Educational Assessment Networks

Lecturer in Technological Education

Email:  David.Morrison-Love@glasgow.ac.uk

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/davidmorrison-love/

Twitter: @dmorrisonlove

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmorrisonlove/?originalSubdomain=uk

Research interests

David’s research develops along two interrelated strands. The first seeks to understand and develop aspects of curriculum, learning, assessment and pedagogy in STEM Education, with a particular focus on Technology and Engineering. This is principally concerned with how technology and engineering subjects and curricula can be understood and conceptualised in ways that are powerful for learning. This work draws upon a range of influences from the philosophy of technology and the philosophy of education and is increasingly informed by thinking from ontology and pragmatic philosophy. The second strand focuses on assessment for learning at different levels across education systems. This includes understanding how learning progression within given subjects and curricular areas can promote and be supported by more effective formative assessment practices. David is also interested in approaches to capacity building in assessment that promote alignment between research, policy and practice, and support effective learning for pupils in classrooms.

Current projects

CAMAU Learning Progression for Wales

Brief history of work in assessment

As a CAMAU research co-ordinator for Science and Technology and for Mathematics and Numeracy, David has worked with fellow researchers, policy makers and teachers in the development of a new progression-based Curriculum for Wales which will support effective formative assessment. Previously, David undertook research in assessment in Design & Technology Education to support ideation and creative thinking for pupils involved in design and technological problem solving. This led to improved pupil outcomes and involved real-time interpretation of externalised pupil thinking to reveal deeper learning and directly shape formative assessment and pedagogy. He has also worked with probationary teachers at local authority level and was successfully awarded professional recognition by the General Teaching Council for Scotland for work in Assessment in Design & Technology subjects.

David is also involved in assessment research and development within Higher Education. In Initial Teacher Education, David has developed a range of technology-enhanced assessment approaches focusing mainly upon increasing the effectiveness of student feedback. In 2016, David was nominated for a University student feedback award and has contributed to assessment approaches within the wider University and fed into working groups on E-assessment. Previous research projects include self-assessment and mediating support for learning through the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory.

Recent relevant publications

David’s recent relevant publications can be found here and a complete list of his publications is available on his University webpage.

Areas for doctoral supervision

Curriculum, assessment and pedagogy in technology, engineering & vocational education

Assessment and Learning Progression

Classroom and technology enhanced assessment practices

Learning, problem solving and design thinking in Technological and Engineering

Professional learning and teacher education.

Lecturer in Psychology, School of Education

Email: Kara.makarafuller@glasgow.ac.uk

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/karamakarafuller/

Twitter: @kara_makara

Research interests

Kara’s research is designed to have practical implications for informing educational practices that foster motivation and learning. Kara’s research focuses on understanding how students’ social interactions in educational settings influence the development of their motivation and learning. Topics of interest include student and teacher motivation, academic and social goals, peer relationships and social development, academic help seeking from peers and teachers, social networks within schools, and cultural differences in these processes.

Current projects

Kara is a member of the CAMAU research team working with the Welsh Government and teachers on developing a curriculum and assessment system focused on learning progression, in her case specifically in the Humanities and Health and Well-being. 

Currently her projects include: Towards maximizing international PhD students’ experience in the UK: funded by UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account, University of Glasgow, 2016-2018.

Brief history of work in assessment

Through her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and further study, Kara has developed expertise in quantitative aspects of assessment, issues of reliability and validity, survey methodology and statistical analysis and interpretation. Kara has explored the motivational consequences of standardised testing, in which she gained expertise in how assessment impacts student motivation. She has conducted a number of studies around academic help-seeking for learning, which relates to formative assessment and feedback.

In her role as Co-Investigator on the CAMAU project (2017-2019) on curriculum and assessment in Wales, Kara has explored learning progression and implications for assessment in the areas of health and wellbeing and the humanities. This has included examination of international models of learning progression in these areas, review of relevant research literature on progression, and interviews and surveys of teachers and stakeholders in Wales about learning progression.

Recent relevant publications

Kara’s recent relevant publications can be found here and a complete list of her publications is available on her University webpage.

Areas for doctoral supervision

Topics of interest include student and teacher motivation, academic and social goals, peer relationships and social development, academic help seeking from peers and teachers, social networks within schools, and cultural differences in these processes. Students focusing on other topics that broadly relate to educational psychology are welcome.

Current PhD students in assessment

Nouf Abdulrahman M Almohideb - Investigating Saudi Arabian Teachers' and Students' Perspectives on Teaching English Grammar

Dayana Balgabekova - Mentoring Novice Teachers in Kazakhstani Secondary Schools

Hsin-yi Shih - A cross-cultural study of self-efficacy and academic help-seeking 

Jie Zhang - Chinese PgT students' transitional experience and social networks

Professor of Educational Assessment and Innovation

Email: Louise.Hayward@glasgow.ac.uk

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/ehayward/

Twitter: @LouiseHayward3

Research interests

Louise’s major research focus is assessment for social justice. Her main areas of investigation are assessment systems and how these might become more socially just by working with policy makers and practitioners to bring different assessment purposes (formative, summative and accountability) into better alignment.

Current projects

Louise is

• co-director of the CAMAU research project intended to inform the development of progression frameworks within the new Welsh curriculum which will promote assessment as the use of evidence to enable future learning rather than to summarise past achievement;
• founder of the International Educational Assessment Network bringing together policy makers and researchers from twelve nations and states to tackle collaboratively some of assessment’s most intransigent challenges;
• a member of the EU team advising Lithuania on their reform of Teacher Education; her specialist contribution is on assessment;
• working with colleagues advising on the EU Student Voice project including colleagues from Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Scotland and Slovenia, as a member of the SLATE Centre project on Intelligent Accountability (SLATE is an interdisciplinary learning sciences research centre, funded by a five-year, $3m grant from the Ministry of Education in Norway);
• a member of the Curriculum and Assessment Board in Scotland: the key forum for oversight of curriculum and assessment activity in Scotland.  The role of the Board is to provide leadership and oversight of the curriculum and assessment policy framework in Scottish education.  The Board considers the actions needed to ensure Curriculum for Excellence delivers for all children and young people;
• a member of the Educational Leaders’ Forum in Scotland chaired by the Deputy First Minister;
• a member of the Independent Advisory Committee to Welsh Government (a group that reports directly to Cabinet Secretary);
• a member of the Curriculum and Assessment Group in Wales: group with oversight of the revision of national curriculum and assessment arrangements;
• in 2017, a member of the Welsh Government Task Force visit to Ontario to review Canadian testing systems and offer advice to Welsh Government.

Brief history of work in assessment

Louise Hayward is Professor of Educational Assessment and Innovation at the University of Glasgow. She was a member of the internationally renowned Assessment Reform Group and was a member of the Curriculum, Assessment and Pedagogy Educational Reform Group. Currently, she is an invited member of the International Symposium on Formative Assessment and is the founder of the International Educational Assessment Network. Louise has a particular interest in assessment and social justice. She is committed to the centrality of researchers, policy makers and practitioners working together to ensure both high quality policy and policy enactment that remains consistent with policy aspirations. Louise has worked extensively with policy and practice communities in the UK, currently in particular in Scotland and Wales.  Beyond the UK, Louise has worked with a number of governments.  Recently she has worked closely with the Government and agencies in Norway and in Slovenia advising on assessment practices and on change processes for new curricula; in Portugal she was a member of the evaluation team reviewing Education in Higher Education; and she has been involved in reviewing plans for the curriculum and assessment strategy in Malta.

Louise has extensive experience in professional learning in assessment nationally and internationally. Nationally, Louise was a leading member of the Assessment for Learning programme in Scotland and has designed and offered an extensive range of courses nationally for Government and National Agencies (Education Scotland and SQA, Scotland’s examination board), for local authorities throughout the country and for individual schools.  Internationally, she has led numerous professional learning programmes, working with teachers, headteachers, national government agencies and members of policy communities. Topics included in these interactive professional learning events have included: ‘Assessment for Learning’, ‘Self and Peer Assessment’, ‘Change Processes in Assessment’, Assessment for the 21^st century’, ‘Assessment and Social Justice’ and ‘Learning from Assessment in classrooms, in schools and in and across nations’. Within the past year she has offered similar programmes in Ireland and in Slovenia.

Louise is an active researcher in assessment and in transformational change. Currently, she leads the major CAMAU project. Her recent projects include Assessment at Transitions (Scottish Government), Numeracy in the Early Years (East Lothian Council), Evaluating Action Research in Primary Schools (Education Scotland/Robert Owen Centre), Building Sustainable Models of Engineering Education in primary and secondary schools (EPSRC and Education Scotland) and Assessment is for Learning (Scottish Government). Louise participated in the Nuffield-funded research project to evaluate the quality of Assessment for Learning in the four countries of the UK.  

Recent relevant publications

Louise’s recent relevant publications can be found here and a complete list of her publications is available on her University webpage.

Areas for doctoral supervision

Assessment in schools and classrooms, Assessment systems, Language assessment, Self and Peer assessment, Change processes in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, Assessment policy, Assessment for the 21^st century

Current PhD students

Bayan Alghanmi - Enhancing Saudi EFL Learners’ Self Regulation and Critical Thinking through Self and Peer Assessment and its Effect on their Speaking Proficiency

Azima Binti Abdul Aziz- An exploration of the relationship between policy and practice in the process of enactment of the Standard Curriculum for Primary Schools (KSSR) policy in Malaysian primary school

Maya Puspitasari- Exploring the impact of the washback effect on teaching and learning in high stakes assessment in Indonesia

Jingwei Song- Feedback of Assessment for Learning in the English classroom in a Chinese Context: A Comparative Case Study

Michael Taylor – A comparative study between models of assessment policy enactment within the UK

Ziyou Wang - Exploring curriculum policy implementation from teachers' beliefs and practices: Case studies on Primary Schools Modern Languages in Scotland and Shanghai

Research Assistant (School of Education)

Email: Estelia.BorquezSanchez@glasgow.ac.uk

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/esteliaborquezsanchez/#

Twitter: @Estelia_BorSan

Research interests

Estelia is interested in science education, international education development, educational assessment, curriculum development, learning progression, attitudes towards science and industry, capital science and social justice through scientific literacy. She looks at teaching, learning and assessing conceptually demanding science topics, especially biology, how this shapes classroom teaching and learning, and the role of evidence-based thinking in education systems and change processes more broadly. She very much welcomes discussion with anyone who shares similar or related interests.

Projects 

Estelia has been and is currently involved in a number of research projects which include:

• Camau i'r Dyfodol | Steps to the Future. A joint project of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Welsh Government. It is designed to develop thinking and practice with educational partners at all levels of the education system, accomplished by co-constructing change with education professionals across the education system. The Camau i’r Dyfodol project has four phases that take place over three years.
• CAMAU Assessing for the Future. A research project commissioned by Welsh Government to develop a professional learning resource to develop understanding of progression within Curriculum for Wales and to develop assessment practice. A six-month project funded by the Department of Education at the University of Glasgow Educational Assessment Network (UGEAN).
• Carnegie. Developing methods for exploring how pupil learning progresses in different areas of a National Curriculum. A one-year project funded by the Department of Education at the University of Glasgow Educational Assessment Network (UGEAN).
• Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data sets as part of the Independent Assessment Commission (IAC) reporting about equitable and reliable assessments. Invited to analyse data sets as part of the Scottish government, looking for evidence from the 'Draft Vision Statement' to reflect what matters in the curriculum and the next steps in a pupil’s learning journey.

Brief history of work in assessment

Estelia graduated in 2011 with a first-class honours degree from the University "Católica de la Santísima Concepción" in Chile, for which she received a bachelor's degree in Education & professional qualifications as a secondary school teacher of Biology and Natural Sciences. In March 2011, she was awarded a scholarship at the same university to undertake an MSc in Science Education focused on learning and assessment. Following her passion for research in Education through more than ten years of academic study in the UK and Chile, Estelia was awarded a PhD in Education (Science Education) from the University of York in Summer 2020, focused on developing scientific literacy in biology in secondary schools in Chile. Her career in Education has been developing across the fields of practice, assessment, policy and research. In the UK, the CAMAU research project has given her the opportunity to collaborate with researchers, policymakers, and teachers to create a new progression-based Curriculum for Wales that promotes successful formative assessment. Previously, Estelia was involved in assessment research and development within primary schools in England. Estelia supported the research-led assessment of the industry collaboration programmes through the 'voices' of teachers, children, and other stakeholders participating in programmes that include science education, environmental education for sustainability, and community/citizen science at the University of York.

Recent relevant publications

Estelia’s recent relevant publications can be found here and a complete list of her publications is available on her University webpage.

Lecturer in Children's Literature and English (secondary)

Email: Jennifer.farrar@glasgow.ac.uk

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/jenniferfarrar

Personal webpage: https://criticalliteracyinscotland.wordpress.com/

ORCID Record: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7128-6355

Research interests

Jennifer's research interests include critical literacy; the relationship between picturebook research and literacy studies, and the use of children’s literature to develop literacy teaching and literacy practices both in ITE, in schools and in out-of-school settings.

Current projects

One of Jennifer's current projects is an enquiry into undergraduate student teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature. The study is also being carried out by university colleagues in Galicia, Spain and Chile with a view to offering an international view of student teachers' disciplinary knowledge.  Jennifer is also interested in the concept of critical literacy and what it might 'look like' in a Scottish context, both in policy and practical terms. She is planning a longitudinal study with classroom teachers to explore the effects of this stance on teaching and learning, including assessment.

Brief history of work in assessment

After beginning her career in educational journalism, Jennifer worked as a secondary English teacher in state schools in both London and Edinburgh before moving into Initial Teacher Education at the University of Glasgow. The assessment of learners has had an appropriate focus in all of Jennifer’s work as a facilitator of learning.

In 2017, Jennifer received the Scottish Educational Research Association's Estelle Brisard award for early career researchers. In addition to the active research projects described above, Jennifer has been evaluating the potential of visually mediated interviews as tools for learning and works to raise Scottish teachers’ and policy makers’ awareness and understandings of critical literacy and its potential in the classroom and beyond. Through UGEAN, this interest in critical literacy will extend to how teachers might recognise and assess this key practice in teaching and learning contexts.

Recent relevant publications

A complete list of Jennifer's publictions is available on her ORCID record or on her University webpage.

Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Email: Carolyn.hutchinson@glasgow.ac.uk

Research interests

Carolyn’s main research interests are in how national assessment policies and systems can be informed by research and designed to provide dependable information that is fit for purposes of improving learning, through integrating and synthesizing approaches to local and national assessment, evaluation, monitoring and accountability.  In particular, her interests are in how systems can be designed to promote children and young people’s socio-cultural learning and progression in relation to a published national curriculum; and located in local practice through high quality professional learning and management of change.   

Current projects

Carolyn has recently had a break from assessment matters to complete a doctoral thesis about grandparent-care as a lifelong learning experience.  She has, however, been contributing to the development of the School of Education’s online MSc Programme Assessment in Education and providing consultancy advice in response to the Scottish Government’s developing assessment policy. 

Brief history of work in assessment

For ten years during the 1980s Carolyn was a researcher with the University of Edinburgh’s Godfrey Thomson Unit for Educational Assessment, and then spent a further ten years as a National Development Officer for Assessment and Testing and then HM Inspector of Schools in Scotland, including acting as National Specialist for Assessment, conducting a national review of assessment and helping to develop an observational baseline (3-5) assessment.  In 2001 she joined the Scottish Executive Education Department as Head of Assessment Branch to lead a national development programme for assessment, overseeing a research-informed review of all aspects of assessment 3-14 in Scotland, including classroom assessment in nurseries and schools, national assessments and monitoring of performance and achievement.  Professional learning and building capacity in assessment were a key focus of the programme, which was designed to engage teachers, schools, local authorities and partners fully in taking the work forward through a series of linked local projects.

From 2009 until her retirement in 2013, Carolyn was a professional advisor to Education Scotland, continuing to work on assessment and professional learning. Key areas of activity included the definition and assessment of key skills and competencies, including ‘soft’ skills and recognition of wider achievement; producing support materials for staff involved in the Scottish national monitoring survey; development and evaluation of materials for an on-line National Assessment Resource, including support materials for classroom teachers; validation and use of teachers’ professional judgments in the context of national assessment; developing effective approaches to professional learning in assessment; and assessment systems in other small countries.  Since retirement, she has continued to work with colleagues in Glasgow as a consultant, focusing especially on involving learners in understanding and evaluating their own learning, progression in learning and professional learning in assessment.  Projects and enquiries have included the Evaluation of Stages for Early Arithmetical Learning (SEAL); the assessment of reading through diagnostic interviews; and exploring teachers’ and pupils’ views about acknowledging learner assessment evidence.

Over the years Carolyn’s work has involved establishing and maintaining UK and international links to share and exchange insights from research and practice in assessment.  From 2003-2006 she represented Scotland in the UK Assessment Reform Group’s ‘Assessment Systems for the Future’ project.  In 2007 she made an exchange with a colleague in the New Zealand Ministry of Education, advising on the development of national assessment policy and supporting their ‘Assess To Learn’ and national educational monitoring programmes. In 2009, she led Scottish Continuing International Professional Development group study visits to New Zealand and Winnipeg, Canada. In 2010-11, she was consultant to the Maltese Ministry of Education on their curriculum and assessment policy and development.  In 2012-13, she served as a member of the AEA-Europe working group to draft ‘Standards in Assessment’.  She has contributed to various Assessment for Learning conferences and symposia in New Zealand, Norway, Queensland and Ontario.  

Recent relevant publications

Carolyn’s recent relevant publications can be found here.

Senior Lecturer

Email: Fiona.Patrick@glasgow.ac.uk

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/fionapatrick/

ORCID record: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4205-7307

Research interests

Fiona's research currently centres on understanding the development of teacher professional identity and forms of pedagogic knowledge for teaching. She is also interested in exploring the effects of Neoliberal education policy on teacher education beliefs and practices. 

Current projects

Fiona's current action research projects are designed to generate understanding of how teacher educators can support knowledge and identity development in student teachers. The first project looks at the development of PGDE Art and Design students' professional identity development to understand how their identities as artists intersect with their developing identities as teachers. The second project focuses on the developing pedagogic knowledge of Design and Technology Education students to explore how they use evidence to support pupil learning. 

Brief history of work in assessment

Joining UGEAN in 2021, Fiona is reconnecting with her research interest in assessment. In 2010-12 she was part of the Assessment at Transition project led by Louise Hayward and funded by the Scottish Government. This project a new approach to sharing of pupil assessments at transition from primary to secondary school through the use of a pupil-managed portfolio of work designed to support dialogue between teachers and learners at the heart of the transition process. In higher education, Fiona explored student perceptions of assessment in her 2010 project What do students need from written feedback and how does feedback help them to learn?  In addition, she has supervised doctoral students whose work focussed on assessment in higher education (Gail Goulet on the assessment of tranformative potential in higher education; Rille Raaper on student assessment in neoliberal universities).

Recent relevant publications

Fiona's recent relevant publications can be found here. Her complete list of publications can be found on her staff webpage. 

Lecturer in Modern Languages Education

Email: Francisco.Valdera-Gil@glasgow.ac.uk

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/franciscovaldera-gil/#/

Research interests

Francisco’s research interests are based around modern languages learning and teaching, including interaction and the use of the target language in the modern language classroom, the links between theory and practice within the communicative approach, processes of teacher change, and how assessment can enhance learning.  His doctoral study explores the alignment between curriculum, assessment and pedagogy in the Scottish modern languages classroom.

Current projects

CAMAU

National Framework for Languages Scotland: Plurilingualism and Pluriliteracies: http://www.nffl.education.ed.ac.uk/

Brief history of work in assessment

Francisco is a lecturer in modern languages teacher education and teaches across a variety of courses in initial teacher education: PGDE secondary and primary modern languages and M Educ. He also teaches in generic educational courses such as practitioner enquiry. He supervises masters students within the field of modern languages learning and teaching. Nationally, Francisco is the Principal Assessor for the Higher Spanish examination for SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority).

Recent relevant publications

Francisco’s recent relevant publications can be found here and a complete list of his publications is available on his University webpage.

Research Fellow in the School of Education

Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Mathematics and Statistics

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/lesleywisemanorr/

Email: lesley.wiseman-orr@glasgow.ac.uk

ORCID Record: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1286-5031

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-wiseman-orr-a523a52a/

Research interests

Lesley's research career began with the development and validation of digital instruments to measure abstract constructs such as animal pain and welfare, using psychometric approaches. That interest and focus on the societal benefits of good measurement continues in collaboration with colleagues in the School of Veterinary Medicine, and has expanded to include research in the field of educational assessment within the School of Education. Recent projects have been designed to help explore the impacts of assessment change on learners and other key stakeholders, and to support practitioners and policy-makers to implement new approaches to assessment that are focused on learner progression. 

Current projects

Lesley is currently a member of the CAMAU research team working with the Welsh Government and teachers on developing and implementing a new curriculum and assessment system that is focused on learning progression. 

Recent relevant publications

Lesley’s recent relevant publications can be found here and a complete list of her publications is available on her University webpage.    

Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Email: george.macbride@glasgow.ac.uk

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/?webapp=staffcontact&action=person&id=4fdfece48092

Research interests

George’s research interests focus on the relationships among assessment, curriculum and pedagogy, on the ways in which together they can promote meaningful learning, on education to promote social justice and on the means of promoting and supporting sustainable educational change.

Current projects

As a member of the CAMAU research team within the University, George participated in the planning of the research model and programme, in the coordination of work across the six curricular areas, in interviewing policy makers and in analysing and reporting findings; he was a member of the Welsh Government's Coherence Group. Follwing this, he is currently a member of the Welsh Government's Assessment Advisory Group and Learning Portfolios Working Group and has developed for the Government a number of papers on assessment, progression and professional learning to support curriculum development and enactment. He has recently completed a small project investigating the parameters for commissioning support materials for enactment of Curriculum for Wales and is currently working with other UGEAN members on a commissioned research project into the Curriculum for Wales Principles of Progression and means of realising these in practice.

He is a member of School of Education team developing the online MSc Programme Assessment in Education, contributing in particular to developing the Course on Assessment for Improvement and Accountability.

Brief history of work in assessment

Following his retirement from secondary teaching in 2006, George has participated in University of Glasgow teams and development projects on diverse aspects of curriculum and assessment across school education (funded by EU, EPSRC, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, Education Scotland, Scottish Qualifications Authority). During this period, George was commissioned by Scottish Government as a consultant supporting the formation of national policy on achievement, assessment and qualifications. He has also carried out research and development commissions for Education Scotland on STEM and on assesment of significant aspects of learning. Work for the Government and Education Scotland involved participation in working groups and contributing to the National Assessment Resources and to professional learning materials on assessment and progression and on the recognition of wider achievement. 

Recent relevant publications

George’s recent relevant publications can be found here.

Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Email: ernest.spencer@glasgow.ac.uk

University page: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/?webapp=staffcontact&action=person&id=4fdfede18b95

Research interests

Currently active with colleagues in developing and maintaining high quality interactions among researchers, policy makers, advisers and teachers to optimise assessment policies and practices.

Current projects

Ernest has been actively involved over the past two years with the University of Glasgow/UWTSD CAMAU (Steps) Project, working with teachers and policy makers in Wales to develop progression frameworks for the emerging Welsh curriculum through collaborative, ‘co-creation’ methods. He provided research reviews and guidance on the nature of a progression framework in particular for the teachers working on the curriculum in the Languages, Literacy and Communication (LLC) and the Expressive Arts (E Arts) Areas of Learning and Experience. Currently collaborating with UWTSD colleagues in the drafting of journal articles about the development in each of LLC and E Arts. Points of interest include the following.

• In LLC,  comment on the implications of the suggestion made by Mosher and Heritage (2017) that, because of the complexity of and variations in the ways in which young people learn to communicate and use languages, there is no compelling research evidence about the order in which successful learners become familiar with the various aspects of language and therefore, at least at present, no clear basis for writing detailed descriptions of progression in a way that could be used to specify next steps in learning at any particular point.
• In E Arts, comment on the AoLE (Areas of Learning and Experiences) Group’s commitment to and effective arguments for a generic approach to describing progression, while aiming to ensure learners’ entitlement to experience of and progression in the separate E Arts disciplines; and on the implications for practical, planning, learning/teaching and assessment of the approach the Group has taken.
• In both AoLEs, comment on the process of developing the curriculum through a collaborative ‘co-creation’ approach and on what is needed to carry this process forward with teachers more generally.

Ernest has recently worked on the writing of online Masters courses on Principles and Theories of Assessment for Social Justice and Assessment for Learning and Progression, and teaches the former of these. He has also, at the request of course leaders, contributed lectures on assessment to BEduc 4 and to the Masters course for international students, Contemporary Themes in Education Policy 2018-19.

Brief history of work in assessment

After a period as teacher and Head of Department of English in secondary and further education, Ernest developed extensive expertise in all aspects of assessment. His roles included leading major assessment research projects at the Scottish Council for Research in Education and, as the National Specialist for Assessment with Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education (HMIE), providing policy advice and teacher education during the development of the original Scottish monitoring surveys (the Assessment of Achievement Programme) and the Higher, Standard Grade and 5-14 assessment arrangements. In more recent years he has been involved in assessment-related research in the context of Curriculum for Excellence for the University of Glasgow (in a Scottish Government-funded project), Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority. He has participated in and published material on international assessment developments, including the planning and implementation of IEA and IAEA monitoring surveys, an ESRC-funded series of seminars on new assessment paradigms and the OECD study of formative assessment in secondary schools.

Ernest’s work in assessment throughout his career has developed in parallel with significant work and publications in the fields of literacy and language in learning.

Recent relevant publications

Ernest’s recent relevant publications can be found here.