Future-ready from the start - Transforming assessment for young learners

Oct 23, 2026

A presentation for the Cambridge Schools Conference outlining a future-ready approach to assessment for young learners. It focuses on future-ready skills and qualities, how assessment can nurture them, and how assessment data can identify and respond to learners’ needs. The talk covers assessment criteria and transparency, formative assessment, 21st century skills, computer-based assessment, holistic development, accessibility, and includes evidence about young learners’ cognitive and language development.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages43

Reading Time1 h 48 min

AccessFree to download

Agenda

Introduction

Future-ready skills and qualities in young learners

How assessment can nurture future-ready skills and qualities

How assessment data can be used to identify and respond to learner needs

Strategies to ensure all learners fulfil their potential

Future-ready from the start: Transforming assessment for young learners Jason Street & Rebecca Wall December 2025 Cambridge Schools Conference, December 2025 Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | Housekeeping
• Health and safety
• Fire safety
• Washrooms
| | | | --- | --- | --- | | Cambridge Schools Conference, December 2025
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | | | Agenda • Introduction • Future-ready skills and qualities in young learners • How assessment can nurture future-ready skills and qualities • How assessment data can be used to identify and respond to learner’s needs • Strategies we can employ to ensure all learners fulfil their potential Cambridge Schools Conference, December 2025 Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | Introduction

Jason Street
Senior Assessment Manager, Primary & Lower Secondary Assessment
Asst. Director: EF Language Schools, Cambridge Asst. Director: Lord Byron College, Bari, Italy
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Rebecca Wall
Senior Assessment Manager, Primary & Lower Secondary Assessment
Head of Science: Cayman Prep & High School, Cayman Islands Director of Science: British International School of Boston, USA | | --- | --- | | Cambridge Schools Conference, December 2025
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | | | Facts, facts, facts!
| | | --- | --- | | | ‘Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life’
– Mr Gradgrind, School Superintendent, Hard Times, Charles Dickens (1854) | | Cambridge Schools Conference, December 2025
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | | | The Assessment Revolution!
| | | --- | --- | | | • Assessment criteria (AOs)
• Transparency and fairness
• Formative assessment
• 21st Century skills / Future-ready skills
• Computer-Based Assessment
• Holistic development of the whole learner
• Accessibility | | Cambridge Schools Conference, December 2025
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | | |
Our youngest learners are unique
• ~Age 4: children show advantages in reasoning decision-making and memory over older children.
• ~Age 5-8: children show perceptual & memory benefits
• Critical period for language development ends at age 12.
The Sweet Spot: When Children’s Developing A |

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bilities, Brains, and Knowledge Make Them Better Learners Than Adults | | --- | --- | Ebbinghaus Illusion Children aged between 4 & 7 are not susceptible to this illusion. Younger children can more accurately perceive what is really there. Cambridge Schools Conference, December 2025 Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | Future-ready skills in young learners
| | | --- | --- | | | Educators of students aged 14-19 were surveyed for this report, but what do you think‘future-ready skills’means for learners aged 4-14?
Cambridge Schools Conference, December 2025
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | | | | | --- | --- | | Cambridge Schools Conference, December 2025
Future-ready: preparing learners to thrive | |

FAQs

What future-ready skills and qualities are emphasized for young learners?

The agenda highlights future-ready skills and qualities, including 21st century skills, and discusses how assessment can nurture them.

How does the presentation connect assessment with learner needs?

It explains that assessment data can be used to identify learners’ needs and to respond with appropriate strategies so all learners can fulfil their potential.

Which assessment approaches and principles are covered?

The talk covers assessment criteria (AOs), transparency and fairness, formative assessment, computer-based assessment, holistic development of the whole learner, and accessibility.

Oct 23, 2026

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