The Team
Pearson UK have been commissioned to carry out the PIRLS 2026 study in Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government and are the National Study Centre (NSC) for Scotland.
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Dr Grace Grima
National Centre Manager for PIRLS26
Director, 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.
Sarah Turner
Adaptation Manager and Scoring Manager
Delivery 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.
Kate Miller
Lead Project Manager for PIRLS 2026
Project 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).
Mish Mohan
National Data and Sampling Manager
Delivery 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).
Alistair Hooper
Recruitment Manager and Deputy Data Manager
Delivery 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.
Lucian Lanteri
Test Administrator Manager
Delivery 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.
Beth Ryan
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.
Adrian Brown
Test Administrator and Coder Recruitment Supervisor for PIRLS26
Head of Associate Management, Pearson
Role: Adrian will coordinate activities relating to TA and Coder recruitment.
Background: Adrian is an experienced professional who has responsibility for Test Administrator and Coder recruitment and related activities, as well as to ensure that Pearson has resources in place to deliver marking activities. He has also overseen previous recruitment for international studies including PIRLS21, PISA22, TIMSS23 and PISA25.
Jon Wood
Processing Director for PIRLS26
Qualifications Processing Director, Pearson
Role: Jon will be responsible for the safe delivery of the testing materials and all keying activities; supervising the processing roles
Background: Qualifications Processing Director at the Hellaby site since 2015, Jon oversees operations and staff management. Hellaby Operations scans and processes more than 10 million results per annum for General Qualifications, Vocational Qualifications and International Qualifications to time quality and service. Hellaby Operations has securely processed and successfully delivered documentation relating to PIRLS16/21, TIMSS19/23 and PISA22.
Simon Abrams
IT Coordinator (ITC) for PIRLS26
Regional Manager Deskside Support, Pearson
Role: Simon will oversee the IT systems required for the delivery of PIRLS. Ensuring that the systems are suitable to deliver the assessments, working with the IC to implement an appropriate offline CBA solution, monitoring the implementation of PIRLS.
Background: Simon has over 14 years of experience working to deliver innovative, secure IT solutions and technical support within Pearson. He is the Regional Manager for deskside support in Pearson and manages multiple 3rd line support teams located across various parts of the UK. He has managed the development and implementation of IT systems for TIMSS23 and PISA25.