Welcome

Welcome to CIEAMAIL, the topical monthly members e-newsletter, carrying news and views from the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA).

Content:

Institute Events - CIEA National Assessment Conference 2008 - Last few places remaining!
Institute News - CIEA Teacher campaign launched
Monthly Member Poll - Do current educational reforms provide an opportunity to improve standards of assessment?
Institute Events - Oral Language Modifiers CPD training events
Institute News - Free Chartered Educational Assessor (CEA) web seminar
Institute News - Subscription fees - Tax relief to all subscribing members
Institute News - CIEA at the Education Show 2008
Institute News - Assessment Policy continued (Step 7 of 13)
Assessment News - Introducing the teacher training resource bank
Assessment News - Changes to GCSEs in 2009
CPD - Events and Training Course Calendar
Assessment News - And Finally...
Feedback

Institute News - CIEA National Assessment Conference 2008 - Last few places remaining!

National Assessment Conference 23rd & 24th April 2008 Novotel London St. Pancras

Book now at Discounted Member Rates!

The purpose of the conference is to create real added value for members by supporting their professional development needs in the key area of assessment. In turn the theme also supports the CIEA mission of improving the quality of assessment through better assessment standards and accountability. This year's theme is delivering good assessment practice in times of change.

The conference is organized around keynote addresses followed by a series of seminars from which members can choose. The first day, Wednesday 23rd members will be able to hear from Dylan Wiliam and Professor Jouni Valijarvi from Finland. The seminars are then aimed at specific interest groups.

On Thursday 24th the keynote speakers will be Isabel Nisbet, who will outline the role of the new regulator, Alina von Davier from Princeton and John Gardner from Queen's University, Belfast. The seminars will offer the same themes, except that there will be examples of good practice in the secondary and tertiary sectors.

CIEA members pay just £60 per day or £90 for both days, excluding accommodation; non-members £150 per day.

To find out more about the conference and to book your place, please follow the link below.

Conference booking form ...

If you were unable to attend the IEA's first National Assessment conference held in May last year and would like to view any of the keynote speaker's presentations then please follow the link below.

Read more ...

Institute News - CIEA Teacher campaign launched

The CIEA recently launched a campaign aimed at engaging with the teaching profession. The focus of the campaign is to communicate the benefits of membership of the CIEA and how the CIEA can support teachers in developing their skills and capabilities in delivering valid and reliable assessments.

Information packs have been distributed to over 20,000 teaching professionals in the UK, included in which are details of the specific product and service resources available to teaching professionals.

Members are encouraged to order packs and promote membership to colleagues working within schools/colleges.

To order your pack please email your preferred mailing address and required quantity to members@charteredinstituteofeducationalassessors.org.uk or call 0845 672 2123.

Monthly Member Poll - Do current educational reforms provide an opportunity to improve standards of assessment?

The British education system is undergoing a period of significant reform. The CIEA's national conference this year, therefore, will discuss how assessors can best respond to the need to deliver high quality assessment in schools, colleges and the workplace during major educational reform.

To ensure we are able to give as powerful and accurate voice as possible to our members, we would appreciate it if you could take the time to answer the following brief questions about how you believe the reforms will affect the assessment community.

To take part in this months member poll please click on the link below:

Have your say...

You can view results from the previous months' member poll by following the link below.

Last months' results...

Institute News - New CPD project launched with Oral Language Modifiers

The CIEA is currently working with JCQ, (Joint Council for Qualifications) BATOD (British Association of Teachers of the Deaf), the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) non JCQ awarding bodies and speech therapists to develop a programme of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for those people who need to act as oral language modifiers (OLM) to support candidates in public examinations.

This is a new role for many people to contend with. It is a further reasonable adjustment that can be made for those pupils who may be disadvantaged by the construction of a sentence in an examination.

The CIEA will be organising some training events across the country to help prepare prospective OLMs for this role.

The training will consist of three inputs on the nature of the role of an OLM, looking at some of the issues involved in this work, followed by a short exercise to apply knowledge to some simulated events.

The closing date for applications is Friday 28, March, applications received after this date will be considered on an individual basis.

Read more ...

Institute News - Chartered Educational Assessor (CEA) series of online seminars planned

A series of Chartered Educational Assessor-themed online seminars is planned for late March/early April 08. The one-hour seminars will:

• Update members on the current CEA pilot scheme by the Head of the CIEA, David Wright
• Outline how the scheme has progressed since its inception by CIEA Consultant, Brian Rigby
• Contain an interview with CEA, Julius Lang
• Contain a short question and answer session with CIEA Team

If you would like to express an interest in attending (completely free-of-charge to members) please click the link below:

Register interest...

Once dates have been established members (who have expressed an interest) will be invited to attend.

Do you have to be a web genius to attend? No. All you need is a notebook or computer with broadband internet access (preferably 8MBs).

Institute News - Subscription fees - Institute recognised by HMRC

The Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors subscriptions has been recognised as a professional membership organisation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for Income Tax relief under Section 344 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 with effect from 1 May 2008. This applies to UK members who are in employment.

Basic relief will be 20% (effective April 08); however at the higher rate this goes up to 40%.

Lower rate example - A Full Member will pay £50 per annum from 1 May 2008. If he/she earns up to £36,000 per annum he/she will be able to claim back approximately £10 against their annual tax bill.

Higher rate example - A Fellow pays £70 per annum from May. If he/she earns £37,000 per annum he/she will be able to claim back approximately £28 against their annual tax bill*.

Will it apply to members on PAYE (e.g. teachers/lecturers etc)?
Yes.

Further information will be posted within the membership infortmation section of the CIEA website from mid-April.

*Tax rates taken from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

Institute News - CIEA at the Education Show 28th February - 1st March 2008

Thousands of people connected to the education community attend the annual Education Show held at the NEC in Birmingham.

As the profile of the CIEA has risen over the previous twelve months, so interest in what the CIEA offers has increased.

"Although the numbers may have been fewer than last year, the quality of the applications remains very high indeed," said a CIEA spokesperson. "In the past, teachers and Head Teachers have felt removed from the assessment process, but now they appear to be engaging with it in a more positive and pro-active way."

CIEA at the Education Show 2008

Institute News - Assessment Policy continued (Step 7 of 13)

This step helps you to consider how you will feedback information to the learner and to the others in the institution and beyond it who may have an interest in the progress of the learners.

Recording

This may mean recording comments on an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for those learners who are deemed to need School Action Plus support. The Local authority may well provide both a template as well as support, in the form of training, for the staff to do this.

Feedback from learners

Learners themselves may make a learning diary or log, where they comment on what they have found difficult, enjoyable or otherwise in their learning. The individual's peers may also be encouraged to comment about each other's progress in the form of "two stars and a wish" in other words, commenting on two things an individual did well and suggesting one way of improving the performance.

Formal records

Individual teachers may enter marks or grades in a mark book; some may wish to transfer the data to an ICT system. Whichever way individuals choose, it should help them detect patterns of achievement. These patterns can be determined both for the individual learners and also for the teachers. Where there are areas of weakness, for groups or classes or sets of learners, teachers can focus their teaching on these areas of weakness.

Find out more ...

Assessment News - Introducing the teacher training resource bank

What is the TTRB?

The teacher training resource bank (TTRB) is a one-stop web portal providing free access to research and evidence based resources for teacher training. The TTRB website draws together a number of professional resource networks to give teacher educators, trainee teachers and school based mentors access to a database of resources. Launched in April 2006 the site now has over 30,000 registered users and is currently receiving over 3,500 page views a day.

What resources are available?

The TTRB website provides access to a wide range of quality assured resources. Commentaries of resources are provided by reviewers from across the sector. To date over 100 reviewers from a wide range of institutions have been involved in the development of the TTRB; ensuring that the range of resources available are authoritative, credible and relevant.

To find out more visit the TTRB at www.ttrb.ac.uk and register to receive updates about the site, a termly newsletter, and access to the E-Librarian service. You can also contact the project team at ttrb@canterbury.ac.uk with content suggestions, feedback, or if you wish to become a paid reviewer.

Assessment News - Changes to GCSEs in 2009

As part of the reform of 14-19 education, the regulators in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are reviewing GCSE qualifications for first teaching from 2009. We want to:

• update the content of the GCSEs
• encourage innovative teaching, learning and assessment
• incorporate key elements of 14-19 curriculum developments
• ensure that the revised GCSEs complement Diplomas
• revise the assessment arrangements to challenge all learners
• ensure that standards are maintained.

Awarding bodies are submitting revised specifications to the regulators in April 2008 for accreditation, with first teaching of revised specifications from September 2009.

A factsheet on the changes to GCSE is available from the QCA website, along with regulations and examples for controlled assessments in different subjects.

CPD - Events and Training Course Calendar

Each month the IEA communicates educational assessment focused events and training courses that are taking place around the UK.

The INGOTS Staff Development Courses

The assessor model supports staff development and this can be used to get recognition through the Teacher Learning Academy (TLA) of the General Teaching Council for England.

ICT Assessor Training

Assessor training courses are arranged on a regular basis at various geographical locations. If you are interested in becoming an assessor, sign up at click here ... for the forthcoming courses or put your name and details on the course waiting list. We will use this to arrange courses as far as possible to suit the geographical location. In general, the course fee is £129 per delegate however, a discount of 15% is offered to CIEA members
reducing the fee to £109.65.

Communicate-ed Assessment related training courses:

Communicate-ed is a company specialising in the training of education professionals who work in the area of special needs.

The CIEA has negotiated a 15% discount for members. Please download the appropriate form for the Communicate-ed website. Read more...

Please return your application clearly marked 'CIEA discount' with your membership number. Please note that the discount only applies to the standard rate and cannot be used with any other offer.

Training providers. Please contact info@ioea.org.uk if you would like to promote your courses within this section of CIEAMail.

Members should be aware that the CIEA is only communicating these events to its members and not endorsing them.

Assessment News - And Finally

The Times, March 22, 2008

Incorrect exam results? Claim compensation

Teenagers could receive thousands of pounds in compensation for being given the wrong GCSE and A-level grades, examination chiefs said.

Read more ...

E-newsletter feedback

Let us know what you think of the e-newsletter and any features you'd like to see in future issues. If you're feeling creative and would like to contribute an article, please send an email to info@ioea.org.uk. Until next time...

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