The Irish Leaving Certificate: reflections from teachers and students

Professor Jannette Elwood, Professor of Education at Queen's University Belfast will deliver the inaugural Centre for Assessment Research, Policy and Practice in Education (CARPE) lecture on the theme 'The Irish Leaving Certificate: reflections from teachers and students on predictability and other assessment quandaries'.

In 2013, the State Examinations Commission commissioned the Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment (OUCEA) and Queen’s University Belfast to conduct an independent evaluation of predictability in the Irish Leaving Certificate examinations.  Three studies were conducted to investigate these issues: an expert review of examinations materials in five subjects, an analysis relating students’ examination grades with their view on predictability of three examination subjects, and interviews with students and teachers.  Professor Elwood was one of the chief investigators involved in the evaluation, and her talk will focus primarily on findings arising from the student and teacher interviews.

Professor Elwood has worked in the field of educational assessment across research, policy and educational arenas and her research has been funded by national charities, research councils and government departments.  She is an executive editor for the journal Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, has recently been elected as Vice President (President Elect) of the Association of Educational Assessment (Europe), and has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals.