Assessment Literacies and student inclusion: key to supporting good practice, innovation, and collaboration

Collaboration and communication are increasingly acknowledged as central to promoting learner and learning centred pedagogies, where the student voice is an integral part (Merry et al 2013; Taylor and Robinson 2009). Yet there are continued differences between tutors and students as concerns assessment and feedback as highlighted in National Student Surveys (Yorke 2013). This paper evaluates a series of studies which explore lecturers’ assessment literacies. Our innovative learner-centred innovative pedagogies and educational practices appear to fall short in the field of assessment (Merry et al, 2013). Assessment literacy are at the heart of collaboration and communication to avoid issues with assessment and feedback, no matter the context: shared assessment literacies provide a common understanding of issues for working together towards common goals and processes. Lack of shared understandings is likely to provide ambiguous messages among tutors and especially to students (Price et al 2012; Taras and Davies 2016; Willis et al 2013). The empirical data collected from a series of studies across disciplinary boundaries through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews provides interesting insights into lecturers’ beliefs and literacies and also in how these translate into pedagogic practices. Finally, this paper focuses on how inclusive assessment practices can provide a neutral forum for lecturers and students to communicate and collaborate on producing shared assessment literacies that support students and staff. This paper will permit participants to question their own understandings and positions on these issues in order to consider how they can refine their assessment procedures in support of students’ learning