Lars-Erik Malmberg is Professor of Quantitative Methods in Education, at the Department of Education, University of Oxford in the UK.
He started off as a primary school teacher in Finland. He is Docent in Education with particular focus on quantitative methods, at Åbo Akademi University, Vasa, Finland, where he earned his Doctorate of Education. He completed his post-doc at Yale University and enjoyed the prestigious Research Councils UK (RCUK) academic fellowship 2007-12.
He has more than 70 publications (peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and reports). He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Learning and Instruction 2018-21. His current research interests are on intrapersonal approaches to learning processes and modelling of intrapersonal data. He has published on effects of education, child care and parenting on developmental and educational outcomes, and teacher development.
He applies advanced quantitative models to the investigation of substantive research questions in education. He recently completed the ESRC-funded seminar series called “Network on Intrapersonal Research in Education.”
Jo-Anne is Director of the Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment. She completed a six-year term as Head of the Department of Education, has been Standing Adviser to the House of Commons Education Select Committee, a member of Ofqual’s Standing Advisory Group on Standards, Chair of the National Reference Test Expert Group, and a member of the Welsh Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Group.
Before coming to Oxford, Jo-Anne held academic posts at the Institute of Education, University of London and the University of Bristol. Her first degree and doctorate were in psychology and she has an MBA. Her research projects include Setting and Maintaining Standards in national examinations, Examination reform: the impact of modular and linear examinations at GCSE, Assessment for Learning in Africa (AFLA), intelligent accountability and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study England national centre.
Her research interests are in educational assessment, including system-wide structures and processes, examination standards, marking and assessment design. Jo-Anne conducts a lot of work in collaboration with government and industry partners. She is a Co-Lead Editor of the Oxford Review of Education journal. She has been a Visiting Professor at the universities of Bergen and Queen’s (Belfast) and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bergen in 2019. From 2013 to 2015 she was President of the Association for Educational Assessment – Europe.
QUALIFICATIONS
- B.A. in Psychology and Social Relations, Harvard University
- M.A. in Developmental Psychology, Harvard University
- Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, Harvard University
RESEARCH
Kathy Sylva’s research interests include:
- Early childhood curriculum and assessment
- The ‘effectiveness’ of education in the pre-school and primary phases
- The contribution of parents to children’s learning
- Children’s Centres and Family Hubs
- Supporting parents in behaviour management and learning
- Reading Recovery and other literacy interventions
Kathy has conducted large-scale studies on the effects of early education and care on children’s development and has led several RCTs to evaluate parenting interventions. She has been specialist adviser to Parliamentary Select Committees and currently advises Ofsted, the Early Intervention Foundation, and the Education Endowment Foundation.
AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS
Kathy is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Social Sciences, the British Psychological Society, and recipient of the British Educational Research Association’s Nisbett Award in 2014. She received an OBE for services to children and families in 2008 and has honorary doctorates from the Open University, Oxford Brookes, and the University of Gothenburg.
CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS
- PI on ‘Early Years Covid 19 Recovery – Mentors and Experts Programme’ in collaboration with Ecorys, funded by the Department for Education
- CI on ‘Coaching Early Conversations, Interaction and Language’ With Ariel Lindorff (PI) Sutton Trust
Victoria Murphy is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Director of the Department of Education, University of Oxford.
Victoria’s research focuses on understanding the inter-relationships between child L2/FL learning, vocabulary and literacy development. Her work examines cross-linguistic relationships across linguistic systems in the emergent bilingual child and how foreign language learning in primary school can influence developing first language literacy. Her work has been funded by ESRC, The Leverhulme Trust, The Nuffield Foundation and the Educational Endowment Foundation, among others, and she has published two books on the topic of young language learners, as well as numerous refereed journal articles and book chapters. Victoria was Chair of NALDIC (National Association for Language Development in the Curriculum) between 2018-2021 and has worked closely with teachers across the UK and internationally in support of Language in Education programmes.
Qualifications
- B.A.H. Linguistics/Psychology – Queen’s University, Kingston On, Canada
- M.A. Educational Psychology – McGill University, Canada
- Ph.D. – Second Language Education – McGill University Canada
Current Funded Research Projects
- Learning for Families through Technology with Rebecca Eynon and Sandra Mathers
- Supporting the development of Indian primary school children’s reading comprehension skills: A scaffolding-based intervention”. CI with I. Tsimpli (PI) & L. Mukhapoadhyay. British Academy – Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling Global Challenges
- “Improving the oral language skills of children with English as an Additional Language through a drama-based intervention” CI with Faidra Faitaki. CreATE Research Group