Blogs

In November 2020 Cambridge Assessment Network hosted Professor Nuno Crato, Portugal’s Minister of Education and Science from 2011-2015, to speak at their first online thought leadership seminar on Portugal's success in curriculum and educational reform. Here he answers some audience questions.

The Cambridge Assessment Group has produced a range of resources and digital products that can support and enable remote teaching and learning.

Aaron Mortlock, Business Development Manager for Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing, gives his account of how Cambridge Assessment Network's practitioner workshops have improved his assessment knowledge and impacted his day to day practice.

New research from Cambridge Assessment looks at the relationship between learning music and academic achievement in the context of secondary school students in England.

Professional development professor Rob Coe of Evidence Based Education explains the value of professional development as he introduces the 'Great Teaching Toolkit: Evidence Review'.

We caught up with colleagues from our BAME staff network to hear about the wonderful things happening across the organisation to commemorate Black History Month.

Cambridge Assessment Network, a division of Cambridge Assessment that offers professional development in assessment, has shared the methodology behind their new online assessment practitioner workshops.

Cambridge Assessment’s Women in Leadership staff network caught up with members of our senior leadership team to find out how their professional and personal lives have changed and adapted during these uncertain times.

History teacher Sitara Amin reflects on Black History Month, and her own experience of learning and teaching the stories of Britain’s BAME communities.

On-screen testing had already been an area of increasing interest for assessment experts before the events of 2020. The challenge of making means of assessment accessible to disparate cohorts of students has only accelerated with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The current edition of Research Matters includes an intriguing article that shines a new light on life in Germany in the months leading up to the Second World War.

Students returning to school this September are facing more than their fair share of challenges. From the socially distanced classroom to reduced extra-curricular activities, life is very different for the class of 2020 and this has led to fears, among education professionals, of rising student anxiety and a drop in confidence.

Textbooks, statistics and error are central themes of research at Cambridge Assessment. So, I was intrigued when Paul Morris’ article “Misunderstandings and omissions in textbook accounts of effect sizes” popped through my letterbox. This is interesting in the context of research we have conducted ourselves at Cambridge Assessment.

In recent weeks, the debate over university admissions procedures has again come to the fore. This has been prompted partly by the impact of Covid-19 on education, but also because of growing concern that admissions based on predicted grades and personal statements can, perhaps unintentionally, disadvantage certain student groups.

We spoke with teacher and freelance assessment consultant, Verónica Floretta, on her career in assessment and how Cambridge Assessment Network's new online course, A104: Psychometrics in Educational Assessment, has led her to reflect on the best ways to structure tests to ensure positive learning outcomes - not only in high stakes testing but also in the classroom.

More than a million students will receive GCSE and A Level grades this summer, but in a far from normal way. Tim Oates, Director of Assessment Research and Development, explains how we should support this year's cohorts to focus on the next stage of their education on results day.

As we come to the end of the pilot for A103: Introducing Data Literacy, we spoke to participants on the importance of data literacy and how their learning has impacted their professional practice.

To mark Pride Month, we caught up with members of our LGBT+ staff network to find out how they will be celebrating Pride and to highlight their important work as one of our committed networks promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.

Dan Frost, Learning Technology Lead at Cambridge Assessment English and part of the team behind the SHAPE initiative, reflects on the online event and its outcomes.

"We think of May and June as the main summer examination season so, as exam rooms stand empty in 2020, this time of year feels particularly odd." Our Group Archivist, Gillian Cooke, reflects on the summer exam series.