Cambridge Perspective

The importance of question design in education

Michael O'Sullivan, Chief Executive of Cambridge Assessment International Education, opens the conference by saying questions are vital in education "because they make us think, they make us state what we know and don’t know". He states that questions enable teachers to see into learners’ minds and understand what they have understood and what areas need more work.

Answering the questions

Simon Lebus, Group Chief Executive of Cambridge Assessment, sums up the conference saying “There aren’t many opportunities to spend a whole day thinking about questions and thinking about exams – it’s a much-neglected subject, it certainly features very little in teacher training and development, and that’s something we are trying to redress with some of our professional training and courses in assessment,” he says. “It’s absolutely key this gets much more attention as part of the whole process of what goes on in schools."