Pearson Schools Blog

Dr Ben Dunn - Head of Impact and Insights, Magic Breakfast

Pearson’s 2020 report on diversity and inclusion in schools brought to light significant findings that directly resonated with Magic Breakfast’s mission of ensuring that no child starts their school day too hungry to learn. Diversity and inclusion are not just about what is taught, but also how schools support every child to thrive both academically and personally.

The below Q&A is with Poppy, a 19 year-old from Beverley. In it, she talks about her experience of DEI in school.

As many as 76% of maths teachers responding to Pearson’s 2024 School Report stated that teacher recruitment and retention was a top challenge for their school to manage in the coming year – followed by budget pressures (51%) and teacher/school leader workload (41%).

These are all widespread issues affecting many maths teachers, day in and day out. They require whole-sector collaboration to improve. But there are also solutions available now to help ease the strain.

Lauren Lo is a tech enthusiast and dedicated advocate for STEM education, particularly for individuals with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). As a member of the FED Learners Council, Lauren focuses on advancing STEM initiatives with a strong emphasis on inclusivity and neurodiversity.

 “How do we use it well? What can we use it for? What are the pros and cons?” These are just a few of the elements secondary students want to learn about when it comes to Generative AI, with three quarters believing it’s important to learn about AI and the role it will play in the future.

Student performance across onscreen and paper-based exams

We believe that exams should be a fair and accurate reflection of students’ performance – regardless of whether an exam is taken onscreen or on paper.

That’s why our research focuses on many aspects of comparability – including student performance across paper and digital exams.

We believe that all students should be able to best show what they know and can do in exams – regardless of whether the exam is taken onscreen or on paper.   

That’s why we’re continuously researching and gathering feedback to better understand and inform how we can enhance accessibility and inclusion in exams – including through text styling and formatting.

We believe that exams should be a fair and accurate reflection of students’ performance – regardless of whether an exam is taken onscreen or on paper.

That’s why our research programme not only focuses on comparability of student performance, but also explores if and how marking may compare between paper and digital exams formats.

Understanding digital assessment experiences for students with SEND

We believe that all students should be able to best show what they know and can do in exams – regardless of whether those exams are taken onscreen or on paper, and irrespective of each student’s unique background, ability or needs.    

That’s why we’ve been using a range of methods to research how different learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) experience digital assessments. The findings can help us better understand if, where, and how technology can enhance accessibility and inclusion in exams.