Staff student partnership in assessment: enhancing assessment literacy through democratic practices

• Published in: Assessment and evaluation in higher education 2017-04, Vol.42 (3), p.463-477
• Main Authors: Deeley, Susan J., Bovill, Catherine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: assessment and feedback; Assessment Literacy; Case Studies; Classroom Techniques; College Faculty; Communities of Practice; Democracy; democratic practices; Educational evaluation; Essays; Evaluation Criteria; Feedback; Feedback (Response); Foreign Countries; Formative Evaluation; Grading; Higher education; Learning; learning community; Literacy; Partnerships in Education; Peer Evaluation; Questionnaires; Risk; Self Evaluation (Individuals); Sense of Community; staff-student partnership; Student Attitudes; Student Evaluation; Student Motivation; Students; Summative Evaluation; Teacher Student Relationship; Teaching Methods; Undergraduate Students
• ISSN: 0260-2938; 1469-297X
• DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2015.1126551

In recent years, research and practice focused on staff and students working in partnership to co-design learning and teaching in higher education has increased. However, within staff-student partnerships a focus on assessment is relatively uncommon, with fewer examples evident in the literature. In this paper, we take the stance that all assessment can be oriented for learning, and that students' learning is enhanced by improving their level of assessment literacy. A small study in a Scottish university was undertaken that involved a range of different adaptations to assessment and feedback, in which students were invited to become partners in assessment. We argue that a partnership approach, designed to democratise the assessment process, not only offered students greater agency in their own and their peers' learning, but also helped students to enhance their assessment literacy. Although staff and students reported experiencing a sense of risk, there was immense compensation through increased motivation, and a sense of being part of an engaged learning community. Implications for partnership in assessment are discussed and explored further. We assert that adopting staff-student partnership in assessment and more democratic classroom practices can have a wide range of positive benefits.