Welcome to AQi
Bringing together research, insight and ideas on assessment, qualifications and curriculum
Welcome to AQi.
We at AQA believe that educational assessment must meet the demands of economic and social change, driven in part by rapidly changing technologies, while maintaining reliability and public trust.
Navigating this complex environment requires high-quality analysis of the best evidence, and being open to testing diverse ideas and perspectives.
As an education charity, we have created AQi to bring together research and insight, argument and ideas, on assessment and qualifications - because we are acutely aware that high quality curriculum delivery is intimately bound up with excellent assessment.
AQi’s aim is to advance understanding of assessment, and to inform discussion and debate. We want to link research and its application to the real world, in the interests of students and teachers alike.
Colin Hughes
CEO, AQA
Comparable Outcomes: Setting the standard?
What is the comparable outcomes framework, how does it underpin grade standards and are there alternatives?Read More
What role is there for students in assessment and curriculum debate?
Should students and young people be involved in education debates? What value can they bring?
Regional changes in secondary school pupil numbers, 2010-2020
How have secondary school pupil numbers changed over the past decade?
Percentage of FE Leavers in Sustained Positive Destinations, 2013-2018
Assessing regional and local changes to Further Education outcomes, 2013-2018
Which students take degrees they’re overqualified for?
Could some students be at a more selective university or on a more financially rewarding degree? Stuart Campbell and Gill Wyness, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, explore.
The 1963 Newsom Report – Looking back, and to the future
The lessons of education policy past for the present day
Percentage of 2018/19 A-Level Entries graded A*-C by region
Further insight into the variation of A Level attainment by region
Learning Loss: What is the evidence for extending the School Day?
Amid debate about extending the school day to address Covid disruption, AQi looks at the evidence
Four key ingredients for a high-quality assessment
The top things to consider when writing assessments
Qualifications and Assessments 2021 – Year in Review
After a second summer of exam cancellations, AQi speaks with education leaders to review the year
Percentage of 2018/19 A-Level Entries graded A*-B by region
How does the percentage of A-Levels awarded A*-B vary by region?
The complex case of Post-Qualification Admissions
Is technology the key to unlocking ‘post qualification’ reform to university admissions?
How to ensure diversity in English Literature?
How can we achieve a truly diverse curriculum for students of English Literature?
Should students sit fewer GCSEs?
Amid debate about the 'right' number of GCSEs, AQi explores the pros and cons of sitting fewer GCSEs
Percentage of 2018/19 A-Level Entries graded A*-A by region
An oversight into the variation of A Level attainment by region
Young Peoples’ Mental Health: Seven Key Facts
Evaluating the link between mental health, Covid-19 and KS4 assessment
Provisional Entries into STEM A-Level Subjects, 2020/21
A regional comparison of sex-based differences in student uptake of STEM subjects based on 2020/21 provisional entries data
Four Key Facts for the new Social Mobility Commission
After two years of disruption to examinations, what does the new Social Mobility Commission need to know about qualifications?
What does levelling up mean for qualifications?
Jonathan Simons of Public First provides his view on the role of qualifications in the Government’s Levelling Up agenda
Comparable Outcomes: Setting the standard?
What is the comparable outcomes framework, how does it underpin grade standards and are there alternatives?
How do schools feel about digitising examinations?
Four school leaders give us their views
Accessible for All: How to make assessments fair?
Ruth Johnson, Senior Head of Assessment, examines the challenges in designing fair assessments and how we ensure the stories that assessments provide are the right ones
Digital Assessment Now: A case study
In one part of the UK, digital assessment of the core curriculum is a reality
Functional Skills Qualifications: The first decade
Ten years after they were launched, this briefing looks at the future of Functional Skills Qualifications and the levelling-up agenda
Time to top-up? Rethinking Maths and English after 16
When young people with reformed GCSEs in Maths and English enter the labour market, how much will they remember?
The Power of Public Education Data
Why Massachusetts makes its education data open to all
The theme to which all parties are finally turning their attention
Thoughts from Colin Hughes, AQA CEO, following the party conferences
Why teacher assessment needs to be carefully assessed
Tom Richmond of EDSK compares notes with the primary sector
Finland: Going against the global trend
The country's success in zigging while others zag poses tough questions
Differences by constituency of over 250% in GCSE Maths and English grade 5+results
A graphical demonstration of the educational challenges faced in levelling up
Could comparative judgement replace traditional exam marking?
There are rumblings of a revolution
Singapore: where is the poster child of global education heading now?
We look beyond the international league tables
Maths: the UK’s PISA score has risen significantly
Matching the level of Germany, Norway and Finland
Qualification reform in England since 1950
A blast through the past of assessment
258% – Significant differences in the GCSE Maths and English results by Local Education Authority
Explore the data for your LEA
Finland: Educating the whole child
Making equality of opportunity the defining objective of a nation's educational strategy
Science: ranked 14th by PISA, the UK is ahead of many European nations
Asian countries score most highly
Singapore: probably the best organised education system in the world
The city state takes a new direction
Talking to students about T-Levels
What will it take to give T-Levels momentum?
Reading: the UK’s PISA score is similar to the US and Australia
But behind Finland, Hong Kong and Singapore