The BTPA was formed in 2003 when a small group of publishers met informally to discuss how they could contribute to the continuous improvement of published tests and the way they were used. Faced with the:

• growth in internet testing
• increased use of tests for sifting, selection and development
• growing public interest in testing, fuelled by TV programmes and newspaper and magazine articles
• increase in international testing, driven by multinational corporates and consultancies
• major initiatives on test training, adaptation and reviewing by bodies such as the British Psychological Society and International Test Commission

We set out to create an organisation that would represent test publishers and create easier co-operation with scientific and professional bodies such as the British Psychological Society and the CIPD.

Membership

Any test publisher may join the BTPA if they sign up to the standards we have drafted. Rather than define the technical qualities of acceptable tests and test use – areas that have been looked at by a number of professional bodies – we focussed on the need for absolute transparency. Members should give all the information needed by a trained expert user to evaluate a particular test.

What the BTPA does

We work with assessment users, and professional and scientific bodies to consistently improve the quality of published assessments, the professionalism of their use and the understanding of their benefits and limitations. We:

• advise and complement UK scientific, legal and professional bodies on major initiatives relating to the selection, development, training and management of people in organisations.
• encourage members to improve the quality of their products and services and to adhere to our scientific, professional and ethical standards.
• offer unbiased information on the practical, day-to-day issues experienced by test users
• offer advice to test takers to ensure tests are fair and accurate in the decisions taken about them, and that they receive feedback on test results to help in their self-development
• develop and communicate a range of good practice guidelines in new areas of organisational assessment and development.
• raise public and media understanding of this area.
• help to create a responsible, vigorous and successful UK industry serving the needs of HR and training professionals.
• In particular, to act as a discussion forum and information source representing the variety of approaches to testing which we feel is one of the strengths of our industry

While the Association is primarily focused on the UK, it has numerous links with organisations throughout the world including the US Association of Test Publishers and the International Test Commission and draws on best practice internationally.

Does the BTPA “represent” the whole UK Test Publishing Industry

No. The UK test publishing industry is a world leader and many companies are involved in it. We are actively recruiting new members.

Although many test publishers are non-members, the BTPA is growing and represents a good cross-section of organisations with different sizes, different ranges of tests, different commercial models, different market and very different philosophies of testing.