Blogs

Chair of Cambridge Assessment’s LGBTQIA+ staff network, David Wikramaratna, shares how we’re marking Pride this month and highlights some of the ways the network is helping to make the workplace a more inclusive and safer place to be for all our colleagues.

Last month a Cambridge Assessment Network seminar heard from inspirational naturist and campaigner Mary Colwell about the reasoning behind the her campaign for a Natural History GCSE and the journey towards the recent proposal to the Department for Education.

In this blog explore what is meant by curriculum coherence, and examine possible connections between curriculum coherence and learner attainment.

As part of our SHAPE Education initiative, we’re hosting monthly debates with educational experts on the future of education. This month we asked 'What can we remove from education?' and discussed how we can learn from the way the educational landscape has changed in the last year in relation to the attainment and wellbeing of learners.

A group called Rethinking Assessment has called for GCSEs to be scrapped. But why, and do their arguments hold any merit? Barnaby Lenon examines the case for an overhaul of our exam system.

As part of the discussion about getting rid or reforming qualifications in different parts of the world Tim Oates CBE, Director of Assessment Research and Development, takes a close look at how carefully selected questions both stimulate thought and reveal the way in which pupils are thinking.

Reform of secondary education in England has been a topic of great attention. Many of those calling for change have suggested scrapping A Levels, often in favour of ‘baccalaureate-style’ systems. This blog looks at the truth behind the argument that students currently have limited choice post-16.

Teacher training and development is an integral part of a thriving education ecosystem. At the latest Global Online Learning Alliance, 90 education leaders from around the world met to discuss actions and policies across borders, and to make recommendations for the future.

First and second language skills are a benefit to learners and, in today’s globalised world, are an important benefit to society too. Here Freelance Language and Assessment Specialist Kirsten Sutton explores the many advantages of bilingualism and how bilingual speakers can gain a different perspective of the world.

As the call and need for digital assessment continues to grow, across Cambridge Assessment we are actively exploring what qualifications purely designed for delivery and taking in a digital format might look like.

Could more continuous assessment make the high-stakes GCSE and A Level exam system in England more robust? Tom Bramley explores the idea of relying on more teacher assessment in the second part of a blog series on the robustness and resilience of the exam system.

The coronavirus pandemic has made many people question whether the exam system in England is sufficiently robust or resilient. In a two part blog series Tom Bramley looks at the robustness of online assessment and teacher assessment.

Many students will be going through a mixture of emotions, including feelings of stress and anxiety around how their grades will be awarded this summer and how this will impact their future. Professor David Putwain offers practical tips on how to reduce and manage anxiety that will be useful for students, parents and their teachers, this year and beyond.

One area of great rhetoric in education surrounds ‘individualised’ or ‘personalised’ learning. These terms are often used interchangeably, which may or may not be appropriate depending on the intentions of the author. Tim Oates looks at the greater importance of what it translates into from the perspective of individual students.

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.

eLearning Manager for Cambridge Assessment International Education, Andrew Field, looks at teaching and technology in 2021 and the opportunities for the future.

Tim Oates Director of Assessment Research and Development pays tribute to Professor Jane Mellanby, who passed away on 08 February 2021, and reflects on our sense of Jane.

Celebrated annually on March 8, International Women's Day marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. We spoke to members of Cambridge Assessment's Women in Leadership staff network to discuss their plans to mark International Women's Day, the theme for this year and the importance of the staff network in challenging bias and inequality in the workplace.

There is clear insight to be drawn from past crises, and an opportunity to not just catch-up on learning after the impact of Covid, but actually to improve student attainment now and in the future.

We’ve undertaken a comprehensive study of Repeatedly High Performing Jurisdictions around the world and found that among these countries, those that don’t assess externally at the end of basic secondary education are the real minority.