Ruth Dann completed her PhD in issues related to assessment at Southampton University, Ruth taught in a school in Southampton. She moved to Keele University in 1993 where she led primary teacher education. She moved to Manchester Metropolitan University after a career break, where she led primary teacher training on the Crewe Campus and was the Research and Knowledge Exchange co-ordinator across the faculty. She moved to the IOE in 2016 where her work is focused on teaching, researching and developing issues related to assessment.

Ruth’s expertise is in formative assessment, with a focus on students’ own role in and understanding of assessment. She has published two leading monographs related to formative assessment (2002, 2018) which explore ways in which assessment is understood at the intersections of curriculum and pedagogy. Her most recent book on Developing Feedback for Pupil Learning (2018) examines the ways in which feedback is used and understood by both teachers and students, in the realities of the classroom. Her current research is focused on assessment literacy for both pupils and teachers.

Ruth is the convenor of the British Educational Research Association’s special interest group on Curriculum, Assessment and Pedagogy and is on the steering group of BERA’s British Curriculum Forum. She is the deputy editor of the International Journal of Primary and Elementary Education: Education 3-13, co-ordinates a group within the Coalition of Evidence Based Education (CEBE) on supporting teachers’ research engagement and is chair of governors for an outstanding school.