Reviewing national curriculum assessment in Wales: how can evidence inform the development of policy?

Abstract

Since 1999, the devolution of aspects of domestic policy formulation from the UK Government in London to a Welsh Assembly Government based in Cardiff has affected the way in which such policies are initiated, developed and implemented. A consistent feature of the stance taken by Ministers in this new policy environment in Wales has been that policies should be ‘evidence‐informed’. Several high profile policy reviews in education have offered opportunities for those involved to explore the nature of the evidence that is potentially relevant to policy and to judge how that evidence should impact upon policy development. Academic research is one category of evidence that has informed those reviews and academic researchers, as individuals, have been given significant roles in the process of review in Wales.

This case study of a review of assessment policies for students aged between 7 and 14 analyses what is understood by the term ‘evidence’ and the expectations associated with a commitment to evidence‐informed policy. It concludes that the process involved in formulating policy recommendations is best understood as an engagement with ideas that contribute to the construction of a ‘where do we go from here’ type of knowledge.

Keywords:

• education
• policy
• Wales
• evidence‐informed
• assessment