Gill Elliott

Elliott, G., Suto, I. and Walland, E. (2019). What makes researchers anxious? It’s Time to Talk about talking about research. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 27, 26-32.

Increasingly, workplaces provide accessible places and events for employees to discuss mental health issues. In the course of discussions in our organisation, researchers raised the issue of workplace activities that cause them anxiety – top of the list being giving presentations. This article describes a workshop held with researchers at Cambridge Assessment to encourage the discussion to develop more widely. We reflect upon themes about workplace anxiety identified by the workshop participants, relate the themes to the literature, and consider practical techniques for reducing the impact of anxiety. Our aim is that this study will be helpful in enabling other researchers to become more open in discussing the aspects of their role which cause anxiety. In turn, this will facilitate finding ameliorative solutions to the issues raised, to the mutual benefit of individuals and organisations.

Elliott, G. (2016). Good - better - best? Identifying highest performing jurisdictions. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 22, 37-38.

We have become used to references to high-performing jurisdictions, but there are now many different published rankings of jurisdictions, each of which identifies high-performers. In consequence, the number of jurisdictions which fulfil the description of being high-performing has grown to a sizeable number. Sometimes, for practical research purposes, it is desirable to identify a smaller number of the highest performing jurisdictions at a given point in time. This article explores a strategy for doing so, based upon evaluating the position of a jurisdiction across a number of different rankings.

Elliott, G. (2014). Method in our madness? The advantages and limitations of mapping other jurisdictions' educational policy and practice. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 17, 24-29.

Making comparisons between different nations’ educational systems is challenging and, whilst it is beneficial to study the education systems of other jurisdictions in order to evaluate alternative approaches and to explore innovation, it is important to temper enthusiasm for alternative systems’ successes with a realistic appraisal of the similarities and differences of their systems; their cultures and the dynamics at play in their schools.

Mapping exercises have been used to illuminate contrasts between different international approaches to education and assessment. This paper addresses the advantages and limitations of making comparisons with other jurisdictions, informed by our experiences whilst undertaking a large project during which a total of more than twenty jurisdictions were included in a number of different levels of comparison.

Mehta, S., Suto, I., Elliott, G. and Rushton, N. (2013). Independent research at A level: Students’ and teachers’ experiences. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 15, 9-16. 

Our aims were to explore teachers’ and students’ experiences and perspectives of independent research at A level. The study focused Economics, French and Mathematics. It investigated: (i) the extent to which teachers think research and investigative skills can be developed at A level; (ii) the resources and guidance that students use; and (iii) whether subject-specific differences arise. A questionnaire and follow-on interview methodology was used. 47 Mathematics teachers, 24 Economics teachers and 15 French teachers participated. Additionally, 299 Mathematics students, 228 Economics students and 136 French students took part.

About half of the French and Economics teachers were found to assign investigative/research tasks to their students at least once a fortnight. On the other hand, about half of the Mathematics teachers set such tasks less often and a further 40% never set them at all. The frequency with which the teachers set investigation/research tasks as homework/private study showed the same subject-specific differences as the classroom context. The internet was the most frequently listed source that students across all three subjects consulted while engaging in independent research. The interview data shed further light on general and specific internet usage. Overall, the findings explain some of the variation in preparedness of new undergraduates for independent study and research-related tasks at university.

Elliott, G. (2011). Lessons from the past: An overview of the issues raised on the 1911 'Report of the Consultative Committee on Examinations in Secondary Schools'. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 12, 2-7.

This article celebrates the 100th anniversary of the publication 'Examinations in Secondary Schools' by reviewing its contents in the light of issues faced in present day. Ten key issues were identified from the 1911 report, nearly all of which are still subject to current debate. A huge wealth of detail in the 1911 report makes for extremely interesting reading alongside records from recent times. Tracing the outcomes of decisons made into policy and practice, with the benefit of hindsight, can provide an illumiating source of evidence to add to current educational debate.

Elliott, G., Curcin, M., Bramley, T., Ireland, J., Gill, T. and Black, B. (2009). Assessment instruments over time. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 7, 23-25.

As Cambridge Assessment celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008 members of the Evaluation and Psychometrics Team looked back at question papers over the years. Details of the question papers and examples of questions were used to illustrate the development of seven subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Geography, Art, French, Cookery and English Literature. Two clear themes emerged from the work across most subjects - an increasing emphasis on real-world contexts in more recent years and an increasing choice of topic areas and question/component options available to candidates.

Elliott, G. and Johnson, N. (2009). All the right letters – just not necessarily in the right order. Spelling errors in a sample of GCSE English scripts. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 7, 26-31.

For the past ten years, Cambridge Assessment has been running a series of investigations into features of GCSE English candidates’ writing – the Aspects of Writing study (Massey et al., 1996, Massey et al., 2005). The studies have sampled a fragment of writing taken from the narrative writing of 30 boys and 30 girls at every grade at GCSE. Features investigated have included the correct and incorrect use of various forms of punctuation, sophistication of vocabulary, non-standard English, sentence types and the frequency of spelling errors. This paper provides a more detailed analysis of the nature of the spelling errors identified in the sample of work obtained for the Aspects of Writing project from unit 3 (Literary heritage and Imaginative Writing) of the 2004 OCR GCSE examination in English. Are there certain types of spelling error which occur more frequently than others? Do particular words crop up over and over again? How many errors relate to well-known spelling rules, such as “I before E except after C”?

The study identified 345 spelling errors in 11,730 words written, and these were reported in Massey et al. (2005), with a comparison by grade with samples of writing from 1980, 1993 and 1994. It was shown that a considerable decline in spelling in the early 1990s (compared with 1980) had been halted, and at the lower grades, improved.

Since then, we have conducted a detailed analysis of the 345 misspelled words to see if there is evidence of particular types of error. Each misspelling has been categorised, and five broad types of error identified. These are sound-based errors, rules-based errors, errors of commission, omission and transposition, writing errors and multiple errors. This paper will present a detailed examination of the misspellings and the process of developing the categorisation system used. A number of words – woman, were, where, watch(ing), too and the homophones there/their and knew/new are identified as being the most frequently misspelled words. Implications for the findings upon teaching and literacy policy are discussed.

Elliott, G. (2008). Cookery examined - 1937-2007: Evidence from examination questions of the development of a subjects over time. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 6, 24-30.

This paper describes the evolution of a subject - cookery, later known as home economics and food technology - over time, as seen from the perspective of examination questions. The historical background to the examinations is explored, and examples given from examination questions through the years.