Paul Black, who died on 16 March 2026 at the age of 96, will be remembered as one of the most thoughtful, principled and intellectually generous figures in modern education.

His contributions to educational practice, policy and research have improved the education of millions of pupils around the world.

But who was Paul, and what made his work so significant? As someone who knew him personally, including through our collaboration on the 1998 book Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment, I can offer some insight.

Who was Paul Black?

Paul’s professional life began as a physicist at the University of Birmingham, where, as well as conducting his own research on crystallography, in collaboration with Jon Ogborn, he developed the Nuffield A-level physics course - still regarded by many science teachers to this day as one of the most ambitious and rigorous approaches to the subject.

In 1976, he succeeded Kevin Keohane as director of Chelsea College’s Centre for Science and Mathematics Education (University of London). His appointment initially caused some controversy, as he had little experience working with primary and secondary schools.

However, it quickly became clear that he had deep insights into the complexity of school teaching, understanding in particular that it could not be reduced to simple prescriptions.

Paul went on to demonstrate his commitment to keeping learners at the heart of educational policymaking when he was later appointed by then secretary of state for education, Kenneth Baker, to chair the Task Group on Assessment Testing (TGAT), which was formed to advise on national curriculum assessment.

At the time, it was expected that pupil achievement would be reported on a similar scale at the end of each key stage. The problem with such a system, of course, is that if an ABCDE grading system were used, pupils getting the lowest grades at the age of 7 would see this as an indication of their potential, making them likely to get similar grades at ages 11, 14 and 16.

The task group proposed an alternative approach, in which pupils would experience progression over the years. This would lead them to see their grade as an indication of only their current achievement, rather than a measure of what they could ultimately go on to achieve.

Power of assessment to boost learning

After the publication of the TGAT report, Paul continued to develop his research on the impact of assessment on learning.

This was necessarily limited by his administrative duties - as head of educational studies at King’s College London, deputy chair of the National Curriculum Council and chair of the International Commission on Physics Education, to name just a few positions.

Following his retirement in 1995, however, Paul began to devote more time to understanding how assessment could be used to improve, rather than just measure, the results of learning.

In 1995, Paul and I collaborated on a paper on the differences between formative and summative assessment, and the following year we began working together on systematically pulling together all the research on how assessment might improve learning, which resulted in the publication of Inside the Black Box in 1998.

While most research on assessment was focused on high-stakes testing, Paul reminded the field that the most powerful assessment happens in classrooms, through the everyday interactions between teachers and pupils. The idea that assessment should serve learning, rather than merely measure it, is, of course, now widely accepted. Much of the credit for that shift belongs to Paul.

Over the next quarter-century, Paul continued to write about the power of assessment to improve learning - I count at least 120 publications that appeared after his retirement - but, unusually for a university professor, he also continued to speak to teachers around the world.

Transforming classroom practice

Since his passing, many teachers have spoken about how hearing Paul talk at a school professional development day transformed their classroom practice.

However, for those who knew him, I suspect that what we will remember most is how his gentle probing and thoughtful comments made our thinking clearer and more powerful.

He was a true intellectual giant who wasn’t content simply to advance scholarship but worked tirelessly to explore the implications of research for practice in classrooms, and, as a result, profoundly improved the learning of pupils worldwide. He will be greatly missed.

Dylan Wiliam is emeritus professor of educational assessment at the UCL Institute of Education