Funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, this international two year series will bring academic researchers, testing agencies and the end-users of international assessments together – including policy makers, teachers, journalists, and civil society organisations.

The aim of the series is to provide rigorous and in-depth debate on international assessment methodology and key policy issues surrounding international testing, to create new critical perspectives on their role in education practice and policy.

The objectives of the seminar series are – to act as a vehicle for academic enquiry into international educational assessments; – to develop an agenda for international assessment studies as a field of academic research and publication; and – to build an international network of researchers and practitioners around a set of common interests and concerns. The themes for the seminars are:
1.Education Governance and International assessments
2.International Assessment and International Convergence of Educational Reforms
3.The Challenges of Diversity
4.The Production of Data in International Assessment
5.The Politics of Reception – Media, Policy and Public Knowledge and Opinion.
6.The Futures and Promises of International Assessment

The series of six seminars will take place at the University of Edinburgh, Columbia Teachers College in New York, the University of the Pacific in Lima, University of East Anglia in Norwich, and Lancaster University. The final seminar will be held at the University of Leeuven.

Further information on the series will be posted in the coming months as the content for the series is developed. For enquiries about the series and to attend one of the seminars please contact Camilla Addey [C.Addey@uea.ac.uk]