Measuring up in Education

We live and work in a time when the issues facing education, many of which have been with us for a considerable period, are being approached primarily through measurement – classroom assessment, research methods, standardized testing, international comparisons. Yet we do not often stop to consider what counts – and alternatively, what doesn’t count – in a climate where measuring up to a standard is the name of the game. At a deeper level, we rarely raise questions about measurement itself. What is measurement? What is a standard? How does measurement of education articulate with the purposes and potential of education? Questions such as these are sometimes expressed but seemingly never heard in the discourses which dominate. The aim of this conference is to create a space for such questioning by inviting an exchange of views around the issues pertaining to measurement as this influences the various discourses of education.

The conference website is: