Paul Black (educational researcher)
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10 September 1930
Assessment for learning
Paul Black | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paul Joseph Black 10 September 1930 La Cumbre, Valle del Cauca, Colombia |
| Died | 16 March 2026 (aged 95) |
| Education | |
| Known for | Physics Assessment for learning |
| Awards | Lawrence Bragg Medal and Prize OBE Honorary Fellow of Institute of Physics Honorary Fellow of the University of Surrey[1] |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics Education |
| Institutions | University of Birmingham Nuffield Foundation Chelsea College of Science and Technology King's College London Stanford University OECD OFQUAL |
Paul Joseph Black OBE CPhys HonFInstP[2] (10 September 1930 – 16 March 2026) was a British educational researcher, physicist and a current Professor Emeritus at King's College London. He was Professor of Science Education and Director of the Centre for Science and Mathematics Education at the Chelsea College of Science and Technology and Head for Educational Studies at King's College London.[3] Black was the Chair for the Task Group on Assessment and Testing and Deputy Chair of the National Curriculum Council,[4] and is recognised as an architect of the national curriculum testing regime[5] and the national curriculum for Science.[6]
Paul Joseph Black was born in La Cumbre, Valle del Cauca, Colombia on 10 September 1930.[7][8] He completed his first degree at the University of Manchester,[9] going on to complete his PhD in Crystallography at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1954.[3] Between 1954 and 1976, Black was a faculty member in the Department of Physics in the University of Birmingham.[3] During his time at Birmingham, he worked with Jon Ogborn of Worcester College of Higher Education, designing the Nuffield Foundations' A-Level Physics Course.[4][10][11] During the early 1970s Black again work with Ogborn who was the Project co-ordinator, for The Higher Education Learning Project in Physics which was funded by the Nuffield Foundation.[12]
Educational research
In 1976, Black left the University of Birmingham and joined the Chelsea College of Science and Technology as Professor of Science Education and Director of the Centre for Science and Mathematics Education.[3] Black became the educational advisor to the Nuffield-Chelsea Curriculum Trust at this time.[13] Between 1978 and 1988 Black was Director for the UK government's national survey of school science performance, and also served on the Research Grants Board of the Economic and Social Research Council.[14] In 1985 Chelsea College of Science and Technology merged with King's College London and Black continued as Professor of Science Education and became the Head for Educational Studies. He held this position until his retirement in 1995[15] becoming Professor Emeritus. From 1985 to 1991, Black was President of the Groupe Internationale de Recherche sur l’Enseignement de la Physique, and became chair of the International Commission on Physics Education between 1993 and 1999.[14] Black has also been a visiting professor of education at Stanford University, and continued to work with the Nuffield Foundation developing design & technology and science work at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.[4] In 1986 Black was the president of the Association for Science Education.
During 1987–88, Black was the chair of the Task Group on Assessment and Testing set up by the UK government. The group reported to the then secretary of state for education, Kenneth Baker. The report produced by the group promoted diagnostic and formative assessment and teachers' professional development and, at a technical level, the use of criterion referencing as the assessment paradigm,[16] and produced the original design for national curriculum testing and assessment.[5] In 1992 Black criticised how they were implemented as the Education Reform Act[17]
Hurried and sweeping changes to the national curriculum will cause 'serious harm' to children's education
Between 1989 and 1991, Black was the deputy chair of the National Curriculum Council.[4] During 1996 Black wrote a report for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in which Black stated[18]
the British science curriculum is unnecessarily dull and should be scrapped
In 1998, Black co-wrote Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment with Dylan Wiliam.[19] Black, along with Wiliam were educational advisors to Tony Blair, giving evidence to the Select Committee on Education and Employment Fourth Report.[20] In 2013, Black and Wiliam wrote a report that criticised the current assessment, stating[5]
A-level grades are an unreliable guide to a student's ability
Black was a member of three committees of the USA National Research Council, including the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Cognitive Foundations of Assessment, and was later a member of the Technical Advisory Group of OFQUAL.[4] He was also a member of the British Educational Research Association and the National Academy of Education.[4][3]
