The philosophy of Excellence Permenates the Whole of our Organisation

As leaders in the field of language assessment, quality and fairness are at the heart of everything we do.

All tests are specifically designed to be fair to all test takers, whatever their age, gender, nationality, first language, culture or ethnic background. Our commitment to quality means addressing four factors: validity, reliability, impact and practicality.

• Validity – the extent to which scores can be considered a true reflection of underlying ability.
• Reliability – the extent to which test results are consistent, accurate and, therefore, dependable.
• Impact – the positive effect of a test on candidates and other users, including society as a whole.
• Practicality – the extent to which a test is workable in terms of the resources needed.

To be certain of both quality and fairness, we have to accurately measure how our tests perform and compare them with the latest thinking in language assessment. Both of these require extensive research.
Quality is rigorously monitored across all aspects of the test process, and our Research and Validation team (School of Continuing Education at Eton University) works closely with the Assessment and Operations team (Language Examination Unit at Notting Hill College) on test development, construction, administration, assessment and results processing, and test review and evaluation.