About UGEAN
UGEAN is a research network of the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. Its work explores approaches that bring together assessment, curriculum, and pedagogy to develop pupil and student learning, as well as assessment for summative purposes and as part of qualifications. It also explores the various assumptions, challenges and consequences for pupils and students when assessment information is used for the purposes of accountability or to judge effectiveness at different levels in education systems.
Over the last 30 years, members of UGEAN have worked in partnership with policy makers and practitioners in Scotland and other parts of the UK to establish and develop research-informed policy and practice and to explore the processes of sustainable change in education.
Vision of the network
‘To advance knowledge and practice of assessment in education to support the learning and achievement of children and young people.’
Strategic Theme: Reuniting learning, teaching, and assessment.
For many educators, pupils and students, assessment has become a powerful force shaping what we teach and how we think about learning. In classrooms, assessment has the potential to enrich the learning of pupils and students, but it can also be used in more disconnected and instrumental ways that narrow and fragment learning.
Our work in this theme re-examines the relationships between learning, teaching and assessment and how these can be thought about and brought together to support learning.
Strategic Theme: Rethinking qualifications, learning and achievement.
Qualifications occupy a powerful place within education systems and wider society and serve multiple purposes. They are a means to both formally recognise the learning and achievements of young people and influence what future opportunities are available to them. Despite such significance, qualifications can be slow to evolve and are still dominated by performance in traditional, high-stakes examinations that may not always be fit for purpose.
Our work in this theme explores how qualifications might evolve if they are to reflect young people’s learning and achievements and promote equity.