ALPHAPLUS - Key Persons
Amelia has recently joined AlphaPlus as a Project Manager. She is currently working on a trio of consecutive projects with British Council India in their move to competency-based assessment, liaising with stakeholders and organising timelines and budgets.
Amelia has recently graduated from the University of Manchester after studying a BSc in Geography, which has provided her with a range of strong communication, planning and research skills.
Job Titles:
- Alpha Plus Key Associate
- Director
- Director of Quantitative Research and Analysis at Alpha Plus
- Quantitative Research and Analysis
- Research
Andrew Boyle is the Director of Quantitative Research and Analysis at Alpha Plus. In this role he provides a comprehensive and flexible service for the company's clients. This service utilises a wide range of statistical techniques, and applies them with great accuracy to clients' data sets. Further, in delivering results to clients we make sure that we communicate effectively and clearly. We write succinct reports with clear summaries of findings and recommendations, provide informative graphics in presentations and reports and are always prepared to discuss findings with clients and stakeholders.
Before joining Alpha Plus in 2013, Andrew worked for many organisations in UK education including the exams regulator Ofqual and its predecessor QCA. He has also worked for several major UK awarding organisations, including Cambridge Assessment and City & Guilds.
In addition, Andrew is an accomplished assessment researcher. He is a Fellow of the European assessment association, AEA-Europe, and was a member of the English exams regulator Ofqual's Vocational Advisory Group.
Andy is an experienced manager and business professional, with education, technical and project management expertise.
Since joining Alpha Plus in 2016, Andy has managed projects for clients such as Rising Stars and Virtual College.
After teaching English and English literature for 12 years, Angus worked as an examiner and senior examiner at O level, GCSE, A level and KS3. He has 10 years in research department of one of the leading awarding organisations, including providing staff and examiner training, and 12 years as senior officer at examinations regulator, involved in research, AO and specification approval and extensive staff training, leading on the design and implementation of significant and innovative research programmes.
Angus has extensive knowledge and experience of qualitative and qualitative research methods. He has worked with Alpha Plus on a wide range of projects, including qualifications development for Saudi Arabia, initial testing for teacher training, on-line tests for functional skills for BIS/DWP, the use of accommodations in general qualifications for JCGQ, and various training and evaluation activities. He is a consultant for both VTCT and Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, and has overseas experience in Japan and Hong Kong.
Before joining Alpha Plus in February 2018, Ben worked at AQA for several years.
He has a master's degree in Psychology & Psychological Research from the University of Birmingham, and has presented various pieces of work at international assessment conferences.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Alpha Plus Core Team
- Project Support Apprentice
Caylem joined AlphaPlus in January 2021 as a Project Support Apprentice.
He provides constant support across a wide range of projects.
Caylem is working towards his Level 3 qualification in Business Administration.
Claire has worked with Alpha Plus on a range of projects. She has authored and developed a number of English assessment materials, including for the Key Stage 2 SATs Level 6 Reading test for the Standards and Testing Agency, Ofqual National Reference Tests for GCSE English and the Welsh National tests.
Claire's research projects have discussed topics such as DfE Linked pair of GCSEs in mathematics evaluation project, DfE Evaluation of GCSEs and A Levels and LSIS Evaluation of the 14-19 Vocational Curriculum Development Programme, among others.
Job Titles:
- Director of Mindfizz Multimedia
Clare Dowland is a Director of Mindfizz Multimedia and a long-term associate of Alpha Plus Consultancy. She has extensive experience of the development and provision of a range of online and printed materials for clients, having managed the development of materials for a number of organisations in education and training. Beyond education, Clare has experience of managing projects for a wide range of clients - from local companies to charities, government departments and multi-national corporations.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of Assessment
Dave has recently joined Alpha Plus as Deputy Director of Assessment to deputise for the Director of Assessment in leading the assessment research and development function at Alpha Plus. He is passionate about and interested in all aspects of assessment, particularly focussing on practical solutions to design problems. Dave was previously Director of Assessment & Curriculum at AQA and a board member at OxfordAQA, and was responsible for all the assessments at the UK's largest awarding body.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Alpha Plus Core Team
- Quantitative Researcher
David has recently joined Alpha Plus in the role of Quantitative Researcher and is responsible for statistical analyses, research design and evaluation. He previously completed master's degree by Research in Psychology focused on cutting edge statistical methods and their use in applied settings.
David began his career in the engineering industry, working with UK and export markets. After returning to university to study for a teaching qualification, he has pursued a career in further education, and has extensive teaching experience and curriculum management responsibility.
David has subject expertise in Functional Skills Mathematics and ICT, and Business & Economics. His experience has included working with government agencies and awarding organisations in the development of qualifications, assessments and quality assurance. David has experience of authoring learning and assessment resources, e-learning and e-assessment materials and delivering training for teachers and assessors.
David has worked on a wide range of projects with Alpha Plus over several years. This work has included assessment authoring and editing for a range of assessment models, assessor training and authoring teaching resources for an international market.
Job Titles:
- International Business Development Manager
David joined AlphaPlus as International Business Development Manager in October 2018. His role involves working in the field to source and develop potential customers, providing customer support and maximising sales of the company's services.
Before joining AlphaPlus, David worked in a number of Business Development roles, both in the UK and internationally. As Business Development Manager at Kingswood Learning and Leisure, David was responsible for recruiting students to study at a group of 10 UK-based outdoor education centres from across Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa. He represented the company at workshops and student recruitment events, and visited partners' offices worldwide to create and maintain strong working relationships with clients.
David has experience managing the full sales process from initial enquiry through to bookings and follow up feedback sessions, as well as creating and implementing strategic sales and marketing plans for key and speculative markets.
Job Titles:
- Alpha Plus Key Associate
- Expert
Dr Newman Burdett is an educational assessment expert and has previously been Head of Ministry Partnerships working on state education and examination reform projects for Cambridge Assessment and also the Head of Centre for International Comparisons at the National Foundational for Educational Research in the UK, responsible for PISA and TIMSS in the UK and is on DFID's Intellectual Leadership Team for Research Informed Systems of Education.
He is a fellow of AEA-Europe and the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors. He has worked with Alpha Plus on several test development programmes as well as international projects such as helping develop subject standards for Rwanda and assessment criteria for tour guides in Abu Dhabi.
Job Titles:
- Business Development and Tenders Manager
Fiona has worked at Alpha Plus since January 2018.
She supports the production and delivery of sales proposals, as well as other aspects of the Alpha Plus Business Development function including sales, marketing and account management.
Job Titles:
- Alpha Plus Key Associate
- Director
- Board Member and Executive Committee Member of the EAssessment Association
- General Consulting
- Specialist
Gavin is an educational assessment specialist with a background in engineering which is brought to bear on technology-based assessment projects. He has a successful track record working in the UK and internationally on product development and consultancy projects for education ministries, Awarding Organisations and professional bodies. Gavin joined Alpha Plus in 2006 and is now the Director of General Consulting. He brings to the team strong project management skills developed on contracts for both public and private sector customers, and experience gained as an engineering process manager in extracting business value from major IT investments through process redesign, system integration, innovation and training.
Gavin is Board Member and Executive Committee Member of the eAssessment Association (www.e-assessment.com) and has presented his work at eassessment conferences including; The eAssessment Question, eAssessment in Practice and the eVocational conference.
As Trials Coordinator, Gerallt's role is to coordinate, oversee and manage all activities relating to the administration of trials and pre-tests in schools and other educational settings, as well as to establish and maintain relationships with stakeholders. He joined Alpha Plus in January 2018, having previously worked in a variety of project management and programming roles within the cultural sector.
Job Titles:
- Head of Business Development
- Head of Business Development for Alpha Plus
Gillian is the Head of Business Development for Alpha Plus and is responsible for creation of new business opportunities and the growth and development of existing opportunities. She has worked in qualification and assessment research and development since 1998, having previously had an eight-year career as a teacher.
Hayley Limmer is a Senior Researcher at AlphaPlus Consultancy where she works on research projects with the Institute of Physics, Nesta and the Education Endowment Foundation.
She has over 10 years' experience working on complex quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation projects.
Hayley has worked for several organisations related to education, skills and assessment including AQA, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the General Medical Council. She has worked as both a research supplier and commissioner.
She is a mixed methods researcher who can use a variety of software packages including NVivo, R, STATA, SPSS & Tableau. She has a PhD in Social Statistics and an MSc Social Research Methods & Statistics and a BSc Psychology.
Jayne joined Alpha Plus in July 2017 as Bookkeeper. Jayne manages and coordinates daily accounts transactions for the company.
Until recently, Jayne was based in Cyprus and spent 15 years as Accounts Team Leader for Middle East IT company STME Limited before moving to The Ariannol Group as Company and Trust Administrator. Jayne is currently studying AAT Level 3 Diploma in Advanced Accounting.
Job Titles:
- Alpha Plus Key Associate
- Professional Educational and Training Consultant
Jim is a professional educational and training consultant specialising in engineering and construction technologies. He trained as an engineer in the marine and associated industries, and worked in various management roles in a wide spread of engineering and manufacturing before leaving the engineering sector in 1987. Jim worked as an engineering lecturer in a major College of Further Education, where he progressed to Senior Faculty Head for all of Technology. He then took on the role of Commercial Business Director for the College until leaving in 2004 to set up his consultancy company Humble Opinions Limited which he continues to do.
Jim spent 15 years as an inspector in learning and skills, from the Training Standards Council through the Adult Learning Inspectorate, and has now recently retired from OfSTED.
Jim has worked on a range of projects for Alpha Plus, including developing the curriculum for Saudi Skills Standards, working as a lead reviewer for Saudi Colleges of Excellence and developing curriculum and assessment materials for the Royal Saudi Air Force.
Job Titles:
- Alpha Plus Key Associate
- Chairman
- Director
- Chairman of Alpha Plus Consultancy Ltd
- Formerly CEO of the Edexcel Foundation
John Kerr, formerly CEO of the Edexcel Foundation, the UK largest awarding body, specialises in providing educational consultancy across a wide range of Higher Education, Technical Training and Schools. His current projects include advising the Welsh government, advising for 8 UK Universities on partnerships in South Asia, and qualification and curriculum support for Singaporean education group.
John trained as a lawyer and has held legal positions with the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Authority. After leaving Edexcel John was a director of the Edge Foundation and commissioned three city academies and the Edge Hotel School.
John is currently strategy consultant in education theory and practice for a number of government and private education bodies both within UK and internationally, and holds a number of directorships in private education companies specialising in utilising technology in education.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Business Development
John is a director of Alpha Plus Consultancy Ltd and an experienced leader of projects in education, particularly in the areas of standards, qualifications and assessment, and educational technology. He is an experienced business manager with a track record of business growth in UK education and technology businesses. He has specialised in providing world-class services for standards, qualifications and assessment agencies in the UK and overseas through the three companies he has helped to found and build over the last 15 years: BTL Group Ltd (www.btl.com), The Virtual College plc (www.virtual-college.co.uk) and his current business, Alpha Plus.
John has a BSc and MEng in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bath. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors. He is also Chairman of The Beckfoot Trust - a multi academy trust in West Yorkshire.
Job Titles:
- Senior Consultant
- Alpha Plus As a Senior Consultant
Kath has worked in education management in both Further and Higher Education for many years. She spent 14 years working as a senior manager for an awarding organisation, with strategic responsibility for operations, quality assurance including regulatory compliance, and recruitment and HR.
Kath joined Alpha Plus as a Senior Consultant in May 2014. She currently heads a comprehensive (i.e. end-to-end) bespoke recruitment service for the education sector, which involves drafting the job description, writing the advert, planning the advertising campaign, panel shortlisting, arranging and conducting interviews and assessments, managing all related communications, and finally induction of successful candidates. Kath has led multiple recruitment projects on behalf of Alpha Plus, including the recruitment of the new assessor team for the Association for Project Management's Chartered Project Professional standard.
Kath also works with organisations to review and develop systems and procedures and to explore options for accreditation, including the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.
Job Titles:
- Alpha Plus Key Associate
- Alpha Plus Associate
Kathy has been an Alpha Plus Associate since 2012. She undertakes research using a range of methods including surveys, interviews, focus groups, mobile ethnography, documentary analyses and secondary data analysis. She is also an experienced evaluator and fully trained theory of change practitioner. Kathy has particular expertise in survey design and analysis (a subject she has taught to undergraduates) and usually undertakes Alpha Plus' online survey design, administration and analysis.
Currently Kathy is working towards NVivo Accredited Expert status to further enhance her existing high-level qualitative data analysis skills, and she is proficient in the use of SPSS for quantitative data analysis.
Kathy has worked in educational research since 1997 and has been a researcher for the National Foundation for Educational Research, Nottinghamshire County Council and the University of Nottingham. Since 2012 she has run her own research company and has worked for a range of clients in the public and private sectors. She has a master's degree in Research Methods and a PhD from the University of Nottingham's School of Education. She is a member of the British Educational Research Association and the Social Research Association.
Luke joined AlphaPlus in October 2017 and provides continued support across a wide range of projects. As Trainee Project Manager, he led his first project for the company in September 2019. Having finished an apprenticeship in Business Administration and achieved his Level 3 diploma, Luke is currently studying for an honour's degree in Digital and Technology solutions.
Mike has worked with Alpha Plus for over 10 years on a wide range of projects with diverse clients. He has experience of developing curricula and qualification frameworks and of creating, reviewing and marking assessments. He has been involved in several European projects and has chaired international, European and national standards groups.
He has used his mathematics teaching and examining experience in developing assessments at several levels and mapping them to curricula. His computer science experience was valuable in reviewing and revising national occupational skills standards and then creating qualification frameworks for Saudi Skills Standards. He is supporting Alpha Plus in the delivery of national reading and numeracy assessments for the Welsh Government, with a focus on project management of online systems.
Mike is skilled in the use of information technologies, is able to develop and adhere to style guides and is familiar with literacy levels and simple English. He has sharp analytical skills, is able to identify and define real use cases and is familiar with equality and diversity issues.
Priya's career has been dedicated to the improvement of education provision. As Alpha Plus' Assessment Manager, Priya provides high quality assessment outputs to support Alpha Plus' assessment function. She provides assessment research and development services to Alpha Plus clients across the lifetime of the project, from assessment design, developing assessment instruments, recruiting and managing researchers and assessment specialists, and co-ordinating research and assessment participants, data collection and analysis, and reporting.
Priya's consultancy work for Assessment Design & Development Ltd and her own consultancy, Adiona Education Ltd, utilise her expertise in the fields of technology and education to offer tailored solutions to commercial and non-profit organisations. A deputy head and teacher for many years, Priya has extensive experience of curriculum design, teaching methodologies and education management. Prior to that, she worked with Pearson Plc in academic publishing when print and digital media were converging. Priya bring insights into how technological advances affect the delivery of education in formal and informal learning environments. Priya holds a BA degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford.
Job Titles:
- Alpha Plus Key Associate
- Educational Consultant
Rachael worked for 10 years for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority where she was involved in a number of high level initiatives including the review of the National Curriculum in 2000, the development and accreditation of general, vocational and occupational qualifications, developing strategies for learners working at Entry and level 1 in the National Qualifications Framework and the development of the Qualifications and Credit Framework.
Rachael has worked as a freelance Educational Consultant since 2006, providing specialist advice and support for a wide range of education and training organisations. Her work with Alpha Plus has been varied, including the development of qualifications for use in Saudi Arabia, the development of Tech Level qualifications for inclusion into performance tables, developing curricula and qualifications for employability skills and the analysis of qualification specifications and assessment materials against government regulations and Equalities legislation.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director
- Expert
Professor Roger Murphy is an acknowledged international expert in the field of educational assessment. He is an Associate Director of Alpha Plus Consultancy, as well as an Emeritus Professor in the School of Education at Nottingham University, a board member of Pearson Education Ltd, an educational advisor to the General Dental Council, and an active educational research and assessment consultant working with several large organisations both within the UK and internationally.
Roger has been very active in many areas of education research, policy, and practice over his career. He is a qualified schoolteacher with specialist interests in the field of educational assessment, evaluation and research. He has directed over 50 major research projects with funding of over £10million, and is the author of over 100 books and journal articles. He is frequently asked to advise educational bodies and ministries and has experience of working in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Malta, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, Ghana, Lesotho, USA, Turkey and Sweden.
Sarah joined Alpha Plus Consultancy in January 2017, bringing her extensive public-sector experience to work in the education industry. Since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with the ICAEW in 1992,
Sarah has had a variety of accounting jobs in the public sector, with clients including Cambridge City Council and Addenbrookes Hospital. She also taught the Accountancy module for third year engineering undergraduates at Queen's University Belfast for three years. As Financial Controller, Sarah is responsible for management accounting, financial reporting, banking, VAT and payroll.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director of Qualifications and Standards
Shaun joined AlphaPlus in February 2021. Shaun has worked in education for many years after coming from a technical background in electrical engineering. He spent eight years as a senior education manager in Further and Higher Education for the public-sector, having entered the education industry as a teacher before that. Prior to joining AlphaPlus, Shaun was a director of his own education consultancy and has extensive successful experience in supporting the development and delivery of qualifications, assessment and quality assurance for a number of awarding bodies and organisations both in the UK and overseas.
Teresa joined AlphaPlus in November 2020 as a Project Manager. She has started to work very closely on a contract extension for computer adaptive tests in Wales which includes work organising the timelines and invoicing milestones. Previously, Teresa studied her BSc in Psychology and MSc in Management at The University of Manchester developing transferrable skills in producing reports, highlighting insights, and working collaboratively.
Tom has worked at AlphaPlus since October 2016. He began as Project Support Apprentice, but is now working within the Project Management team.
He works on projects pertaining to test development, trialling, analysis, reporting, while also assisting with internal duties such as office management and IT support. Tom also oversees the management of over 350 AlphaPlus associates via a cloud-based customer relations management system.
Tom has been a Director of Alpha Plus since 2010, and has worked in education and educational technology for the last 20 years. Tom was trained as a software engineer, and obtained a PhD in Machine Vision from Brunel University, where he subsequently worked as a lecturer and research team leader. Tom subsequently ran an e-assessment technology company for 10 years, developing and deploying innovative e-assessment products for customers in the private and public sectors.
Tom leads the Qualification development, standards & National Occupational Standards business unit within Alpha Plus. In recent years this part of the business has developed large numbers of National Occupational Standards (NOS), qualifications, associated assessments, and learning materials across a wide range of vocational occupations, both for international and UK clients. Much of the work is in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and the Alpha Plus team have built a strong reputation in the region. In addition to his work with qualifications and standards, Tom provides strategic technology consultancy to Alpha Plus' UK awarding organisation clients.
Our work covers the UK's four nations. In England, our clients include DFE, ESFA and Ofqual, working on projects across school and vocational education. In Wales, we are contracted by the Welsh Government to deliver school National Assessments from years 2-9. In Scotland and Northern Ireland we have played a key role in the definition and development of adult basic skills certification.
Job Titles:
- Information Systems Officer
Zak Horrocks is a Prince 2 practitioner, who has been working at Alpha Plus since 2013. His current role, Information Systems Officer, has seen Zak support Alpha Plus across the full span of its activities and has enabled him to develop his skills in data analysis, data management and data and systems security. Zak marries excellent technical skills with an ability to provide practical solutions. He currently manages Alpha Plus' internal and external IT services, including Alpha Plus' head office IT infrastructure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM. He led in preparing Alpha Plus Consultancy for Cyber Essentials Plus certification and, as Alpha Plus Data Protection Lead (DPL), led the development of GDPR-compliant processes for the company and continues to ensure Alpha Plus are GDPR compliant.
Zak has Associate status with AEA-Europe and is currently undertaking a part-time combined honours degree in Psychology with Business.