Blogs on 'The Assessment Network'

Building a more resilient system for our young people

by Loic Menzies, 18 May 2023
Little girl building a tower with wooden blocks

'Efficiency and Resilience: How can we adjust the dial?' is a report out today from the Government Outcomes Lab at Oxford University's Blavatnik School and supported by Cambridge Assessment Network. Many of the ideas in the report are closely linked to the topics explored as part of our ‘Mapping the Way’ series. In this blog, Loic Menzies introduces the ideas in the report, and discusses the links with our ambition to Map The Way to Educational Equity.

School and Trust Strategy

by Loic Menzies, 20 April 2023
2 young children holding hands walking down a school corridor

In the first blog in this mini-series I argued that whichever party wins the next election will need to make the beliefs and values underpinning its policies clear. Then, in the second I showed how competing strategies can result in incoherent policy making. In this blog, I want to argue that being explicit about the values that sit behind a strategy also matters at a school or trust level.

Seven stories of autonomy and centralisation

by Loic Menzies, 27 March 2023
Graphic of 2 couples on a tandem bike, cycling in opposite directions

"Perhaps that’s why politicians ended up investing valuable political capital in major reforms of the National Curriculum, whilst at the same time exempting academies from having to follow it." In this latest blog from Loic Menzies, he explores how policymakers navigate the tensions encountered when trying to juggle autonomy and central direction.

Evidence is all well and good, but don’t forget values

by Loic Menzies, 20 March 2023
Hands holding up columns of bar graph
In debates about ‘progressive’ versus ‘traditionalist’ teaching, part of the debate is about evidence, but values are the iceberg floating beneath the surface. In this blog from Loic Menzies, which is part of our series Mapping The Way to a More Equitable Future for Education, we look at the increased interest in evidence in education and the extent to which this should affect policy decisions.

Using a self-study course to build on your global assessment experience

by The Assessment Network, 06 March 2023
Coloured pencils lined up to look like a bar graph

Stephen Ives has been on an incredible journey in the world of assessment. Having spent over 12 years teaching English to adults both in the UK and abroad after completing his Cambridge DELTA qualification, Stephen has gone on to support the implementation of assessment processes across the globe. Here, Stephen discusses how completing CPD training with Cambridge Assessment Network is supporting his career development.

Finding the answers to your questions around assessment

by The Assessment Network, 02 February 2023
Coloured pencils lined up to look like a bar graph
Desislava Dimitrova is an assessment expert with over 30 years’ experience in the educational sector. Having developed her knowledge base through both study and as a teacher in Bulgaria, Desislava was keen to get the answers to some of her most pressing questions around assessment – with the help of Cambridge Assessment Network she has been on a journey to find them.

Assessment Horizons - assessment literacy, identities and cultures - with Dr Simon Child

by Guest Blogger, 14 November 2022
Dr Simon Child, Cambridge Assessment Network's Head of Assessment Training was recently a discussant at the 'exploring the role of assessment literacy in times of uncertainty' session at AEA-Europe Conference 2022. We caught up with him to learn more about assessment literacy and cultures and how learning about these concepts may evolve.

Putting the Glue Back in the System: What approaches can practitioners adopt?

by Loic Menzies, 06 September 2022
Putting the glue back in the system
A lack of ‘system thinking’ has stymied the sector’s ability to gather, share and act on information about vulnerable young people’s needs. “Putting the Glue Back in the System” will set out some of the approaches education practitioners are attempting within the current system. Part 1 of a 3-part series that forms part of our #MappingTheWay discussion series with Loic Menzies.

Assessment Horizons - with Sarah Corcoran from ACCA

by Guest Blogger, 07 July 2022
assessment_horizons
How did different organisations offering assessments respond to the pandemic? and what could that tell us about the future of assessment delivery? Cambridge Assessment Network spoke with Sarah Corcoran, Director of e-Assessment Transformation at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) about moving to Computer-Based Assessment, and how learning and assessment in her industry is changing in relation to technology drivers.

Exploring equity in education and beyond

by Guest Blogger, 24 March 2022
Children stood in overlapping circles
At an expert roundtable in earlier this year we brought together key voices from the education sector to discuss the barriers to equity in education, and the information policy makers might need to improve it. Here, attendees Hardip Begol and Sammy Wright reflect on the discussion and share their thoughts on these perennial yet but crucial questions for any education system that aspires to equity.

What’s the opportunity? Why policy makers need to understand the options that education unlocks

by Loic Menzies, 22 March 2022
Woman climbing a ladder to get through a door
This is the third in our four-part blog series setting out the key considerations to come from our latest #MappingTheWay event. This one explores why the supply of opportunities beyond the classroom is important, and how we can shape education to unlock them.

Brought to you in Technicolour: Why policy makers need to understand young people’s lives

by Loic Menzies, 14 March 2022
Young people seen in technicolour
This is the second in a four-part blog series that will set out the key considerations to come from the event. Part one focused on the need to look at young people across the distribution. This one discusses how we can build up a fuller, picture of young people’s lives to inform a more nuanced approach to improving outcomes.

Beware the Threshold: Looking beyond averages

by Loic Menzies, 09 March 2022
Representation of a graph with people
This is the first in a four-part blog series setting out the key considerations to come from an expert roundtable and webinar on the topic of equity in education. Part one looks at the tendency of policy makers to focus on thresholds and averages, and subsequent inability to look at young people across the distribution.

Exploring the how and why of assessment: 'I think I expected it to be more black and white'

by The Assessment Network, 04 November 2021
woman at laptop drinking coffee

This is the latest in a series of blogs sharing stories about our assessment practitioner community. Kirsty Parkinson, Awarding Assessment Manager at The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply shares how she found a passion for assessment and a desire to take a deep dive into the nuts and bolts of it. Here she tells us how our postgraduate programme, the PGCA, equipped her to do just that.

From industry to education: Getting it right for learners and the assessment community

by The Assessment Network, 06 October 2021
Man smelling wine in front of wine barrels

This is the fifth in a series of blogs sharing stories about our assessment practitioner community. Tom Cherry is Head of Qualifications at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and has studied on three of Cambridge Assessment Network’s four A10 series of online courses. Here he talks to us about wanting to get assessment right for his industry, the learners, and the wider assessment community.

'So broad, yet so narrow' - Exploring professional learning in assessment

by The Assessment Network, 26 August 2021
Teacher with group of students looking at an electric circuit

This is the fourth in a series of blogs sharing stories about our assessment practitioner community. Educational specialist Gemma Escott talks to Cambridge Assessment Network about how becoming an assessment specialist 'just kind of happened', having to piecemeal together her early professional development and how A101: Introducing the Principles of Assessment allowed her to reflect on her practice amongst other professionals.

Talking assessment with confidence and clarity

by The Assessment Network, 10 August 2021
Mexico

Rosalia Valero, Strategic Development Head at Cambridge Assessment English in Mexico, began her career in teaching and training and now works with ministries and educational institutions to transform education in the Americas region. She spoke to us about her career path and why developing a greater understanding of assessment has helped her to ‘fall in love again’ with what she sells.

What does it mean to put assessment front and centre of your teaching practice?

by The Assessment Network, 08 July 2021
George Vlachonikolis
George Vlachonikolis has taught Economics for A Level and IB for 10 years. Currently he is studying on the Postgraduate Advanced Certificate in Educational Studies: Educational Assessment (PGCA) and in this blog he details how the PGCA has built his confidence and expertise as an assessment practitioner and reflects on the things that have shaped his assessment identity.

Fit for the future: How the PGCA is designed to support assessment practitioners innovate and progress in their professional life

by The Assessment Network, 11 June 2021
Man with laptop in a library
In this blog, Dr Simon Child, Head of Assessment Training at Cambridge Assessment Network and Course Co-Director for the Postgraduate Advanced Certificate in Educational Studies: Educational Assessment (PGCA) discusses how knowledge, authority and confidence in assessment practice can equip practitioners for the future.

Why assessment training may be the most valuable CPD for your staff

by The Assessment Network, 17 March 2021
Woman at training event with hand up
Simon Child, Head of Assessment Training at Cambridge Assessment Network, believes the time is right for robust assessment training that empowers teachers to contribute to the debate about the future of assessment. In this blog, from Laura Wheatman-Hill at TES, he explains that the current situation, and indeed the past year is shedding light on the need for change.

Not all assessment is built the same - how can we ensure positive learning outcomes?

woman at desk
We spoke with teacher and freelance assessment consultant, Verónica Floretta, on her career in assessment and how Cambridge Assessment Network's new online course, A104: Psychometrics in Educational Assessment, has led her to reflect on the best ways to structure tests to ensure positive learning outcomes - not only in high stakes testing but also in the classroom.

Online learning and teaching resources from Cambridge Assessment

by Guest Blogger, 01 April 2020
A girl studying through remote learning and watching an online lesson
The novel coronavirus outbreak presents huge and unexpected challenges for the education community worldwide. As an international exams group, Cambridge Assessment has a range of resources and digital products available that can support and enable remote teaching and learning.

Research Matters

Research Matters 32 promo image

Research Matters is our free biannual publication which allows us to share our assessment research, in a range of fields, with the wider assessment community.