Dr John Ainley, BSc, MEd, PhD Melb, FACE, is a Principal Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research, and a former Deputy CEO (Research) and Research Director of its National and International Surveys Program. His research has spanned many areas, such as the development of literacy over the first five years of school, the use of ICT in education, and influences on subject choice in the senior secondary years. Dr Ainley currently is a reviewer for several journals and coordinates the concept paper development for the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS).