Dave Thomson, Author at FFT Education Datalab

About Dave Thomson

Dave Thomson is chief statistician at FFT with over fifteen years’ experience working with educational attainment data to raise attainment in local government, higher education and the commercial sector. His current research interests include linking education and workplace datasets to improve estimates of adult attainment and study the impact of education on employment and benefits outcomes.

Solutions to problems with Progress 8, part one: qualification scoring

How would P8 scores change if qualifications attracted different point scores?

By Dave Thomson|2019-10-16T08:10:53+01:0016th October 2019|School accountability|

Solutions to problems with Progress 8, part two: taking account of context

How would progress scores change if context were taken into account?

By Dave Thomson|2019-10-16T17:17:13+01:0016th October 2019|School accountability|

Some thoughts on ‘The children leaving school with nothing’

It’s worth digging under the surface of the Children’s Commissioner’s latest briefing

By Dave Thomson|2019-09-23T13:17:03+01:0023rd September 2019|Exams and assessment|

Will anything ever be done about grading in modern foreign languages GCSEs?

French, German and Spanish all look to have been harshly graded for many years

By Dave Thomson|2019-09-11T09:55:39+01:0010th September 2019|Exams and assessment|

Has attainment improved at Key Stage 4 in 2019?

And has the disadvantage gap narrowed after it unexpectedly widened in 2018?

By Dave Thomson|2019-09-06T11:41:37+01:006th September 2019|Exams and assessment|

Are some qualifications scored too generously?

And others scored too severely

By Dave Thomson|2019-09-02T09:54:42+01:003rd September 2019|Exams and assessment|

The effect of entering GCSEs early on overall attainment

Is it of benefit to most pupils? And does it help disadvantaged boys?

By Dave Thomson|2019-09-02T10:14:17+01:002nd September 2019|Exams and assessment|

GCSE results 2019: To what extent are schools entering pupils early?

And in which subjects are pupils being entered early?

By Dave Thomson|2019-08-20T08:58:12+01:0019th August 2019|Exams and assessment|

How many leaders does a secondary school need?

Comparing the size of leadership team that schools in different parts of the country have

By Dave Thomson|2019-08-16T06:37:05+01:001st August 2019|Teachers|