Our team

Simon brings to the role of trustee considerable experience of the 14-19 education sector and qualifications system. He worked for 16 years in a major awarding body, latterly as its Director of Policy.  More recently, he worked for QCA and its successor body (QCDA) managing a variety of projects.

Since 2010 Simon has been a freelance consultant, contributing to a wide variety of projects, including the development of a work-based learning degree, higher level apprenticeships, editing learner support materials for a professional body, training awarding body staff on writing units to meet Ofqual’s QCF requirements and writing assessment development processes for a vocational awarding body.

Ian Crawford BA, PGCE, NPQH, FRSA and FCIEA has worked as a Senior Leader in post 16, a Curriculum Advisor in Cumbria CC and Sandwell MBC, and since 2011 has run his own Education Projects Business in the West Midlands.

Work has focused on STEM Careers, European Projects around NEETs and Science, Mental Health and Wellbeing projects in prisons, bid writing and data analysis support for the Post 16 sector. Ian has significant experience as a senior examiner, moderator and advisor working with the main UK Awarding Bodies.

Dr Joanna Goodman is an educationalist with a vast experience of school leadership, both in maintained and independent sectors.  She has worked at every key stage in education.

She graduated with a Doctor in Education degree from University of London, King’s College London, where she researched the role of assessment in improving learning outcomes. Her assessment expertise is internationally recognised, and she has been widely published in the UK and abroad, including peer-reviewed publications.

Her research interests include educational assessment, teaching and learning, and leadership development.

She is an Educational Consultant and a Director of Cromwell Consulting Ltd, and a school inspector. She is also a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors, which she joined when it was first established. Joanna is a member of The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline committee working on developing national clinical guidelines.

Irène Hawkes is a fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors since 2007 and a Chartered Educational Assessor since 2008 and a member of the CIEA board of trustees since 2011.

She has taught English in France and French in English primary and secondary schools and in sixth form colleges. She has been Head of MFL, Head of Special Needs and IBD coordinator.

She has over 20 years experience in assessment and over 15 years as a senior examiner having worked and still working for several UK awarding bodies and the IB. She has extensive experience in writing, revising and scrutinizing exam papers, and in writing specifications; she takes part in IB curriculum reviews and trains new examiners, she was elected in 2011 the Hexagon group 2 representative; she has also worked for QCA (as a scrutineer) and Ofqual (as a principal scrutineer) and is currently an External Expert for Ofqual. She also does translation work and consultancy work and writes textbooks and lectures part-time in a sixth form college.

Professor Dr Kate Reynolds is passionate about education and making a difference to children and young people.

Since January 2014, when Kate was appointed Dean of Education, Bath Spa University she has been responsible for undergraduate, postgraduate and research courses in education studies and teacher education. As part of her role, Kate led the creation of the Institute for Education which opened in September 2014, a place for practitioners and academics, policy makers and educationalists to shape the future for education.

Kate’s experience includes 20 years working within local government, her last position being Deputy Director of Education, Swindon, part of the ministerial intervention team appointed to reverse the decline of the local education authority. She also has significant experience in the private sector leading teams supporting local authorities, delivering Building Schools for the Future and the implementation of Children’s Services.

Before joining Bath Spa University, Kate was Chief Executive of Learning Plus UK, a not for profit organisation providing support to the education sector to improve performance and raise standards.

Kate is a member of numerous educational organisations and has an extensive media presence including academic and popular media and is a national conference speaker and presenter.

Carolyn has been a Fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors since 2013. She taught English for 35 years in a range of UK secondary schools: state, comprehensive, grammar, independent, day, and boarding; she has also held senior positions in British and other international schools. Since 2011 she has been a freelance consultant, specialising in assessment.

Carolyn has been an examiner for many boards, starting with Oxford in 1980. Until 2017 she was Deputy Chief Examiner for IB English Literature and is currently Principal Examiner for one of its components and an exam paper setter.

She has served on many ISI inspection teams, in the UK and overseas, was an English consultant to Chris Woodhead’s Cognita group, has been involved in INSET provision for the European Council of International Schools and is generally an all-round enthusiast for high standards in education.

Mick’s teaching career extended over eighteen years including work in secondary, sixth form and Further Education institutions as well work in Higher Education as an external examiner. He has worked as a local education authority advisory teacher and as a general adviser working with primary and secondary schools. Throughout his teaching career, he has been closely associated with the assessment system holding the posts of chief examiner and senior moderator.

Following his position as head of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s (QCA) regulatory monitoring programme, Mick played a key role in the National Assessment Authority’s (NAA) modernisation programme leading on support for examiner recruitment and recognition of their professional status through the formation of what is now the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA). Following delivery failures of national curriculum tests in 2008, Mick took over the post of Acting Managing Director of the NAA and is credited with re-building the national curriculum assessment system.

A former acting Director of QCA and Executive Director of Education at the QCDA, he was responsible for national curriculum assessments and supporting the delivery of general qualifications. He was also an adviser to the Expert Group on Assessment in 2009 and more recently supported the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) Commission on Assessment without Levels. Mick is an Associate Director of AQA and Education Adviser to PwC and FrogEducation.

Mick holds degrees at masters and bachelor levels and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Trustee and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors. He is passionate about education and aligning the aims of a national education and high volume examinations and testing system with the aims and realities of everyday delivery in schools, colleges and the workplace to benefit society and support each individual to reach their true potential.

Alison McCree has been involved in education in various guises for many years. Having taught English as a Foreign Language in Japan, Denmark and the UK she completed a PGCE and MA in Education at the University of Hertfordshire.

Alison taught secondary science in a number of schools across Hertfordshire before joining the University of Hertfordshire as a professional development lead for the Science Learning Centre, developing and delivering CPD for science teachers. More recently, she has been involved in managing educational programmes including the Triple Science Support Programme for East of England and Central regions and the UK Amgen Biotech Experience programme.

'I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to become involved in the partnership between the University of Hertfordshire and CIEA which promises exciting times ahead. I look forward to continuing and developing the work the CIEA carries out to support teachers and examiners in assessment and in pursuing the goal of promoting excellence in assessment. This is a particularly relevant in the current environment of change in the education landscape and the world of assessment.'

Miranda began her career in local government where she worked in both the legal and print department as a secretary then type setter. She then moved into office based work where she became an Account Executive, and then progressed into production. Alongside this, she joined the Royal Navy Reserve in 1991 and is now a Petty Officer in the warfare seaman specialisation of which she was mobilised in 2011 for 8 months.

Miranda went into bookkeeping in 2002 and is now a member of The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers. She joined the CIEA in May as the organisation’s Accounts Administrator. Her methodical and investigative approach makes her a valuable and hardworking member of the team.

The CIEA has three part-time administrators, Claire Chivers, Nicky Bright and Jane Bateman. Based at the University of Hertfordshire, they are a close-knit team who work together on a wide range of administration tasks covering membership, training, finance and marketing.