A central issue in the class size debate is that while cutting class size might lead to improved teaching and learning, it is also possible that it may not if teachers do not seek to exploit the advantages of a smaller class size through an alternative pedagogy. Research suggests that teachers do not change their pedagogy when moving from large…

For a number of reasons, increasing reliance is being placed on teacher assessment in high-stakes contexts in many countries around the world. Simultaneously, countries that have for some time relied to greater or lesser degrees on teacher assessment for high-stakes purposes are in the process of questioning the validity of that reliance. In…

Much has already been written on the controversies surrounding the use of different test theories in educational assessment. Other authors have noted the prevalence of classical test theory over item response theory in practice. This Special Issue draws together articles based upon work conducted on the Reliability Programme for England's…

The accuracy of the results of the national tests in English, mathematics and science taken by 11-year olds in England has been a matter of much debate since their introduction in 1994, with estimates of the proportion of students incorrectly classified varying from 10 to 30%. Using live data from the 2009 and 2010 administration of the national…

This paper discusses the issues involved in calculating indices of composite reliability for "modular" or "unitised" assessments of the kind used in GCSEs, AS and A level examinations in England. The increasingly widespread use of on-screen marking has meant that the item-level data required for calculating indices of…

This article outlines an empirical investigation into equivalent forms reliability using a case study of a national curriculum reading test. Within the situation being studied, there has been a genuine attempt to create several equivalent forms and so it is of interest to compare the actual behaviour of the relationship between these forms to the…

The assessment of vocational workplace-based qualifications in England relies on human assessors (raters). These assessors observe naturally occurring, non-standardised evidence, unique to each learner and evaluate the learner as competent/not yet competent against content standards. Whilst these are considered difficult to measure, this study…

This review examined a range of approaches internationally to the reporting of assessment results for individual students, with a particular focus on how results are represented, the level of detail reported and the steps taken to quantify, report and explain error and uncertainty in the results' reports or certificates given to students in a…

This paper presents the findings of a study designed to explore qualification users' perceptions and experiences of reliability in the context of national assessment outcomes in England. The study consisted of 17 focus groups conducted across six sectors of qualification users: students, teachers, trainee teachers, job-seekers, employers and…

This paper argues that, because young children's response to the world is primarily sensory and aesthetic, early years curriculum should give due attention to the arts. There is an urgent need to better conceptualise ways of working with young children in relation to the arts. The paper is based on three key and permeating ideas: first, that…

Based on a qualitative analysis of classroom discourse in Italian primary schools, this paper analyses the micro-processes that are emergent moment-by-moment in the unfolding interactions between teacher and pupils. More in particular, our purpose is to identify the conditions under which the interactive orientation of a sequence changes. We argue…

There is a wide consensus that during their year abroad higher education (HE) language students should improve their language skills in contact with native speakers in the host community. Research shows, however, that many students find it difficult, if not impossible, to make meaningful contact to locals, and some consider the lack of it as a…

The aim of this study was to investigate how individuals;who had been victims of school bullying; perceived their bullying experiences and how these had affected them; and to generate a grounded theory of being a victim of bullying at school. Twenty-one individuals, who all had prior experiences of being bullied in school for more than one year,…

This paper reports on a national study, involving a mixed-method research design comprising a randomised controlled trial (RCT), text analysis, student and teacher interviews and lesson observations. It set out to investigate whether contextualised teaching of grammar, linked to the teaching of writing, would improve student outcomes in writing…

This paper introduces the concept of "pedagogy in practice" (PiP), referring to the immediate interaction between students' learning experiences and school's pedagogy and distinct from the pedagogy advocated "from above" by the school. We bring the concept of PiP into focus by analysing students' open-ended discourse about their learning…