ABSTRACT
The powerful influence that assessment systems have on the curriculum is a recurring theme in Desmond Nuttall's work. In the late 1970s the prominent new arrival on the assessment scene had been the Assessment of Performance Unit. The motives of those who established the APU are shrouded in mystery, particularly because its foundation was announced, seemingly almost as an afterthought, in a White Paper on educational disadvantage. Perhaps the APU's reports will stimulate discussion of these questions, but people should beware of the limitations of the APU's testing strategy. While the APU hopes to avoid such obvious dating in its tests, similar but more subtle influences are always present and the method by which it is suggested that these influences might be detected is under severe scrutiny at the moment. Very similar considerations apply to the possible use of APU results to help with resource allocation.
