Research and analysis

Appendix 2: Reliability Programme Technical Advisory Group and Policy Advisory Group members

Published 16 May 2013

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

1. Technical advisory group members

The following people were members of the technical advisory group.

1.1 Professor Jo-Anne Baird

Lead editor of the academic journal ‘Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice’ and director of the Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment.

She previously worked at the University of Bristol and prior to that she was head of research at the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), where she was responsible for managing the research programme and for the standard-setting process for AQA’s exams.

Jo-Anne also worked as a lecturer at London University’s Institute of Education and has taught for the Open University and at A level. Jo-Anne is a Fellow of the Association of Educational Assessment-Europe. In 2007, Jo-Anne co-edited the book, ‘Techniques for comparing examination standards’, which was commissioned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). Her research looks at examination standards and systemic issues in assessment quality.

1.2 Anton Béguin

Director of the Measurement and Research Department at Cito, an international measurement and assessment organisation, where he has worked since 2001.

He has been responsible for statistical and psychometric procedures used in the central examinations in the Netherlands. Dr Béguin is one of the project directors of a large scale longitudinal study in the Netherlands and has been involved in many research projects related to standard setting and equating.

He has worked as consultant advising on measurement, testing and accountability with a range of national and international organisations. He began his career as a research assistant at University of Twente in 1995, where he also wrote his doctoral thesis.

Dr Béguin has written many publications on examinations and measurement and is the Chair of the Methodology and Evaluation division of the Netherlands Educational Research Association (NERA), and Fellow of the Association of Educational Assessment-Europe.

1.3 Professor Paul Black

Emeritus Professor of Education at King’s College London.

He took his first degree in physics at the University of Manchester, followed by a PhD at Cambridge University. He spent 20 years a faculty member of the Department of Physics at the University of Birmingham and in 1976 he became professor of science education and director of the Centre for Science and Mathematics Education at Chelsea College in London. When Chelsea College merged with King’s in 1985, he became the head of the King’s Centre for Education Studies, King’s College London.

Professor Black was also chair of the government’s task group on assessment and testing from 1987 to 1988 and deputy chairman of the National Curriculum Council from 1989 to 1991. He is an honorary life member and former president of the Association for Science Education (UK), and in 2004 he received the lifetime service award for Distinguished Contribution to Research in Science Education (US).

1.4 Alastair Pollitt

Set up the Cambridge Exam Research consultancy, which offers research and training on formal assessment.

Before this, he was made the director of research and evaluation at the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) in 1994, where he stayed until 2004.

He began his career at the University of Aberdeen, where he graduated in chemistry with mathematics. He spent two years teaching science in the West Indies which sparked his interested in learning, and spurred him to take an MA in Education and Psychology at the University of Aberdeen. He then trained in psychometrics and statistics in Edinburgh.

From 1980 to 1983 Mr Pollitt embarked on a programme of government-sponsored research to investigate the psychology of examining, which resulted in his 1985 book ‘What Makes Exam Questions Difficult?’. He was director of the national project to monitor standards in English language amongst Scotland’s school children in 1989. Mr Pollitt is currently working on a project with the University of London to explore awarding grades using holistic comparative judgement.

1.5 Professor Gordon Stanley

Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. He was the first Director of the Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment, as well as a research fellow of St Anne’s College and Pearson Professor of Educational Assessment at the University of Oxford. Prior to taking up this position at Oxford, he spent 10 years heading a curriculum and public examinations authority in New South Wales, Australia.

His career has involved teaching and research in assessment as well as holding statutory offices in education. In 1997 he was made chair of the Australian National Board of Employment Education and Training (NBEET) and of the Higher Education Council. During the 1990s he became involved in quality assurance issues in education and was a member of the Committee for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. In his NBEET role he provided advice on quality issues to the Commonwealth Minister for education.

Professor Stanley is an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne and Honorary Professor of Education at the University of Sydney.

1.6 Professor Dave Bartram

Member of the technical advisory group in 2009; Dave is research director at Saville and Holdsworth Limited (SHL).

He joined SHL in 1998, having been a faculty dean and professor of psychology at the University of Hull. He is past chair of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Steering Committee on Test Standards and chair of the EFPA Standing Committee on Tests and Testing.

He is president of the International Association of Applied Psychology’s Division 2 (Measurement and Assessment) and a past-president of the International Test Commission. He has received the BPS award for Distinguished Contribution to Professional Psychology and has been widely published in a range of areas relating to occupational assessment, especially in relation to computer-based testing.

2. Policy advisory group members

The members of the policy advisory group were:

• Jo-Anne Baird: Professor of educational assessment, also member of technical advisory group
• Mike Baker: Journalist
• Paul Black: Professor of educational assessment, also member of technical advisory group
• Dame Sandra Burslem: Deputy chair of Ofqual
• David Butler: Chief executive, National Confederation of Parent–Teacher Association (NCPTA)
• Jackie Dean: Technical and professional development consultant, Seven Trent Water
• Ken Flint: Admissions tutor, Warwick University
• Anysha Ihuomah: English Secondary Students Association (ESSA) * Jessie Seal: English Secondary Students Association (ESSA)
• Edward Winter: Professor of physiology of exercise, Sheffield Hallam University