APRIL 2021

The University of Cyprus invites you to the International Conference entitled “Developing Educational Policies to Promote Formative Assessment: The Contribution of Educational Research” organized under the ERASMUS+ Key Action 3 project “Promoting Formative Assessment: From Theory to Policy and Practice (FORMAS)”, on April 21 & 22, 2021, 16:00-19:00 (GMT+2).  

 Assessment can be a powerful force for supporting learning and a mechanism for individual empowerment. Formative assessment in particular has been prevalent in the educational discourse over the past decades, shifting the attention towards assessment practices that aid the learning and teaching process. However, classroom assessment practice still appears to be outcome-oriented.

 Thus, this conference is concerned with research on promoting formative assessment. The role of Teacher Professional Development (TPD) is stressed. Strengths and limitations of different approaches to TPD are identified. We argue for the importance of establishing stronger links between research on TPD and educational effectiveness research.

In this context, we critically discuss the theoretical framework of a European project aiming to promote formative assessment. Through this project, a framework for measuring teachers’ professional skills in assessment has been proposed and a TPD course on student assessment has been developed and evaluated by investigating its impact on improving teachers’ skills in assessment and on promoting student learning outcomes (cognitive and meta-cognitive).

 Thus, the main results of this project are presented. In addition, teachers share their experiences from participating in this project and different stakeholders draw implications of the findings of this project for improving policy and practice. Finally, researchers will explore the possibilities of utilising theory-driven and evidence-based approaches to design national policies on formative assessment in order to promote quality in education.

The conference will take place online via ZOOM. You can register to the conference (free of charge) until April 20, 2021, by following the link https://ucy.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0rcOurrzktGdUmG7arVnWVS7R2hrKYDVrh. After registering, you will receive an automatic email with the link for joining the conference.

For queries, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

For conference’s updates please visit our webpage www.ucy.ac.cy/formas

The Invitation of the conference can be found here  

The Schedule of the conference can be found here

MARCH 2021

“Learning Outcomes and Quality of Teaching: Searching for Short- and Long- Term Effects” (LOUTEF)

As a complementary project to the OCCAM project (“Outcomes and Causal Inference in International Comparative Assessments”), LOUTEF (“Learning Outcomes and Quality of Teaching: Searching for Short- and Long- Term Effects”) aims to investigate the potential added value of observational data, as follow-up data to international comparative studies. In particular, it examines the effect of generic factors of teaching behaviour that emerge from the Dynamic Model of Educational Effectiveness and frameworks of educational dialogue. The study followed 139 Grade 11 students in Cyprus, who participated in the PISA 2018 study (at the end of Grade 10). As the PISA 2018 study focused on students’ reading skills, our follow-up study collected observational data on teaching factors during the teaching of Modern Greek, experienced by these students. At the end of the school year, students completed a literacy test, developed as part of the current project, which was based on the curriculum of Grade 11. An innovative method, which involved creating a code based on students’ background information, was used in order to match these students’ performance on PISA 2018 to their performance on our literacy test at the end of the school year. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that most teaching factors were associated with student achievement in literacy, after controlling for the pre-measure. The results reveal the value of using data of international large-scale studies to conduct panel studies in order to explore the reasons behind a potential progress of students’ achievement. This additional information can lead to better usage of the results of international comparative studies in terms of the development of policies that concern teaching quality and teacher professional development.

DECEMBER 2020

Lesson Study as a vehicle for improving achievement in mathematics (LESSAM)

The “Lesson Study as a vehicle for improving achievement in mathematics (LESSAM)” project is a new three-year research project (2020-2023) funded by the Erasmus+ programme, Key Action II. The project aims to investigate the impact of a collaborative teacher professional development model, called Lesson Study, on teacher learning and subsequently on student learning outcomes. Using an experimental design, mathematics teachers in participating secondary schools will form small Lesson Study groups in order to: a) plan lessons, b) teach/observe those lessons; and c) reflect on lessons. The effects of providing support to teachers through an advisory and research team during Lesson Study meetings will be investigated as well. The impact of the Lesson Study process will be examined through teacher dialogues during these meetings, as well as through their students’ performance on mathematical reasoning tests (pre- and post-tests); a central mathematical competence involving exploring, conjecturing and justifying. The findings are expected to contribute to our understanding of how Lesson Study supports teacher learning and, subsequently, student learning. The study will also consider possibilities to expand the use of the dynamic approach to teacher improvement and will take place in the four partner countries, namely Cyprus, Greece, Belgium and the Netherlands. Our team at the University of Cyprus leads the project. Our partners are teams at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the University of Antwerp, the Eindhoven University of Technology and the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute.

DECEMBER 2020

Publication of the book «Kyriakides, L., Creemers, B.P.M, Panayiotou, A., & Charalambous, E. (2021). Quality and Equity in Education: Revisiting Theory and Research on Educational Effectiveness and Improvement. London and New York: Routledge.»

Click here  to find the book through Routledge.

The supporting material of the two syntheses of studies which are described in Chapters 4 and 7 can be found HERE !