A headteacher who helped expose this year's A-level exams fiasco has been appointed to a senior post on England's exams watchdog.

Edward Gould, chairman of the top boys' public school organisation, the Headmasters' Conference (HMC), has been appointed a board member of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

Edward Gould: Angry over standards this year

Mr Gould, as head of Marlborough College in Wiltshire, was among the first to protest about "bizarre" A-level results.

The HMC also alleged the QCA had pressurised exam boards to downgrade students, claims which led the Government to set up an independent inquiry, headed by former chief schools inspector Mike Tomlinson.

Mr Gould will sit on the QCA board for 18 months and said he would work to ensure next year's exams ran better.

He said: "I look forward to trying to help to ensure that everything does go smoothly.

"We will be doing our best to support Ken Boston (QCA head) in achieving the targets that have been set by Mike Tomlinson."

Marked up

The independent inquiry cleared the QCA of acting improperly and also said ministers did not interfere in order to make A-levels look tough.

Instead, it pointed to confusion about standards at AS-level and the new second half of the A-Level, A2.

There was confusion over how the new A-level matched the legacy A-level

Edward Gould, November

Mr Tomlinson ordered re-grading, with nearly 2,000 students marked up, and recommended splitting AS-levels and A2s into separate qualifications.

Nick Stuart, a retired top civil servant at the Department for Education and Skills has also been appointed to the QCA board.

Giving evidence to the Commons Education Select Committee in November, Mr Gould said this year's problems stemmed from widespread confusion.

"There was a problem in that the standard required for A2s was not defined and there was no clarification in terms of how AS-levels plus A2s equals an A-level," he said.

"There was confusion, therefore, over how the new A-level matched the legacy A-level."

Mr Gould also said the role of the QCA should be more clearly understood.

"It was QCA's job and they had to monitor and regulate that standard and that is where things must be put right in future so there is a parity of standard across boards," he told the committee.