Blog
Posts for category: Opinion
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Beyond the Black Box: Why Ofqual’s AI Principles are a Gift to Assessment Innovation
The publication of Ofqual’s Principles of AI Use in Marking brings some welcome guardrails to a landscape that, until recently, felt a bit like the "Wild West". For those of us in the assessment sector, the sudden explosion of AI capabilities felt both exhilarating and at times lawless.
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The Reliability Paradox: Why the Future of Assessment will be more Nondeterministic
In a previous post, we explored the "Three Mirrors" of assessment - the Left, Right, and Centre views that together provide a complete picture of learner performance. Today, we want to look deeper into the glass. Specifically, we want to discuss why the "Left Mirror" (Holistic Assessment) works so differently from the "Right Mirror" (Absolute Assessment), and why the future of high-stakes evaluation is becoming more nondeterministic.
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Defending Epistemic Integrity in the Age of AI Assessment
Why a grade must be more than just a plausible statistic. It must be a justified belief rooted in human understanding.
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Are You Buying "Instructional Theatre" or Genuine Learning? The Cognitive Science Behind RM Compare.
In the crowded landscape of educational technology, it is easy to be seduced by "smooth flow." Apps designed with slick interfaces, gamified rewards, and passive clicking mechanisms often feel engaging. They promise learning without the friction.
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Unlocking Innovation: How Assessment Design Can Enable the Curriculum the AI Era Demands
This week, Dennis Sherwood posed an uncomfortable question in a powerful SRHE blog post: when we become witnesses to systemic problems in assessment when 1.6 million out of 6.5 million GCSE and A-level grades differ from what a senior examiner would have awarded. What do we do?
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The Confidence - Controls Gap: Why AI Assessment Is Heading for a Reckoning
Across hiring and education, AI is already deciding who gets seen, shortlisted, or passed over. Tools built on large language models can read thousands of CVs, mark essays, and sort candidates faster and cheaper than any human team. The efficiency story is compelling. The safety story is not.
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Can Foundation Models Really Replace Human Judgement? What GPT-5.2's Launch Today Tells Us, and Why RM Compare Matters More Than Ever
Today, December 11, 2025, OpenAI launched GPT-5.2. If you've been watching the space, you might be wondering: is this it? Have we reached the point where foundation models can truly replace human judgment? The answer is still no. And understanding why is critical for anyone building assessment, hiring, or decision systems that matter.
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The £63 Billion Question: Why "Evolution" isn't enough to solve the UK's productivity crisis
The regulator has chosen a slow path for digital assessment. The economy can’t afford to wait. Here is why the future of skills depends on Transformation, not just Substitution.
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The Skills Imperative 2035: Why the Future of Assessment Can’t Be a Tick-Box Exercise
The latest NFER report confirms that the skills of the future - Creativity, Collaboration, and Problem Solving - are the hardest to measure. Here is how we solve that.