Tim Oates is Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge Assessment, leading a 40+ research group which focuses on national and international research on assessment and measurement.

In 2005, whilst Head of Research at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Tim co-authored, with Dr Mike Coles, the foundational research for the European Framework of Reference Levels, which became the European Qualifications Framework.

He joined Cambridge Assessment in 2006. In 2010, again with Mike Coles and an international group of researchers, Tim had a major role in the European strategy document ‘Changing Qualifications – a review of qualifications policies and practices’, a key document for the European Commission.

From Dec 2010-Dec 2011 he was chair of the Expert Panel for Review of the National Curriculum (Profs Mary James, Andrew Pollard, and Dylan Wiliam) informing the Secretary of State’s 2011 review.

In 2010 he published ‘Could do better – using international comparisons to refine the National Curriculum in England’ which both laid down the principles for the review of the National Curriculum in England and explored progressive comparative methodology.

He has published widely on technical evaluation of assessment and is a member of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations
Regulation’s Standards Advisory Group. Tim regularly has provided briefings and evidence for the House of Commons Education Select Committee, and routinely provides briefings and advice to UK Government and a range of governments around the world. He is a visiting professor at the University of Leeds and a Fellow of Churchill College Cambridge.