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

Sep 5, 2026

Michael Gove’s education reforms from 2010–2014 reshaped assessment through changes to grading, terminal examinations, and classroom expectations. Despite the stated aim of improving England’s standing in international league tables, the paper argues that attainment showed little improvement, with signs of stagnation at upper secondary. Using the Teacher Assessment Literacy in Practice (TALiP) framework, the study explains why assessment-focused reforms produced limited impact on outcomes, highlighting the harmful effects of rapid, unsupported wholesale change on school assessment systems and teacher practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teacher assessment and assessment literacy

Gove’s assessment policy

The Buckingham Journal of Education

Assessment literacy

TALiP framework

Buckingham Journal of Education 2021 Vol 2 No 1 pp 101-117 THE WILDERNESS YEARS: AN ANALYSIS OF GOVES’S EDUCATION REFORMS ON TEACHER ASSESSMENT LITERACY Andrew Chandler-Grevatt* 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. INTRODUCTION Wilderness: If politicians or other well-known people spend time in the wilderness, they are not in an influential position or very active in their profession for that time. A significant feature of the 2010 education reforms in England were changes to assessment. The reforms reduced the number of state-imposed examinations throughout the school system, overhauled what was to be examined in GCSE and A-level qualifications through a completely new national curriculum, and even removed the long established grading systems (national curriculum levels and GCSE grades) and replaced the GCSE letter grades (A*–G) with a numbered grading system (9-1). One politician drove these changes, Michael Gove in his role as Secretary of Education (2010–2014), and is understood to have taken a more active role in the changes than any other Education Secretary. * Andrew Chandler-Grevatt EdD, MSc, BSc (Hons), PGCE, CSciTeach THE WILDERNESS YEARS: AN ANALYSIS OF GOVES’S EDUCATION REFORMS ON TEACHER ASSESSMENT LITERACY Classroom assessment is a complex practice and is far more than just formal examinations: it can be seen as an ongoing process; a professional skill; and a set of skills that employ strategies to enhance teaching and learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Heritage & Harrison, 2020). Teacher assessment literacy in its simplest form is what teachers understand, know and can do regarding assessment (Stiggins, 1991). It can be used to support trainee teachers and established teachers to analyse their current understanding of assessment (Koh, 2011). In this paper, I employ a robust empirically based framework established by Xu & Brown (2016), Teacher Assessment Literacy in Practice (TALiP), to analyse the known impact of the neo-conservative policies on classroom assessment, teacher assessment identity, and assessment outcomes for this generation of school leavers. GOVE’S ASSESSMENT POLICY The interactions between policy, assessment and classroom practices are complex (e.g. Black & Wiliam, 2018; Stiggins, 2001). Following the Department for Education (2010) White Paper Importance of Teaching, Gove’s rationale for worldleading national curriculum reform was set out by Oates (2011), unusually with a forward from the Secretary of State, Gove himself. Oates (2011) states his proposals are founded upon the highest performing jurisdictions, using international assessments as an evidence base on which to draw conclusions. In terms of assessment, the focus of the present paper, Oates’ (2011, p. 126) main critiques of the, then, current national curriculum, were threefold: assessment was overbearing, with adverse impact on teaching and learning (evidenced by England’s position in the international comparison tables); specific issues with drilling for tests; and lack of robust information for policymakers on national standards (particularly concerns over grade inflation). In response to each of these criticisms, Gove made several reforms on England’s assessment systems. To counter what was considered the o

FAQs

What changes did Michael Gove’s reforms introduce to assessment in England?

The reforms altered grading and exam structures, reduced the number of state-imposed examinations, overhauled assessment in GCSE and A-level qualifications, and replaced established grading systems with a numbered 9-1 system.

Why did the paper use the TALiP framework?

It uses Teacher Assessment Literacy in Practice (TALiP) to examine how neo-conservative policy influences classroom assessment, teacher assessment identity, and assessment outcomes.

What overall effect does the paper attribute to the reforms on teacher and school assessment systems?

It argues that wholesale changes implemented without sufficient time or support left teachers in a prolonged “assessment wilderness,” with devastating consequences for the assessment systems and limited impact on attainment.

Sep 5, 2026

Uploaded by Riley West