BSc, BEd UWA, MEd UTas, PhD Curtin

Dr John Cresswell's immediate past position at ACER was as the Deputy Research Director of the International Surveys program at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

John returned to ACER in 2009 after five years working at the OECD in Paris. After his initial degrees at the University of Western Australia, Dr Cresswell taught science and mathematics at secondary schools in West Australia and Tasmania. Following an interest in the study of learning environments, Dr Cresswell completed a PhD at Curtin University in 1998. From 2000 until 2004 he was the National Project Manager of the OECD/Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in Australia. He was responsible for organising the assessment and writing national reports based on PISA. From 2004 until 2009 Dr Cresswell worked at the OECD Headquarters in Paris in the Directorate for Education. In this position he monitored education in the 60 countries involved in OECD education surveys, provided advice to the countries and was involved in the production of many publications. He also provided advice and carried out workshops in many countries, including Austria, Belgium, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA.

Dr Cresswell has continued working on PISA since his return to ACER in 2009, and is also involved in other educational assessment projects in the Arab States, the Middle East and Asia.