News story

Presentations from the Inter-Subject Comparability conference

PowerPoint presentations from speakers at the inter-subject comparability conference.

Paul Newton

The Inter-Subject Comparability conference was on Thursday 4 February 2016 at Broadway House, Westminster. The presentations used on the day are available below.

Perspectives from Ofqual

Paul Newton

Research Chair, Research and Evaluation, Ofqual

After gaining his PhD in developmental psychology, Paul Newton moved into educational assessment as a researcher for most of his career. His research focuses on issues related to the evaluation of large-scale educational assessment systems.

The very idea of inter-subject comparability - Paul Newton (MS PowerPoint Presentation, 3.21 MB)

Dennis Opposs

Standards Chair, Ofqual

Dennis Opposs has worked for Ofqual for seven years. He previously worked at QCA and was a teacher in North London.

Inter-subject comparability matters - Dennis Opposs (MS PowerPoint Presentation, 1.05 MB)

Perspectives from subject communities

Nick Mair

Director of Languages, Dulwich College

Nick Mair is a former chair of ISMLA (Independent Schools’ ML Association) and Vice Chair of ALL-London. He also works with two academies (one of which has a specialism in languages). He has voiced teachers’ concerns about the A* issue and the severe and unpredictable grading in ML examinations.

Severe grading in MFL - Nick Mair (MS PowerPoint Presentation, 384 KB)

Charles Tracy

Head of Education, Institute of Physics

Charles Tracy started teaching in Hertfordshire in 1987. He worked as a physics teacher, a head of science and an adviser and joined the Institute in 2006.

Grading severity, choice and uptake - Charles Tracy (MS PowerPoint Presentation, 215 KB)

Perspectives from the education community

Geraldine Davies

Principal, UCL Academy

Geraldine Davies has over 35 years’ teaching experience, including leadership roles. She became principal of The UCL Academy in 2011. Students follow a STEM focused curriculum.

A headteacher’s perspective - Geraldine Davies (MS PowerPoint Presentation, 62.1 KB)

Alison Matthews

Deputy Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of Oxford

Alison Matthews has a background in research. She headed up the research and evaluation team at QCA and QCDA before working as a consultant for four years. She joined the University of Oxford last year.

An HEI perspective - Alison Matthews (MS PowerPoint Presentation, 139 KB)

Perspectives from academia

Iasonas Lamprianou

Assistant Professor, Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus

Iasonas Lamprianou has published papers on the comparability of subjects in high stakes examinations. He is investigating the social and political dimensions of the phenomenon of comparability across different countries

Comparability of subjects: lessons from abroad - Iasonas Lamprianou (MS PowerPoint Presentation, 196 KB)

Rob Coe

Director of the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring, Durham University

Prof Rob Coe was originally a teacher of mathematics in secondary schools and colleges. He left teaching in 1995 to study for his PhD at Durham University and stayed on as a research associate and lecturer. CEM is the largest educational research centre in a UK university and Rob has been widely published in academic journals, books and reports.

What should we do about it? - Rob Coe (MS PowerPoint Presentation, 293 KB)

Mike Cresswell

Independent Consultant

Dr Mike Cresswell is is an independent consultant on educational assessment and a member of the Ofqual Board. He was Director General and Chief Executive of AQA from 2004 until his retirement in 2010. Prior to that, his career was in assessment and examinations research and he published widely, especially on the topic of examination standards.

Putting subject comparability “right” is not sufficient to make grades from exams in different subjects interchangeable - Mike Cresswell (MS PowerPoint Presentation, 139 KB)

Read our original news story about inter-subject comparability.

Read the working papers.

Updates to this page

Published 8 February 2016
Last updated 12 February 2016 + show all updates
  1. Added links to original news story and working papers.

  2. First published.