, notably Sri Lanka, confer to students. The GCE traditionally comprised two levels: the Ordinary Level and the Advanced Level...

, commonly referred to as an A-level, is a qualification offered by education institutions in England
Education in England
Education in England is overseen by the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Local authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools at a regional level....

, Northern Ireland
Education in Northern Ireland
Education in Northern Ireland differs slightly from systems used elsewhere in the United Kingdom, though it is more similar to that used in England and Wales than it is to Scotland. A child's age on 1 July determines the point of entry into the relevant stage of education unlike England and Wales...

, Wales
Education in Wales
Education in Wales differs in certain respects from education elsewhere in the United Kingdom. For example, a significant number of students all over Wales are educated either wholly or largely through the medium of Welsh: in 2008/09, 22 per cent of classes in maintained primary schools used Welsh...

, Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

, and the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...

. It is also offered in Scotland
Education in Scotland
Scotland has a long history of universal provision of public education, and the Scottish education system is distinctly different from the other countries of the United Kingdom...

 by a small number of educational institutions, typically private fee-paying schools, where students would normally take the Scottish Qualifications Certificate
Scottish Qualifications Certificate
The Scottish Qualifications Certificate is the successor to the Scottish Certificate of Education and the Record of Education and Training in Scotland, and is the main educational qualification awarded to students in secondary, further, and vocational education. The SQC is awarded by the Scottish...

 Higher
Higher (Scottish)
In Scotland the Higher is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate offered by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. It superseded the old Higher Grade on the Scottish Certificate of Education...

 and Advanced Higher. A-levels are studied over a two year period and are recognised as the standard for assessing the suitability of applicants for academic courses in English, Welsh and Northern Irish universities.
Between 1918 and 1951, the main qualification for school leavers was the Higher School Certificate
Higher School Certificate (UK)
The Higher School Certificate was a United Kingdom educational attainment standard qualification, established in 1918 by the Secondary Schools Examination Council . The Higher School Certificate Examination was usually taken at age 18, or two years after the School Certificate. It was abolished...

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