Forthcoming events
Report launch
'Who’s to produce and who’s to choose? Assessing the future of the qualifications and assessment market'
When: Tuesday 18th October, 6pm for 6.30pm till 8.30pm
Where: 2 Lord North Street (Great Peter Street entrance), Westminster, SW1P 3LB
Tim Oates, CBE, Group Director of Assessment R&D, Cambridge Assessment, in conversation with Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, CMRE Director of Research
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For many years, schools in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have had the right to decide which qualifications their pupils take from a range of options offered by multiple independent providers. This allows an element of diversity in assessment and qualifications, and stimulates competition between different exam boards.
Yet over the last few years, this model has faced increasing criticism. Because of perverse incentives, it is argued, competition induces exam boards to dumb down their examinations and inflate grades.
As a result of this criticism, former Education Secretary Michael Gove proposed to abolish exam board competition, and instead introduce procurement, by which exam boards compete to be able to deliver all examinations in a specific subject for a set number of years. While the proposal was abandoned – partly because of fears that it would be challenged courts under EU competition, and internal opposition within the governing coalition – it subsequently resurfaced under Michael Gove’s successor Nicky Morgan, and continues to be considered a feasible policy option.
In a new report, 'Who’s to produce and who’s to choose? Assessing the future of the qualifications and assessment market', CMRE's Research Director, Gabriel Heller Sahlgren investigates whether consumer choice or procurement is preferable in the field of assessment and qualifications. The report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and, based on a cost-benefit analysis, it suggests which model is likely to be preferable – and which reforms should be implemented to make sure that model works as well as possible.
At this event, Tim Oates discusses with Gabriel Heller Sahlgren what is the first in-depth economic analysis of the topic.
Sponsored by
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Please register your interest and we will get back to you to confirm your place.
Past events
Report launch panel discussion:
'Taking a lead: how to access the leadership premium'
An evening panel discussion to mark the publication of a CMRE report 'Taking a lead: how to access the leadership premium'.
James Croft, Executive Director, CMRE, and author of the report, with
Professor Daniel Muijs, Director of Research, Southampton Education School, University of Southampton
Download a .pdf copy of the research report here.
When: Tuesday 28th June, 6pm for 6.30pm till 8.30pm
Where: 2 Lord North Street (Great Peter Street entrance), Westminster, SW1P 3LB
Much of the present government’s education reform strategy turns on being able to maximise a leadership premium. Attracting new leaders from outside teaching has been a key focus, but growing capacity in the existing system may be more important to keeping pace with the government’s expectations and achieving scale solutions.
Sir Michael Wilshaw has said that the need to recruit good future leaders for England's schools is urgent but that we lack a strategy for identifying and developing talent. What constitutes effective educational leadership, and whether it may be learned or the skills transferred, is a subject that tends to elicit strong convictions, however.
A survey of the substantial research literature concerning the relationship between school leadership and effectiveness reveals a far weaker evidence base than many of the claims made for the importance of leadership, on one or another model, would suggest. It also indicates that the role of contingency and school context in shaping leadership effectiveness is not given the attention that it warrants.
If effective leadership practices are both learned, and embedded, in context, a more refined understanding of contextual and situational leadership and management may therefore be necessary in turn for effective policy geared towards taking advantage of the leadership premium.
Sponsored by
Download a .pdf copy of the research report here.
Download a .pdf copy of the Executive Summary here.
Ahead of northern launch events in Manchester and Leeds, One Education interviews James Croft, author of the report.
Lunchtime launch and panel discussion:
'Steps forward, steps backward: What to make of the government's plans for higher education market reform'
A lunchtime panel discussion to mark the publication of a
collection of essays evaluating the government's plans for
higher education market reform.
When: Tuesday, 21st June 2016, 12.30pm to 2pm
Where: 2 Lord North Street (Great Peter Street entrance),
Westminster, SW1P 3LB
Download a .pdf copy of the report here.
Introduced by Baroness Perry of Southwark
Chaired by James Croft, Executive Director, CMRE
with panelists Alison Goddard, Editor, HE; Louisa Darian, Deputy Director, Wonkhe; Emran Mian, Director, SMF; and Professor Len Shackleton, Professor of Economics, University of Buckingham and CMRE Fellow.
The UK Higher Education sector is regarded as one of the best in the world, but in an increasingly global market-place, is looking increasingly uncompetitive. Despite recent efforts to induce greater competition through the introduction of tuition fees and opening the market to new supply, it remains dysfunctional in significant ways.
Most institutions charge top tuition fees because the availability of state-backed loans means that they can. Despite the removal of recruiting caps, few universities have expanded significantly. Demand is so great that universities still hold much of the leverage and incentives to improve the quality of provision are lacking.
There is also clearly a need for more useful, and reliable information for students: the present ranking system is not grounded in empirical evidence, and indeed the quality of the data that students base their decisions on in general is at best poor, and at worst misleading. As a result, across the system as a whole, there is little evidence of flexibility, creativity and sensitivity to consumer demand.
In face of these, and other, challenges, policymakers are looking for more efficient, cost-effective ways of delivering higher-quality, and more relevant, higher education. The government has presented its view of the priorities in a new Higher Education and Research Bill: we assess whether they are the right ones, and if the proposed measures are likely to achieve their intended aims.
The second annual CMRE Friedman Lecture: 'School competititon is key to school reform'
Presented by Professor Paul E. Peterson
When: Tuesday 26th January 2016, 6.30-7.45pm
Where: Hoare Memorial Hall, Church House (Great Smith Street entrance), Westminster
Challenging the OECD PISA Analysis: Implications for Education Reform
Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, CMRE Director of Research, James Croft, CMRE Executive Director, and Lindsey Burke, Will Skillman Fellow in Education Policy, The Heritage Foundation.
When: Tuesday 17th October, 2015, 10am to 11.30am
Where: Lehrman Auditorium, The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Ave NE, Washington DC
Over the past 15 years, the education debate has become increasingly internationalized following the birth of the OECD’s PISA survey. PISA scores measure the skills and knowledge of students internationally and have become widely interpreted as a measure of countries’ education policy success. Policymakers in countries with lower PISA scores often look to countries that fare well on PISA for ideas to improve student performance. But is this a good way to conduct education policy? This forum will discuss the value of PISA and alternative measures for school reform. Often, a country’s success is more complex than a PISA survey can capture and ignores the potential of free market solutions. Using a range of education policy examples, with Finland, Sweden, England and the United States as case studies, the forum highlights the pitfalls associated with “best practice” and the OECD’s analyses for finding out what works. It will also consider implications for U.S. policy within the context of growing school choice options.
View video of the event here.
Why schools can’t do without politicians
James Croft interviews Sir Michael Barber about his latest book How to run a government and discusses its implications for education policy and the business of schooling
with opening remarks from CMRE's President, Neil McIntosh CBE
Sponsored by Dukes Education
When: Tuesday 6th October 2015, 6.30 for 7.00 to 8.30pm
Where: 2 Lord North Street (Great Peter Street entrance), Westminster
The effectiveness or otherwise of governments is fundamental to the prosperity and well-being of society, and of markets. In a time when politicians struggle to make and fulfil meaningful promises in face of the weight of expectations on them and the sheer complexity of delivery, fresh thinking is required to overcome the barriers to implementation presented by the public bureaucracies that have developed as a result. Interviewed by CMRE's Executive Director, James Croft, Sir Michael Barber explores the issues as they relate to education services.
Sir Michael Barber is Chief Education Advisor at Pearson, leading the development of its worldwide programme of efficacy and research into the learning impact of its education services offering.
Read more about the event here.
Transferable expertise and contextual realities: does the independent schools sector really have all the answers for state school improvement?
Presented by Jon Coles, Group Chief Executive of United Learning
Chaired by Lord Lucas, Member, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Education,
with panel contributions from Sam Freedman, Director of Research, Evaluation and Impact at Teach First, and Richard Harman, Chair of the Headmasters' & Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) and Headmaster of Uppingham School
When: Wednesday 19th August 2015, 6.15 for 6.30 to 8.30pm
Where: 2 Lord North Street (Great Peter Street entrance), Westminster
Faith in the capacity of the independent schools sector to effect improvement in state school provision has been an enduring feature of the policy debate about how to raise pupil attainment for many years. Since the introduction of the Academies programme, securing independent school leadership and resources for the most challenged schools in particular has been a key part of the government’s strategy. But is this faith well placed? At this event, Jon and panellists explored the implications of contextual realities for the prospects of system-wide school improvement, for policy-making in general, and for the relationship between central government and autonomous state schools.
Read more about the event and subsequent media coverage here.
Real Finnish Lessons: the true story of an education superpower
Tim Oates in conversation with Gabriel Heller Sahlgren
When: Wednesday 22nd April 2015, 6.30-8.30pm
Where: 55 Tufton Street, Westminster
At this joint event, co-hosted by The Centre for the Study of Market Reform of Education (CMRE) and The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), and sponsored by Cambridge Assessment, Tim Oates and Gabriel Heller Sahlgren considered Finland's rise, and demise, in the international PISA rankings, drawing lessons for policymakers, educational practice, and research.
Read more about the lecture and access a video of the event here.
The Inaugural CMRE Friedman Lecture: 'School choice matures: lessons for policymakers'
Presented by Professor Julian Le Grand
When: Tuesday 27th January 2015, 6.30-7.45pm
Where: Hoare Memorial Hall, Church House (Great Smith Street entrance), Westminster
Read a summary of the lecture or listen to an audio recording.
Good teachers are crucial – so how can we make them better?
Presented by Professor Olmo Silva with a panel discussion chaired by Gabriel Heller Sahlgren and panel contributions from David Weston and Laura McInerney
When: Thursday 27th November, 6:30-9.30pm
Where: , Westminster, the offices of the Adam Smith Institute.
Read more about the event here.
"Incentivising excellence marks a significant achievement in evidence-based policy analysis. Sahlgren rigorously analyses the existing literature and offers policymakers a pragmatic programme of options for improving school quality."