Gavin T. L. Brown
Gavin T. L. Brown | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Citizenship | Canada, New Zealand, UK |
| Alma mater | Concordia University (BEd TESL); Massey University (MEd); University of Auckland (PhD) |
| Known for | Teacher Conceptions of Assessment (TCoA) inventory; e-asTTle test system |
| Awards | Early Career Research Excellence Award (2008); Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (2022) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Educational assessment; educational psychology |
| Institutions | University of Auckland; Education University of Hong Kong; Umeå University; Thammasat University |
| Thesis | Teachers’ conceptions of assessment (2003) |
| Doctoral advisor | John Hattie |
Gavin Thomas Lumsden Brown is an educational researcher and psychometrician based in New Zealand. His work focuses on how teachers and students understand, use and are affected by assessment.[1] He is Professor of Learning, Development and Professional Practice and directs the Quantitative Data Analysis and Research (Quant-DARE) unit at the University of Auckland.[2] Brown created the multidimensional Teacher Conceptions of Assessment (TCoA) self-report inventory, now used in more than twenty jurisdictions, and was part of the team that built New Zealand's online diagnostic test system e-asTTle.[3]
Education
[edit]Brown trained as a teacher at Concordia University, Montréal (BEd TESL, 1981), completed an MEd with first-class honours at Massey University (1996) and earned his PhD in education at the University of Auckland in 2003.[2]
Career
[edit]After thirteen years teaching in secondary schools, Brown joined the New Zealand Council for Educational Research as an assessment developer. He later managed the Ministry-funded e-asTTle project at Auckland UniServices before moving into academia. Since 2016 he has been a full professor at the University of Auckland; earlier appointments include associate professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (2009–2011) and Honorary Professor of Curriculum & Instruction at the Education University of Hong Kong (2016–present).[1] Brown also holds an affiliated professorship in Educational Measurement at Umeå University, Sweden,[4] and is the 2023-25 Bualuang ASEAN Chair Professor in the Faculty of Learning Sciences and Education at Thammasat University in Bangkok.[5]
Research
[edit]Brown's research examines "assessment cultures" – the beliefs that teachers and learners hold about the purposes of assessment – and how those beliefs influence classroom practice and policy implementation. The TCoA inventory he devised has been translated into ten languages and is frequently used to study the tension between improvement-oriented and accountability-oriented assessment systems.[6]
Brown has published more than 260 scholarly works; his book Assessment of Student Achievement (Routledge, 2018) offers a concise synthesis of contemporary assessment theory and practice.[7] He is founding section editor for "Assessment, Testing and Applied Measurement’’ in the journal Frontiers in Education.[8]
Honours and awards
[edit]Brown received multiple awards:
Early Career Research Excellence Award, University of Auckland (2008)[9]
Elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (2022)[2]
Listed among the world’s top 2 % most-cited scientists in the Stanford–Elsevier database (2024).[10]
Selected works
[edit]Brown, G. T. L. Assessment of Student Achievement. Routledge, 2018.[11]
Brown, G. T. L. (2022). "The past, present and future of educational assessment: A transdisciplinary perspective." Frontiers in Education, 7, 1060633.[12]
Brown, G. T. L., Andersson, C., Winberg, M., & Palm, T. (2023). "Predicting formative feedback practices: improving learning and minimising a tendency to ignore feedback." Frontiers in Education, 8, 1241998.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "About us – Gavin Brown". Future Ready Graduates (blog, University of Auckland). Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ^ a b c "Staff List 2025" (PDF). University of Auckland. p. 1099. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ^ "The value of educational tests". The Education Hub. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ^ "Development of formative assessment practices and their effects on student motivation and achievement". Umeå University. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ^ "Honorary Professors 2024/25". Education University of Hong Kong. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ^ Brown, G. T. L.; Gebril, A.; Michaelides, M. (2019). "Teachers' conceptions of assessment: A global phenomenon or a global localism". Frontiers in Education. 4: 16. doi:10.3389/feduc.2019.00016.
- ^ Brown, Gavin T. L. (2018). Assessment of Student Achievement. Routledge. ISBN 9781138061842.
- ^ "Frontiers in Education | Editorial board". www.frontiersin.org. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
- ^ "Family maintains professorial tradition" (PDF). UniNews. December 2008. p. 8. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ^ "Professional activities – Gavin Brown". University of Auckland. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
- ^ "Assessment of Student Achievement". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
- ^ Brown, Gavin T. L. (11 November 2022). "The past, present and future of educational assessment: A transdisciplinary perspective". Frontiers in Education. 7. doi:10.3389/feduc.2022.1060633. ISSN 2504-284X.
- ^ Brown, Gavin T. L.; Andersson, Catarina; Winberg, Mikael; Palm, Torulf (22 September 2023). "Predicting formative feedback practices: improving learning and minimising a tendency to ignore feedback". Frontiers in Education. 8. doi:10.3389/feduc.2023.1241998. ISSN 2504-284X.