How can we be sure assessments are fair and inclusive for all?
Our sessions at Assessment Horizons 2025 explored some of the barriers students may experience with assessments. We heard from speakers who are championing ‘assessment for inclusion’ to ensure greater equity and better outcomes for all learners.
Assessment and race in Higher Education
We invited keynote speaker Dr Paul Ian Campbell, Inaugural Director of the Leicester University Institute for Inclusivity in Higher Education, to share insights from one of the first UK research projects specifically on race and assessment in HE.
His findings revealed that current HE assessment practices often reflect expectations built around an imagined ‘ideal student’. This 'ideal student' is typically white, middle-class, able-bodied, and neuro-aligned, he explained. This construct assumes access to certain forms of knowledge, resources, and cultural capital that are not equally distributed.
Paul’s research highlighted how assessment in HE disproportionately disadvantages students of colour. In 2023, the attainment gap linked to ethnicity stood at 12.3%. He observed that many students of colour felt compelled to ‘code switch’ during assessed presentations, adapting their delivery to align with white middle-class norms in hopes of securing better grades. As Paul noted:
The students are all speculating as to how they’re assessed and why they got the grades that they got.”
“The thing I want to draw attention to here, is that this illustrates more than anything a real lack of transparency in the assessment process."
Structural inequalities also often means that students of colour entered university with less familiarity around how to navigate assessments. They were left wondering, for example, why one essay received a higher mark than another?
In response to these challenges, Dr Campbell and his team introduced the ‘Racially Inclusive Practice in Assessment Guidance’ (RIPIAG)—a practical intervention aimed at addressing inequities. It includes four tools designed to support more equitable assessment strategies.
- An assessment planning map – helping students to structure their approach.
- A critical assignment brief – breaking down expectations and criteria.
- An assessment workshop – teaching students how to tackle different assessment components.
- A group marking exercise – allowing students to collaboratively define success.
This assessment literacy intervention, which was trialled on a sample of 175 students across three UK universities in 2022 was “remarkably successful”.
Paul explained that there was also an unexpected outcome: “What we found was that it improved all students’ performance. All of our students - white students and students from global majority and international students - all their assessment experiences and performances were improved. Importantly it had an impact on students’ wellbeing. It reduced exam anxiety.
And we found that the biggest inhibitor to students being innovative was the fear of doing the wrong thing. Now that the assignment was much more transparent and the expectations more clear, it actually meant that students were more confident to be innovative and expressive in ways that they otherwise wouldn’t have been.”
Why oracy matters in assessment
Laura Kahwati from the Education Futures team at Cambridge echoed Paul’s observations on class privilege, specifically focussing on oracy. She discussed how some students have a natural advantage when it comes to oracy, referencing the organisation Voice 21, a charity who believe that oracy is a “moral imperative”. She explained:
“Ownership of oracy skills tend to rest with the privileged, with many politicians and anyone who has the cultural currency of growing up having debates and talking opportunities at home, discussions at the dinner table, going to the theatre, and those kinds of things, meaning children who lack these opportunities are behind before they even enter the school gates.”
Laura was joined by Paul Ellis, Head of Thought Leadership for Education Futures, who shared how oracy-based assessments can be a powerful tool to break down barriers in assessment for neurodivergent students:
“Structured oracy education can enhance students' communication abilities and support their overall academic performance. Oracy skills can significantly aid students in preparing for written assessments for example - by improving their ability to be active learners and articulate and organise their thoughts clearly. Oral assessments should also increasingly be seen as a viable and valid alternative to written assessments.”
Find out more about getting started with Oracy.
Embedding Indigenous knowledge in assessment
Jackie Greatorex, a Principal Researcher at Cambridge, explored a case study of how primary schools in Guyana, South America have been embedding Indigenous knowledges and culture into low stakes formative assessments.
The research used a cultural analysis framework (originally designed for textbooks) to investigate government-issued assessment. It was found that Indigenous peoples, their daily practices, and cultural products were included in assessment materials in several ways:
- Using objects/phrases representing Indigenous peoples, e.g. asking learners to read and then recite text including the phrase “Land of six peoples,” which refers to different cultural groups in Guyana including Indigenous peoples
- Displaying Indigenous objects, e.g. asking learners to identify the coat of arms which includes a Cacique crown
- Utilising words from Indigenous languages, e.g. place names
- Reflecting Indigenous practices (aspects of daily life), for example, when asking children how someone could travel to school, an option given is canoeing along the river in an Indigenous canoe
Jackie commented: “It is essential that any assessment development involving Indigenous Knowledges and Cultures is only carried out with leadership from, or genuine partnership with, Indigenous peoples.”
Assessment accessibility best practice
Regardless of the sector we work in – be it a university, a school, or an awarding organisation, as assessment professionals we all have a responsibility to ensure assessments are inclusive and accessible.
James Beadle, Senior Professional Development Manager at The Assessment Network, offered Assessment Horizons delegates a workshop with practical tips for improving the accessibility of assessment items. These ranged from simple suggestions like removing unnecessary words and using the active voice, to avoiding topics that could distress or offend, e.g. war, religion (unless these are specifically relevant to the topic being assessed).
The Assessment Network have created a 14-point guide to accessible assessments to support assessment practitioners in the creation and review of assessment items.
James explains: “At The Assessment Network we are committed to developing equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging in our assessment community’s practice. A crucial part of this is ensuring that language and content of our assessment materials supports, rather than hinders, learners in showing what they can do.”
At Assessment Horizons we saw how a combination of factors can act as barriers when developing assessment strategies. We learnt how assessment literacy interventions and identifying alternative assessment types for different assessment purposes can make a real difference to student outcomes.
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Illustration: Rebecca Osborne