GL/ NFER etc

[fatbananas]

I'm getting very confused. Can anyone tell me, is GL the same as NFER? Did one buy the other out? Or are they both owned by the same company but produce different sorts of question papers???

[Reading Mum]

GL is the new name for NFER but some schools still refer to the old name. My DD's target school say it is NFER but use GL papers for familiarisation so that is particularly unhelpful

[fatbananas]

Thanks Reading Mum! And just to add to the confusion, does GL have anything to do with Bond, either by way of being part of the same company, or because their question types are similar?

[Reading Mum]

not as far as I know. We didn't use bond as it wasn't relevant for us

[fatbananas]

Thankyou again for clearing my fog!

[borax]

NFER and GL Assessment are NOT the same thing! NFER is a registered charity; GL Assessment a private company owned by InvestCorp, a Bahrain based investment company.

I gather that Granada Learning (GL's earlier version) and NFER had close links way back in the past (in a venture called NFERNelson, which closed), and NFER and GL Assessment continue to carry out some work together, but NFER is primarily a registered Charity at the forefront of Educational Research. As far as I'm aware, any continuing NFER links with GL derive mainly from NFER's unparalleled strength and reputation in educational assessment and test development - I think GL commission them to do work for them?

NFER have also recently started selling their own new optional tests direct to schools. So it's all a bit confusing!

They definitely aren't the same thing though!

[mystery]

And, there are some nfer developed tests which are published and sold by gl assessment e.g progress in English. It gives an nc equivalent. Teachers at school and parents on here are not very precise so yes, half the time it does seem like all these things are one and the same. E.g. "We use bond". Yes. There are loads of different things in the full bond catalogue.

[fatbananas]

Glad I asked!!