Angus’ Biography

Angus is a Chartered Psychologist with over 20 years experience of working with psychometric and other forms of assessment in organisational, educational and research contexts. During this time he has worked on many high-profile consultancy projects and is the author of numerous published tests, questionnaires and assessment exercises. He runs training courses in conjunction with Real Training and the Association for Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS), and regularly contributes articles on assessment to the TalentLens blog.

Angus is committed to promoting excellence and best practice in the application of psychology to organisations, particularly in the areas of psychometric tests and other forms of assessment. He is a member of the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) Committee on Test Standards, the Deputy Senior Verifier for the Society’s Test User Educational qualification and a member of their Test Review Panel. An experienced project manager, consultant and trainer, Angus believes passionately in the ethical use of assessment to enhance individual and organisational effectiveness.

Examples of Angus’ work on test standards and innovation in assessment include:

• McDonald, A. S. (2008) Adding value through the use of internet-based testing. Industrial and Commercial Training, 40, 374-380
• McDonald, A. S. (2006) Assessing people with disabilities. Team Focus Ltd: Maidenhead
• McDonald, A. S. (2002) The equivalence of computer-based and paper-and-pencil educational assessments. Computers & Education, 39, 299-312
• McDonald, A. S. (2001) Does psychometric testing offer a solution to university selection? Assessment Matters, 14, 22-24
• McDonald, A. S., Newton, P. E. and Whetton, C. (2001) A pilot of Aptitude Testing for University Entrance. Slough: NFER
• McDonald, A. S., Newton, P. E, Whetton, C. and Benefield, P. (2001) Aptitude Testing for University Entrance: A literature review. Slough: NFER
• McDonald, A. S. (2000) Where is the intelligence in emotional intelligence? Selection and Development Review, 16, 3-4
• McDonald, A. S. (1999) Cognitive processing and objective personality assessment. Selection and Development Review, 15, 8-12
• Test Standards for the 21st Century. Presentation to British Psychological Society Division of Occupational Psychology annual conference, Kenilworth, January 2005
• The Past Present and Future of Psychometrics. Presentation to Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services biennial conference with Peter Sewell, Edinburgh University, September 2003

Angus is a skilled psychometrician with experience of managing the full lifecycle of commercial product development, from project inception through to publication, promotion and user training.

Examples of commercially published psychometric assessments on which he is lead or joint author include:

Published by Previsor (formerly ASE)

• Quality of Working Life Questionnaire (2001)
• Occupational Motivation Questionnaire (2000)
• First Graduate Assessment (1999)
• Skillscape (1999)
• Profile of Guidance Outcomes (1998)

Published by Team Focus Ltd

• Type Dynamics Indicator (2007)
• EIQ3D – Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (2007)
• Reasoning Tests (2002)

Alissa’s Biography

When Alissa took up her PGCE place, at the University of Cambridge in 1998, she talked a lot about realising children’s potential. The last 17 years have given her much more experience of putting this into practice, but that underpinning core value has not changed: children, all children, no matter what their background, should be given the tools, support and skills to help them be the best they can be.
Alissa is a specialist in the development of children’s reading and writing skills, and the difficulties they experience. Alissa has acted as an independent consultant to schools, both mainstream and special in this area. Previously she worked as an Inclusion Officer for local government, as a Senior Research Officer for the National Foundation for Educational Research and as a primary school teacher. Alissa holds a BSc in Psychology from the University of Warwick and an MA in Literacy Learning and Literacy Difficulties from the Institute of Education, University of London.
Examples of Alissa’s projects and experience include:

authoring a series of First Day Cover Packs, from Year 1 to Year 11, to support the learning of children who would otherwise have been excluded from school;
developing the on-line English assessments for children working below the levels of the national curriculum assessments at key stage 2;
advising on and evaluating programmes to support children struggling with reading and writing in mainstream and special schools;
delivering and co-delivering training to teachers and headteachers;
chairing a multi-agency group to develop a protocol for a Local Safeguarding Children’s Board.