Blogs

Linguist and Cambridge Centre Exams Manager, Amanda Jane Lowles wanted a greater understanding of what practices went into the creation of her Centre’s assessments. By utilising A10 courses such as A101: Introducing the Principles of Assessment which are offered by Cambridge Assessment Network, Amanda has now gained this important expertise.

"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.

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.

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.

The recent launch of ChatGPT has accelerated the conversation around AI and assessment, so we spoke with Nick Raikes - who leads a programme of work in data innovation and development here at Cambridge - about opportunities and challenges for assessment practitioners.

Creative Education Trust (CET) is a UK network of 17 schools in postindustrial and coastal urban centres, educating 13,500 children and young people. They recently completed a bespoke project with the team at Cambridge Assessment Network which involved 60 teachers, 13 subjects and 5 weekly webinars, to reimagine the Trust's assessment framework.

One of our Cambridge Assessment Network members suggested a 'Day in the life' feature' to learn more about different careers in assessment. So for this Member Spotlight we spoke with Trudy Augustin, Testing and Evaluation Officer for the Ministry of Education in St Lucia about a typical day, what she enjoys the most about her role and how developing her understanding of assessment supports her career.

Assessing competence and skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration are high on the agenda for educators, employers, and policymakers looking to reimagine an education system fit for the future. In this blog, we discuss the advantages and challenges of assessing competence and so-called '21st-century skills', and how they might be integrated into the curriculum.

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.

In the past 40 years, the pace of technological change has been rapid. In those same years, assessment has remained largely the same. In this blog we ask, is digital assessment finally on its way, and if so what does that look like? From a lift and shift model to 'born digital exams, we examine how technology is shaping assessment, and discuss why the focus should be on what we want for the future of education, not what the tech can do for us.

Anthea Hollist is Head of Qualifications and Assessment for the University of the Arts, London, as well as a current student on the Cambridge Postgraduate Advanced Certificate in Educational Assessment course. We spoke with Anthea about her ‘assessment identity’, the challenges of creating 'engaging and meaningful' performance based assessments, and how assessment study has given her 'the language to talk about assessment with confidence.'

As we might expect, there are both similarities and differences in mathematics teaching in England and the US. If we want to understand the differences, it is useful to look at the way that mathematics has been taught in the past and how such teaching has influenced teaching today. In this blog and the accompanying time lines we explore the main events and influences in mathematics education in the two countries.

The Digital High Stakes Assessment Programme is developing innovative assessments and using evidence to inform their design. This blog, a literature review of open book, open web assessments (OBOW), describes what we mean by OBOW, and the pros and cons of this assessment approach.

Comparability, or the extent to which standards are similar, between paper and digital assessments can be a concern. In this blog researchers Sarah Hughes and Gill Elliot explain what we mean by comparability when talking about digital assessment, and how our Digital High Stakes Assessment Programme is balancing innovation and comparability of outcomes.

What should assessment practitioners be aware of when considering accessibility and inclusion in assessment? Cambridge Assessment Network spoke with Senior Research Managers Sylwia Macinska and Carla Pastorino about universally designed assessment, equity of access and trends in assistive technology.

Paul Kelly is Qualifications Director at Professional Assessment Ltd (PAL), where he leads the Resource Development Team and oversees the assessment design and production process. PAL provides end-point assessment for a wide range of apprenticeship standards for training organisations and employers and also audit and compliance services for training providers. We spoke with Paul about how psychology can be applied to pedagogy and assessment, considerations for accessibility in end-point assessments and the flexibility offered by remote assessments for professional discussions.