Professor Jo-Anne Baird & Professor Jannette Elwood Masterclass
Navigating the policy sea: effects of the 14-19 educational reforms upon
schools and colleges in England
Qualification reform is a prominent feature of education systems across the world, with
assessment being used by governments to drive change. This seminar will focus upon the
findings of the 14-19 'Centre Research Study 14-19 Reforms (CReST), which investigates
the effects of the reform programme upon a sample of 52 schools and colleges in England.
This is a 5-year study, which was funded to elucidate policy effects and to influence
educational policy formation and implementation in this phase of education.
In this seminar, we will outline the findings based upon the first year’s data collection, which
involved case study reports on 18 of the 52 institutions and three questionnaires conducted
across all cases. The seminar will involve dialogue with colleagues from Scotland on
qualification reform and its impact on the key stakeholders who experience such reforms,
their reactions to them and how they manage them in relation to key stakeholders (teachers,
students, parents, managers, etc.). Educational leaders’ reactions to the reforms will be
outlined, as will the perspectives of students. Participants will gain a snapshot of the 18
institutions' reactions to the specific reforms in England and the discussion will seek
soundings from participants as to how these initial themes reflect wider experiences of largescale educational policy reform that is qualification- and assessment-driven.
Biographies
Jo-Anne Baird, Professor in Educational Assessment, Graduate School of Education,
University of Bristol
Jo-Anne Baird heads the Centre for Assessment and Learning at the University of Bristol.
She is Lead Editor of the international journal Assessment in Education: Principals, Policy
and Practice. Prior to this post, Jo-Anne was Head of Research at the Assessment and
Qualifications Alliance, where she managed the research programme and was responsible
for the standard-setting systems for public examinations. She has a first degree
(Strathclyde) and PhD (Reading) in psychology and an MBA (Surrey). Her research
interests include assessment policy, examination standards, e-assessment and human
judgment in assessment. Jo-Anne is the author of national reports, regularly presents her
research at international conferences and has published her work in peer-reviewed journals.
In 2007, she co-edited the QCA-commissioned book, Techniques for monitoring the
comparability of examinations. Jo-Anne is actively involved in the development of many
assessment policies and practices: DCSF Independent Advisor to the Expert Group;
Member of the DCSF 14-19 Expert Group; member of the Single Level Test Evaluation
Group; NAA Independent Advisor on national curriculum standard setting; Chair of the
Ofqual Technical Advisory Group for their research programme on examination reliability.
Jannette Elwood, Professor of Education, School of Education, Queen’s University, Belfast
Jannette Elwood has worked in educational research, teaching and policy in a variety of
organisations. Before moving to Queen’s, she worked for the Qualifications and Curriculum
Authority (QCA) in London where she was responsible for the management and
development of Key Stage 3 national curriculum tests for 14 year olds in England. Prior to
joining QCA she was Lecturer in Curriculum and Assessment, Institute of Education,
University of London (1994 – 1999). Her main research interests are in children’s rights and
assessment and the social constructions and consequences of tests, examinations and
assessment practices, especially their interaction with gender. She has led nationally funded
research projects into gender differences in examinations at 16+ and 18+. Her work into the
impact of assessment construction on gender and assessment outcomes is internationally
recognised. She has advised policy-makers and examining bodies on the impact of
assessment and testing systems on boys’ and girls’ performance and has worked with
educational practitioners at all levels in the area of gender, examinations and assessment.
Jannette is the Chair of the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance’s Research Committee
and a member of their governing Council.