Professor Baird appointed Standing Adviser to Education Select Committee

Professor Jo-Anne Baird, Director of Oxford’s Department of Education, has been appointed Standing Specialist Adviser on Education to the Select Committee on Education.

The Education Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to monitor the policy, administration and spending of the Department for Education and its associated arm’s-length bodies, including Ofsted and Ofqual.

The role will see Professor Baird provide advice on the wide range of education issues monitored by the Committee.  Following Prime Minister May’s changes to the remit of the Department for Education, this now includes higher education policy.

Of her new role, Professor Baird said: ‘Change is a perennial feature of the education policy environment.  The Select Committee’s role in holding the Government to account for the effects of policy is crucial to a well-functioning democracy, as well as for the quality of the education system.  I look forward to supporting the work of the Committee by under-pinning my advice with a sound research base.’

Professor Baird was Director of the Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment (OUCEA) and, prior to that, Professor of Education at the University of Bristol. In addition, she previously held the position of Head of Research at the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance. She is a previous President of the Association for Educational Assessment-Europe, has written a wide range of research articles and government reports, advised a number of governments on education matters and is an Editor of research journals. Her first degree and doctorate were in psychology and she has an MBA.  She has taught psychology and education from A-level to doctoral level.