Tim Oates CBE, Group Director of Assessment Research and Development, Cambridge Assessment
Tim joined Cambridge Assessment in May 2006 to spearhead the rapidly growing Assessment Research and Development division. He was previously at the Qualifications and Curriculum Agency, where he had been Head of Research and Statistics for most of the last decade.
Work included advising on a pan-European 8-level qualifications framework. He has advised the UK Government for many years on both practical matters and assessment policy.
He started his career as a research officer at the University of Surrey. He moved to the FE Staff College in 1987 where he helped run the Work-Based Learning project. London University's Institute of Education then appointed him as NCVQ Research Fellow. In 1993 he joined one of the QCA's predecessor bodies, the National Council for Vocational Qualifications, as Head of GNVQ Research and Development. Promotion to Director of Research followed two years later.
Tim was awarded CBE in the 2015 New Year's Honours for services to education.
Dr Martin Johnson, Senior Research Officer, Assessment and Research Division of Cambridge Assessment
Prior to working at Cambridge, Martin was a teacher for ten years. His areas of interest are, amongst other things, the impact of assessment mode on performance and behaviour, learners’ perceptions of assessment materials, the social implications of assessment, and influences on motivation. Martin has published in a number of areas, including research into the question writing process, the links between assessment outcomes and the technology through which they are mediated, assessors’ communication practices, and studies looking at the psychological and social aspects of assessment processes.
Tori Coleman,Research Officer, Assessment Research and Division of Cambridge Assessment
Tori is involved in a variety of projects on curriculum and assessment and qualitative research methods. Prior to joining Cambridge Assessment she completed her MPhil in Education (Psychology and Education) at the University of Cambridge.
Abigail Barnett, Deputy Director Curriculum Programmes, Cambridge International
Abbi is responsible for leading curriculum design, implementation and review on Cambridge International’s education reform projects. She also leads the development strategy for the Cambridge Primary and Lower Secondary curricula. She has co-developed an approach to education system evaluation based on Tim Oates’ definitions of “control factors” and the theory of curriculum coherence and has most recently carried out evaluation work in the US, Bermuda, Kuwait, India and Thailand. She has a particular interest in formative purposes and uses of assessment.
Before joining Cambridge International, Abbi worked as a local authority education consultant, focused on school improvement in secondary schools, particularly working with English departments and on whole school literacy. She started her career teaching secondary English in the UK. From 2002-7 she taught IB English A1 and Theory of Knowledge at Bangkok Patana School, a British international school in Thailand.
Abbi has a degree in English Studies from the University of Nottingham, and a PGCE from the University of Manchester.