THE WILDERNESS YEARS: AN ANALYSIS OF GOVES’S EDUCATION REFORMS ON TEACHER ASSESSMENT LITERACY

Abstract

During Michael Gove’s educational reforms between 2010–2014, he imposed several policy changes that changed the nature of assessment in terms of grading, terminal examinations and classroom expectations. Despite his vision of England rising up the international league tables, there has been little change in England’s position and even signs of stagnation of attainment at upper secondary. This paper uses the Teacher Assessment Literacy in Practice (TALiP) framework to understand why the reforms associated with assessment have had little impact on attainment and reveals the devastating effect of such wholesale change to school assessment systems, without time or support to change, leaving teachers in a decade of assessment wilderness.