The team

National Centre Manager for PIRLS26Director, International Large-Scale Assessments

Role: Grace will lead the core team at Pearson, delivering PIRLS in schools. She will also work collaboratively with the team from Oxford University, responsible for analysis, reporting and dissemination. Grace will have overall responsibility for the delivery of PIRLS in England, ensuring that all PISA tasks are carried out on schedule and in accordance with the specified international standards.

Background: In her current role at Pearson, Grace leads on other assessment studies in her role as NRC (National Research Coordinator) for PIRLS21 and TIMSS23 in England and is NPM (National Project Manager) for PISA25 in Wales, England and Northern Ireland. Previously, in her role as Director-General in the Ministry of Education and Employment in Malta, Grace was responsible for introducing and implementing all international assessment projects including PIRLSand for updating the national curriculum framework. Prior to that, in New Zealand, she worked on NEMP (National Educational Monitoring Project). Grace started her career as a teacher, teacher trainer and principal research officer at the exam board, University of Malta.

Adaptation Manager and Scoring ManagerDelivery Lead, Pearson

Role: Sarah will coordinate adaptation of materials and manage scoring of responses.

Background: Sarah has over 15 years’ experience within Pearson in the end-to-end operational delivery of a range of high-stakes qualifications and assessment instruments. This included five years leading the GCSE Religious Studies team delivering the accurate marking of over 250,000 examination scripts and a managing a team of 1000 markers each Summer examination series. Sarah managed scoring for PIRLS21 and TIMSS23 and is Deputy NPM for PISA 2025.

Lead Project Manager for PIRLS 2026Project Manager, Pearson

Role: Project Manager, responsible for the management of the contract deliverables.

Background: An effective, PRINCE2 practitioner qualified project manager with over six years’ experience working on DfE contracts. Kate successfully managed TIMSS19 and PIRLS21 (from 2019), PISA22 (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), TIMSS23 in England and PISA25 (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).

National Data and Sampling ManagerDelivery Lead, Pearson

Role: Mish will oversee activities relating to sampling, data handling and assessment delivery systems.

Background: Mish has over fifteen years’ experience within Pearson, in Customer Service, Operations and IT development roles. He was Data Manager for PIRLS16 and PIRLS 21, TIMSS19, delivering a successful sampling strategy, sampling frame and data submission. He is currently working on PISA25 (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).

Recruitment Manager and Deputy Data ManagerDelivery Lead, Pearson

Role: Alistair will coordinate activities relating to recruitment and retention of schools and will support with data management.

Background: Alistair has been working for Pearson for over 10 years. He was Data Manager for PIRLS21, and Recruitment Manager for TIMSS23 and PISA25. He has worked in many different aspects of international studies including sampling, data management, translation/adaptations, school recruitment and retention, School Coordinator and Test Administrator recruitment as well as training, and coding.

Test Administrator ManagerDelivery Lead, Pearson

Role: Lucian will coordinate recruitment, training and management of Test Administrators.

Background: Lucian has over 17 years’ experience within Pearson, in the delivery and assessment of high-stakes qualifications, including as Head of Assessment for GCE and GCSE humanities subjects at Pearson for nine years. Lucian has experience of recruitment, training and management of Test Administrators for PISA22, PISA25 and TIMSS2023.

PIRLS26 Delivery Support Lead, Pearson

Role: Beth is supporting the delivery of the PISA25 project and will also support schools on the PIRLS project.

Background: Beth has worked at Pearson for three years, previously as a Quality Manager & Internal Procedures Analyst overseeing multiple teams delivering high-stakes assessments and qualifications. She specialised in process improvement and has been working on simplifying processes for School Coordinators, since moving into the International Large Scale Assessment Team in October 2023.

Research Principal Investigator

Role: As the Principal Investigator, Ariel will have a lead role in planning and writing the national report and overseeing the direction and quality of data analysis, and she will lead on dissemination planning and implementation. She will sit on the Project Board and hold responsibility for chairing and organising Advisory Group meetings.

Background: Ariel has led and contributed to a wide range of research projects in the Education Department at the University of Oxford ranging from small-scale case studies of educational improvement initiatives to large-scale analyses of secondary data (including experience with the NPD within and outside the SRS). Ariel led on the analysis and dissemination for PIRLS21, including lead-authoring the National Report for England.

Co-Investigator

Role: As the Co-Investigator, Velda will be involved in the planning and writing of outputs for the project, particularly those concerning English policy and implications for English policy (e.g. the Encyclopaedia Chapter, policy chapter of the national report). She will play a pivotal role, alongside input from the Advisory Group, in the research team’s recommendations regarding potential items to add to context questionnaires in England as well as directions for additional thematic analyses.

Background: Velda is a leading academic in the field of English in Education and has specialist expertise in assessment in English. She has won multiple awards for her contributions to the field. Velda has published widely in the fields of English Education and Educational Assessment and sits on the editorial boards of the Oxford Review of Education and English in Education.

Data Analyst

Role: Jamie’s main responsibilities will be carrying out the analysis needed and contributing to report writing for the national report and thematic analysis.

Background: Jamie is currently conducting DPhil research exploring the role that reading proficiency plays in pupils’ performance in national (Key Stage 2) and international (TIMSS) assessments of primary mathematics. Since June 2017, he has worked as a researcher at the Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment (OUCEA). He was a co-author of England’s National Report for PIRLS16 and PIRLS21.