23rd August 2006 - In an interview on Radio 4's Today programme, Sarah Teather Liberal Democrats' education spokesman, outlined her thoughts on developing the professionalism of teachers in assessment through the Institute.

Speaking on the programme Sarah said '... I would question whether or not there are some things that we could start to do to make (exams) cheaper and more efficient and one of the things that people have been beginning to talk about that I hope the Government might look at seriously is the use of Chartered Assessors.'

She continued ' If we were to encourage more profession(al) accreditation through the Institute .we could have teachers acting as moderators, exam papers marked much more locally, the system would be more transparent, much cheaper. We'd also have the added advantage of professionalising teachers.'

For more information go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/