Author Description

The 'intuition or evidence?' of the title is a theme which runs through the book. Prior to National Assessment teachers' judgements about pupils were largely intuitive. National Assessment has brought about changes in some teachers' practice resulting in assessments now being based more firmly on evidence. Other teachers, however, still prefer to assess intuitively. The changes in government policy and the demands for testing and publication to raise standard also seem to be based on intuition rather than evidence. However, by the end of a three-year study, the authors' evidence shows that a number of headteachers felt that standards of teaching had improved, but not in the simplistic way envisaged by the government.