Steunpunt Centrale Toetsen in Onderwijs

The extensive nature of the development and implementation of centralized testing as a large-scale educational change in Flanders presupposes that maximum appeal is made to the available expertise within the educational research institutes of the Flemish universities. Because of the expected social impact of centralized testing in the Flemish educational context, a conscious choice was made to put together a consortium in which the five Flemish universities are represented, together with two universities of applied sciences. A broad consortium with versatile and complementary expertise, which is present among the partners involved, must guarantee maximum professionalism in the performance of the various sub-tasks of this extensive assignment. The consortium of universities makes a conscious choice to include two universities of applied sciences in Flanders as partners, namely the AP Hogeschool in Antwerp and the Arteveldehogeschool in Ghent. In addition to this complementarity of expertise, the collaboration between education researchers from the five Flemish universities, together with two universities of applied sciences, is a like-minded expression of social involvement and the role that education researchers wish to take on to investigate complex issues of education quality from a critical, academic attitude and continue to contribute to the quality assurance and improvement of education.