| Date: |
29 Jan 2019 |
Venue: |
Cambridge Assessment
The Triangle Building, Shaftesbury Road
Cambridge
CB2 8EA
|
| Time: |
15:45
-
18:30
|
| Type: |
Seminar |
Fee: |
Free |
"The term ‘post-truth’ is defined as “denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” (Flood, 2016). The term is most commonly used in political domains, particularly when there are campaigns to be fought and votes to be won.
The recent US elections and Brexit referendum in England are substantive examples of just how objective facts were ignored or side-lined in favour of emotive appeals. This paper considers how assessment is discussed and perceived within the “post truth” perspective applied to education.
Our means of both accessing information may be broader and faster than ever before, but when framed by a ‘post-truth’ narrative, just how are key stakeholders: schools, teachers, pupils, employers etc. expected to believe in the value of educational assessments?"
Dr Mary Richardson, Associate Professor at UCL Institute of Education in London, will consider this question at this Cambridge Assessment Network seminar.
About Cambridge Assessment Network seminars
Through inviting authoritative voices in education to share their expertise, our seminars aim to inform and stimulate debate on current issues in assessment. As well boosting your CPD, these free events are an opportunity to network and share insights with other professionals from the wider education community.
About the speaker
Dr Mary Richardson is an Associate Professor at UCL Institute of Education in London. She leads the Masters in Educational Assessment and supervises doctoral candidates in assessment-related research. Mary has worked in policy making and research roles in England for the AQA awarding body, the Department of Education and in test develop agencies. She has extensive knowledge of assessment development, standard setting and awarding procedures. At UCL, she is currently leading the analysis and research for TIMSS2019 for England and has experience of leading large scale international projects (most recently in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Finland, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Spain).
Her research interests include trust in public assessments, policy making in assessment and the use of new technologies in educational assessment. She is an advocate of philosophy of education and uses this to develop her work in assessment as she believes that we have to ask difficult questions of our current practice and it is philosophy that helps us fully engage with the issues.
When she is not working, Mary is a keen middle-distance runner and player of the little known game of disc golf - she is one of only 18 women who compete in the UK.