Innovation in Education – Learning from the Present: Informing the Future

This seminar will present findings from the ARIA project (Analysis of Reforms in Assessment). Across the UK, various projects have considered how to engage teachers in both formative assessment (where the assessment is integrated into classroom teaching specifically for supporting learning) and summative assessment (where teachers make dependable assessments of pupils' learning for reporting to the pupils or other stakeholders).

ARIA is a Nuffield-funded project that sought to explore these projects, including AifL in Scotland, to help develop our understanding of assessment involving teachers: how it can be made more dependable, how it can be disseminated more widely and how it can be successfully and appropriately developed to improve learning for pupils at classroom, school and system level.

The projects activities have led to a deeper understanding of what has mattered in the process of change across a range of assessment projects. In this seminar the research team will share their findings and with seminar participants will reflect on possible implications for the future of AifL and Curriculum for Excellence.

This seminar will be chaired by Professor John Gardner, Queen's University, Belfast.

Professor John Gardner: John is Professor of Education in the School of Education at Queen's University, Belfast.He has been engaged in educational research and teacher education at Queen's for 24 years, having begun his career as a teacher in a Belfast grammar school.He has been a head of the Graduate School of Education (1993-02) and dean of the faculty of Legal, Social and Educational Sciences (2002-05). His main teaching areas cover evaluative research methods and information technology in education. Since 1990, he has been principal investigator in over 20 large and small-scale projects involving over £1.7 million. The most recent of these is the Nuffield-funded project: Analysis and Review of Innovations in Assessment (ARIA).

Professor Wynne Harlen Throughout her working life, Wynne Harlen's main professional interests have been science education and assessment. Her experience in assessment includes working for eight years as deputy director of the Assessment of Performance Unit's national monitoring project in science (for ages 11 and 13). She was Chair of the Science Expert Group of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 1998 – 2003. She was a member of the Secretary of State's original working group on the creation of the national curriculum in science. She is a founder member of BERA and of ARG. She was awarded the OBE for services to education in 1991. Her publications include 25 research reports, over 140 journal articles, contributions to 36 books and 29 books of which she is author or co-author Louise Hayward.

Louise Hayward is a senior lecturer in the Department of Educational Studies in the University of Glasgow. Her research interests are in the fields of assessment, social justice and transformational change. In the late 1980s, Louise worked as part of the team developing national policy and assessment and on reporting. In the early 1990s she helped to develop Diagnostic Procedures in English Language, Mathematics and Science and was part of the Nottingham University led ESRC group investigating 'New Paradigms in the Assessment of Reading'. Since 2000 Louise has been a founding member of the Assessment is for Learning programme in Scotland. She is a member of the Advisory and Management groups for the project and chairs the Research and Development sub-group. She is also a member of the Advisory committee for the Scottish Survey of Achievement.

Professor Gordon Stobart: Gordon is Professor of Education at the University of London Institute of Education. After working as a secondary school teacher he retrained as an Educational Psychologist. He moved into research after studying in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar. He became Head of Research at London Examinations at the time of the introduction of GCSE and then became Principal Research Officer in Assessment at the National Council for Vocational Qualifications where he was involved in the development of GNVQ. He transferred to QCA where he worked on both national tests and examinations. His membership of the Assessment Reform Group reflects his commitment to the use of assessment for learning as well as of learning. He co-authored, with Caroline Gipps, Assessment: a Teacher's Guide to the Issues (3rd Edition, 1997). He is Editor of the journal Assessment in Education : Principles, Policy and Practice.