ABSTRACT
The importance of profiling is becoming increasingly recognized throughout the educational sector. It has been used in business for a number of years to help evaluate job applicants and it is of course, beginning to be used in this country for the first time as part of the overall assessment of pupils. A graphical snapshot which highlights the strength and weaknesses of a pupil or student has long been recognized as a useful aid to teachers. The requirement that every British school uses profiling has been given considerable impetus by the 1988 Education Reform Act. Local education authorities feel that the relationship between teacher and pupil will be strengthened if profiling documentation accompanies GCSE results, and especially if the questions which lead to assessments are answered by both together. Optical Mark Reader technology can speed up the input of data very considerably.
