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Pearson VUE to showcase e-Assessment at Skills for the Public Sector Event 2009

LondonLearning NewsPearson VUE

The Skills for the Public Sector event aims to discuss the changing nature of the public sector workforce and the issue of skills policy, particularly the role it plays in determining how and when the UK economy recovers and expands.

PEARSON VUE has announced that it will be exhibiting at the Skills for the Public Sector 2009 event at the QEII Conference Centre in London on the 16 September.

The company is the world leader in computer-based testing, also known as e-Assessment, and aims to showcase the many benefits of electronic test delivery in assessment programmes. Pearson VUE’s exhibition stand will give event visitors an overview of what e-Assessment can offer for the measurement of people’s skills, knowledge and competencies, with a particular focus on test development, test registration, test delivery and security.

The Skills for the Public Sector event aims to discuss the changing nature of the public sector workforce and the issue of skills policy, particularly the role it plays in determining how and when the UK economy recovers and expands. An extremely broad range of delegates is expected to attend, from across the public sector and the industries that supply it.

Suzana Lopes, Pearson VUE’s EMEA VP Sales and Marketing, says, “E-Assessment is rapidly growing across all sectors from academic to professional – indeed, the world’s largest computer-based testing programme is the Driver Theory Test here in the UK.

“As part of the agenda to improve the UK’s skills base, e-Assessment has much to offer, such as a much richer and more interactive candidate experience, with more scope for different “items” (questions or tasks) that better represent the skills being tested and more accurately validates a test taker’s true abilities.”

E-Assessment is also being adopted for such reasons as efficiencies – by eliminating human error and delivery delays, e-Assessment gives more robustness and cost savings – and added advantages such as immediate feedback and tests that adapt themselves to each candidate as they go along.

Pearson VUE also aims to use the event to showcase the many security aspects of e-Assessment, including encryption and item banks with features like pooling and randomisation. This means that, from the creation of every item, through test delivery to the final reporting of results and candidate data, there is minimal risk either of content leaking, candidates cheating, or test-takers’ data going astray.

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Media contacts: Oliver Chesher or Lucy Cunliffe at GyroHSR, (+44 161 876 5522), oliver.chesher@gyrohsr.com / lucy.cunliffe@gyrohsr.com.

Notes to editors: Pearson VUE www.pearsonvue.co.uk is a global leader in computer-based testing for information technology, academic, government and professional testing programmes around the world. Pearson VUE provides a full suite of services from test development to data management, and delivers exams through the world's most comprehensive and secure network of test centres in 165 countries. Pearson VUE is a business of Pearson (NYSE: PSO; LSE: PSON), the international media company, whose businesses include the Financial Times Group, Pearson Education and the Penguin Group.