He points out that more than £100m has been spent over three years on modernising school exams. The system has now been hauled into the late 20th century — but still not into the 21st.

Last week the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) published its new rules on GCSE coursework, and Boston, its chief executive since 2002, was keeping his diary clear for press interviews.

Starting next September, maths assessment will be entirely exam-based. Other changes, to be introduced two years later, will bring coursework in subjects such as art, home economics and physical education under closer supervision by teachers.

Boston is confident the changes will go a long way towards making sure the work children hand in has not been done by a parent or bought on the internet.

Although plagiarism cannot be stopped completely, he said: “We believe we now have much better processes for detecting and identifying it.”

Software created in the past few years can spot such cheating even when the material has not been copied verbatim.

“I tried it. I entered some words from something I’d written myself about 30 years ago in an obscure journal in Australia. And the software found it,” Boston said.

Regulating exams is only one aspect of Boston’s £140,000-a-year job. The QCA is responsible for keeping the government’s national curriculum for schools up to date and seeing that students receive the quality of education that is their entitlement. “We are a bit of an education ombudsman,” he said.

Boston’s week took in a meeting with top officials from the Department for Education and Skills about resourcing (“We always talk money”); motivating youngsters during the awkward years between 11 and 14; and discussing a vocational diploma to be launched in 2008.

Boston described the diploma as “the biggest, most interesting education reform in the western world today”. He hopes this new qualification will capture the imagination of the high numbers of 16-year-olds who leave school. The UK is 24th out of 27 OECD countries when it comes to staying on in education.

Boston wants the business community to be fully involved in its development. Accordingly, his week included a dinner with people from the creative sector, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, museums, television and opera.

If Boston is still at the QCA in two years, his diplomatic skills will be tested to the full, overseeing a likely move of his staff, now numbering 500, from an office in London’s Mayfair to Coventry.

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