Multi-academy trusts

For the last few months, we’ve been running a consultation on ways to restore confidence in exams, putting standards and quality front and centre. 

It is a debate central to Edexcel, one of the UK’s leading examination bodies, and therefore to Pearson, as its parent company.

In January, Pearson launched the consultation ‘Leading on Standards’ to begin working out the best way to move forward.

The consultation explores a number of ways to build confidence in the UK’s examination system. We asked six questions we believe are key to ensuring the examination system defends high standards:

• How best to set world leading standards?
• How best to define and protect a new gold standard? 
• Should assessment be a profession? 
• How best to share and use data to drive system wide improvement? 
• How best to create a curriculum with a balance of stretch and mastery? 
• How best to measure with more meaning?

As part of this consultation process, we hosted five seminars with a wide range of influential stakeholders in education, representing 75 organisations, and moderated by the think tank Reform. They brought together employers; higher education professionals; headteachers, college principals and senior teachers; parents and students; and the policy community including Government and regulators.

We carried out this exercise because we believe that a robust and rigorous qualifications system is an essential part, although not the only important one, of Britain’s world-class education system. Pearson has been involved in education for over one hundred years, and we want our exams to help raise the standard of education that every single child receives.

We’ve been digesting the results of those conversations, talking to experts, and listening to what schools, teachers and pupils themselves think. Pearson will shortly be publishing our conclusions, and sharing more information with the education community about how we believe we can make real improvements to the system’s credibility, and improve confidence in our teachers and examiners.

Find out more about Leading on Standards

We had this to say on Ofqual’s review into exam textbooks, which suggested that they are too focused on preparing for exams over subject content.

A Pearson spokesperson said:

“Pearson looks forward to engaging with Ofqual’s review.

“We believe strongly that aligning curriculum and teaching and learning resources is important and enables the best quality of learning. That is why we work closely with both our own publishing imprints and other third party publishers to develop materials of the highest quality which support this goal. This is consistent with best practice in the rest of the world and includes making best use of new technology.

“We recognise that we should do everything we can to promote choice of high quality resources for teachers and learners and uphold the integrity of high stakes assessments. Pearson has robust conflict of interest processes and work with a full range publishers, not just our own imprints.

“In addition, our textbooks are changing to reflect increasingly digital learning environments, which enable them to be tailored to meet the individual needs of each learner. This will support learners to explore their subject in ever greater depth.

“The report highlights concern that exam-endorsed textbooks are sometimes written by chief examiners. Pearson has been reviewing its processes and has decided we will no longer allow Senior Examiners to write resources to support specifications that they examine.”

Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, has been chosen to develop the frameworks for the OECD’s landmark PISA educational assessment in 2015.

The PISA assessment is widely recognised as the benchmark for measuring the improvement of education systems worldwide. 74 countries/economies participated in the 2009 test.

In 2015, PISA’s main focus will be testing the scientific literacy of students around the world. The test will feature significant new elements:

• A new Collaborative Problem Solving assessment will be added, in recognition of the ways young people will have to learn and work throughout their lives. Pearson will develop this new domain for PISA
• Greater use of computer-based testing

Pearson will also provide advice to the PISA study on the benefits, opportunities and implications of implementing computer adaptive testing for PISA in future.

Pearson International chief executive John Fallon said:

“High quality education is vital to a nation's economic development and social well-being - and PISA is a key benchmark by which nations can measure their own progress and learn from each other. So we are thrilled to have the chance to work with the OECD and academic communities around the world to develop the 2015 test.

“We are committed to developing a global benchmark that, through assessing a wider range of skills and making better use of technology, will be even more relevant to helping countries prosper in an increasingly global and knowledge-based economy."

Head of the PISA programme at the OECD Andreas Schleicher said:

“PISA 2015 has the potential to be the start of a new phase of our international assessments. We need to make much smarter use of technology in how we test young people, and we need to assess problem-solving abilities as governments around the world seek to equip young people with the skills they need for life and employment.

“Pearson have put forward an ambitious strategy to support the OECD and member governments in creating a global benchmark for education.”

Notes on this story

1. The OECD’s PISA test (www.pisa.oecd.org) is widely recognised as the benchmark for measuring the improvement of education systems worldwide. 74 countries/economies participated in the 2009 test representing around 87% of the world’s economy. Representative samples of students are selected at age 15 in each country in order to provide consistency across borders and regions.
   
   The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (www.oecd.org) exists to promote policies that improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
2. Pearson (www.pearson.com) is the world’s leading learning company, providing educational materials, technologies, assessments and related services to teachers and students of all ages. From pre-school to higher education and professional education, our curriculum materials, digital learning tools and testing programmes help to educate more than 100 million people worldwide.
   
   Together with the OECD, Pearson has formed international panels of experts in science, collaborative problem solving, mathematics and reading to define the competencies, understanding and reasoning that students should be tested on in 2015, involving academics from thirteen different countries representing a spread across five continents.