Assessment

2023: A year in review

As we wrap up a year full of exciting developments in education, it is the perfect time to take stock of what has gone on. In this blog, editor of AQi, Anil Dawar, reflects on some of his highlights for 2023.

Date21/12/23

AuthorAnil Dawar, editor of AQi.org.uk

The year began with a bang as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak used his first speech of 2023 to reveal he wanted all pupils to study ‘some form of maths’ until the age of 18. Achieving that could mean the creation of ‘innovative’ new qualifications. AQi had some acute analysis about the issue from AQA’s Policy and Research Manager Adam Steedman Thake.

That was followed soon after by a quietly radical speech by the Singaporean education minister. When the man in charge of a world beating system says it needs reforming, we better listen, said Tim Ewington in his penetrating article.

To mark a parliamentary reception for AQA’s invaluable Student Advisory Group, Alison Chang, the SAG co-chair wrote a fascinating blog about the how group’s work informs positive change in education.

Another impressive sixth former, Heather Heathcote, also contributed to AQi with a piece about devising, researching and writing her Extended Project Qualification on animal welfare which won first prize in the inaugural Student Research Project Awards.

By May, the Summer exam series was underway. The big talking point was how would ‘grade boundaries’ return to ‘normal’ after three years of disruption caused by lockdown. Thankfully, AQA’s Standards and Awarding Manager Elizabeth Pope, was on hand to explain exactly how that would happen.

June’s post exam wash up had several startling revelations.

The first was that computing is the fastest growing GCSE and second-fastest at A level. This prompted Steve Kenny, AQA’s head of curriculum for Computer Science to investigate what lay behind the astonishing rise.

Another interesting set of figures to emerge were those showing the attainment gap between girls and boys was closing after growing steadily since the 1980s. AQi examined what effect O Levels, GCSEs and Teacher Assessed Grades had on the Attainment Gender Gap.

AQi’s final piece of post-exam analysis came courtesy of AQA’s maths curriculum experts Shaun Procter-Green and Andrew Taylor who wrote about how their work redesigning the GCSE papers improved student exam experiences in 2023.

July was a scorcher as was the 13th annual Festival of Education at Wellington College where AI was the dominant topic. My three days listening to a stellar cast of speakers, including Daisy Christodoulou, AQA’s Alex Scharaschkin and Chris Packham, was so insightful I wrote a blog about what I learned there.

While I was in Berkshire for the festival, Sir Kier Starmer was in Kent making a major speech on how Labour would approach education if elected. AQi ran blogs on his plans to break down the divide between general and vocational education and improve oracy skills.

Sir Kier’s praise of music lessons for improving wider student attainment prompted AQA’s in-house drummer Adam Steedman Thake to look at the evidence surrounding his claims.

October was a busy month for AQA which published two major reports. AQi ran blogs about both. The first, on numeracy, literacy and digital fluency, proposed new on-line and on-demand assessments for all students. The second, made the case for having digital exams which Adam Steedman-Thake neatly summed up the highlights in this blog.

Finally, to go out on a note of good cheer, a symposium on inclusive educational assessment left AQA’s lead researcher Dr Katy Finch convinced that the advent of digital exams will be a chance to improve assessment for students with SEND.

All in all my first year as editor of AQi.org.uk has been a full and fascinating one. I hope you have all enjoyed the site’s offerings.
Have a wonderful break and see you back here in 2024.

In the meantime if you have any questions about what we do, suggestions for future content or want to offer contributions for consideration please feel free to email me: adawar@aqa.org.uk

Assessment

Assessing oracy: Is Comparative Judgement the answer?

Oracy skills are vital to success in school and life. And yet, for many children, opportunities to develop them are missed. Educationalists are engaging in a growing debate about where oracy fits into the school system. Labour has put it at the heart of its plans to improve social mobility and an independent commission is looking at how it is taught in the classroom. This renewed focus on oracy means it is more important than ever that teachers have a way to reliably assess and understand their students’ attainment and progression. Amanda Moorghen of oracy education charity Voice 21 explains how Comparative Judgement can help with that and why it may be a game changer.

Education

TV subtitles as an aid to literacy: What does the research say?

Jack Black is probably best known in educational circles for playing a renegade substitute teacher in School of Rock. But the Hollywood star has made a more conventional foray into education by backing the use of TV subtitles to improve child literacy. Stephen Fry and the World Literacy Foundation also want parents to use their TV remotes to get children reading. So, could this simple click of a button be a solution to boost pupils’ reading skills? AQA’s resident expert on language teaching, Dr Katy Finch, casts her eye over the research to see whether it stacks up.

Data Analysis

What is left behind now education’s Data Wave has receded?

Is data the solution to all education’s issues? About a decade ago the prevailing wisdom said it was. Advocates of this Data Wave argued that harvesting internal statistics would help schools solve issues such as teacher accountability and attainment gaps. As with all waves, after crashing onto the beach they recede, leaving space for another to roll in. In this blog, teacher, author and data analyst Richard Selfridge looks at the legacy of the Data Wave to see what schools can take from it.

International Approaches

Finland & PISA – A fall from grace but still a high performer?

Finland was once recognised as one of the most successful educational systems in the world. At the turn of the millennium, it topped the PISA rankings in reading, maths and science. But by 2012, decline set in. The last set of results showed performances in maths, reading and science were at an all-time low. In this blog Dr Jonathan Doherty of Leeds Trinity University outlines some reasons that may account for the slide.

Briefing

PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS: What actually are they and what do they tell us?

According to the latest PISA results, England’s science scores are still on a downward trajectory that started a decade ago. Yet TIMSS, another respected study, has science performances rising. Which of them is right? Is one more valid than the other? In this blog AQi examines three International Large-Scale Assessments and finds that, although they may look the same from a distance, get up close and you’ll find they are very different beasts.

Adaptive Assessment

Adaptive Assessment: A missing ingredient in the resit recipe?

The number of students resitting their maths GCSE is growing, but the proportion getting a grade 4 or higher is falling. This situation is not only dispiriting for the young people striving to get the qualifications they need, but also for the teachers working hard to help them. How can outcomes for this cohort be improved? Bart Crisp, associate director at the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education, thinks adaptive assessment may be part of the solution.

SEND

Student success: Every milestone matters

Baroness Morgan is calling for students to be given ‘self-belief’ lessons as a way of developing their characters and preparing them for the future. She is not the first to notice that a student’s sense of their own ability and their level of success are part of a virtuous circle. But how can teachers get the snowball rolling for students with SEND or in alternative provision? In this blog, former headteacher, John Tomsett, pulls out a swimming certificate he earned more than half a century ago to use as an inspiration for others.

Assessment

Progress 8 – How much can it flex?

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Assessment

Progress 8 – Schools’ flexible friend?

Eight years after Progress 8 came into existence it is facing calls to be updated. Some say reforming the schools accountability measure can halt the decline in take up of the arts, while others want it to boost numbers taking vocational and technical subjects. Are its shoulders broad enough to take on such a load? In the first of two blogs on Progress 8, AQi looks at how it came into being, what problems it was designed to solve and whether it is flexible enough to be reformed.

Assessment