From the editor

Chris Harrison, Professor of Science Education, King’s College London, UK Increasingly, over the last couple of decades, assessment practices in schools have been of great interest to the public and often criticised within the media. This negative approach to assessment has been especially apparent over the last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in periods of schooling at home for all youngsters, with those who are vulnerable due to health conditions learning from home for the whole year. As learners return to school after lockdown, the mantra is around ‘catch-up’ and ‘learning loss’, the highlighting of inequalities within our education systems and concerns around the awarding of qualifications in the summer. While assessment clearly has a role to play in all of these things, what is important to consider is what might be a more fruitful approach to assessment and reconceptualising what we mean by assessment in education. The current educational literature is f