This paper argues that Ofsted's initial approach to the use of criteria encouraged a misguided view of how inspection judgements should be made and, at worst, militated against the professional discussion between inspectors and schools that should always have been at the heart of the process.

The Rochford Review heralded new arrangements for statutory assessment for children with SLD and PMLD working below the national curriculum standard. New assessment arrangements, the pre-key stage standards and the engagement model, relate to two groups of pupils: pupils 'not yet engaged' and pupils 'engaged' in subject-specific study. This…

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is proliferating in university courses across many countries. Like many educational practices, students' experience of it is shaped by the assessment processes adopted. Does assessment support or inhibit what WIL seeks to foster? To explore how students experience assessment in WIL, a small-scale investigation was…

One of the assessed research elements in the UK's Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise in 2014 was the research environment. The quality of the research environment was assessed by expert peer reviewers who were given a set of quantitative factors to support their decision making. However, there is no systematic procedure to integrate this…

In this article, I think with trains to reflect about education, its rhythms, trajectories, and the possibilities that "attentive looking through windows" can afford us in moving toward just futures. Using two of Alfonsina Storni's poems, the yellow train of "Cien años de soledad" as well as educational philosophy, I argue that…

What makes a useful textbook, and can the use of textbooks boost active learning and student satisfaction in political science higher education? Drawing on the author's own experience of writing a textbook and a student survey, this article articulates some propositions on effective textbook-assisted teaching practice. In seeking to develop a…

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the evaluation of the arts within performance-based research funding systems (PRFSs). Previous literature on PRFSs has overlooked the arts and focussed primarily on outputs in relation to the sciences and humanities. We develop a typology of how artistic outputs are evaluated within 10 countries'…

In some institutions of higher learning, one of the approaches to successful governance is through student assessment of teachers, dubbed Student Assessment of Faculty or Student Evaluation of Teaching and extensively used in the United States of America (USA). In schools and colleges, the usual largest bloc and primary stakeholders are the…

In this paper, we engage with the Research Excellence Framework (REF) -- the UK government's national policy tool for competitive allocation of scarce research funding. Success on the terms of the REF provides guaranteed income for UK Universities for a 6- or 7-year period -- and as a result, we suggest that the REF operates as an asset-like…

Although alternatives exist, unseen, written examinations still appear to be a major component of assessment in higher education in the UK. Such exams can be unsettling for students new to higher education, particularly for those with specific learning difficulties. The concept of an 'attainment curve' is developed to assist mark attribution and…

The higher education sector is under increasing pressure to deliver more and to evidence the fruits of its contribution to society. There is a particular focus on the enhanced engagement of students in order to maximise success, and for this engagement to be achieved equitably across the student body, regardless of demographic backgrounds. This…

In spite of the rising tide of metrics in UK higher education, there has been scant attention paid to assessment loads, when evidence demonstrates that heavy demands lead to surface learning. Our study seeks to redress the situation by defining assessment loads and comparing them across research and teaching intensive universities. We clarify the…

Much is made of students generally rating assessment lower than other aspects of their educational experience. It is frequently cited in research literature as evidence for a general crisis in assessment, and it strongly influences institutional enhancement efforts and media coverage of student feedback. Focusing on the UK's National Student…

Reflective practice is an essential component of experiential learning and is embedded within the curriculum at York Law School, where the undergraduate law programme is delivered using a problem-based learning model. Using qualitative data from a survey of the markers of one of the summative reflective tasks, and Bernstein's evaluative rules as a…

This Point of Departure ponders the question of decolonizing assessment of learning in higher education. In addressing this question, we, as scholars of color who work in the academy in the US and the UK, have leaned on the work of Shahjahan, Estera, Surla, and Edwards' (2022) '"Decolonizing" Curriculum and Pedagogy: A comparative review…