At Assessment Horizons 2026 a group of cross-sector experts came together to discuss what’s getting in the way of accessible assessments. The conversation examined challenges including resourcing, stigma and assessment literacy, and identified several opportunity areas for improvement.
Session chair Paul Ellis, Head of Thought Leadership, International Education at Cambridge, set the scene: "If you look at what OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) are saying at the moment in their data, they suggest around 20% of young people in G20 countries leave school with no qualifications. In the UK, it's someone like one in three, leave school at the age of 16 with no recognisable qualification at the kind of levels that we often speak about." He invited the panel to consider what role assessment accessibility might play in this, and to define what accessible assessment means to them.
Lauren Woods, Assessment Accessibility Lead International Education at Cambridge noted that her own understanding of accessibility had evolved massively:
“Before I started working in assessment, I saw accessibility as something that happened further down the line. I thought it was mainly about reasonable adjustments, access arrangements and putting support in place after barriers had already been identified. But I’ve come to realise that accessibility starts much earlier, with the design itself.""It’s about going back to first principles. What are you trying to assess? How are you assessing it? What format are you using? Who are your students? Accessibility is about anticipating learner variability from the outset, rather than just responding to it afterwards." Lauren Woods
Lauren linked this to the concept of Universal Design through the well-known ‘curb cut effect’. She explained that when we design education and assessments to be more inclusive for those who face the greatest barriers, everyone benefits: “Curb cuts were designed primarily to support wheelchair users, but they help parents with pushchairs, travellers with suitcases, delivery workers and many others too. The same principle applies in education and assessment. When we design with accessibility in mind from the beginning, it doesn’t just benefit a small group of students, it improves the experience for everyone.”
Emma Sumner, Researcher and Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Education at Liverpool John Moores University agreed, pointing to a need for a holistic approach:
“It's really important to think about how we conceptualise access. And it's not just about getting a better score, getting a better mark. It's actually the whole lived experience for that individual.”
The panel identified four key areas that present challenges in creating truly accessible experiences for learners.
How do resourcing gaps and stigma affect accessible assessment?
Emma’s research project ‘Exam accommodations for secondary students with literacy difficulties’, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, identified a “stark” resourcing difference between state and independent schools.
Lauren noted that similar themes have emerged through Cambridge International’s work across almost 170 countries: “We see contexts where there is significant challenge and even stigma around identifying additional needs, never mind having the resources available to support them.”
Emma pointed out that stigma is also a personal issue for the learners themselves:
“What came through in our interview data is that often students would choose not to use a certain arrangement, like a laptop, particularly in secondary school, because they didn't want to appear different to their peers.
And we have separate projects where we're working with secondary students with handwriting difficulties who really struggle to write legible text at speed in an exam, but they're choosing not to have a word processor due to stigma. Others talked about not using extra time because they didn't want to sit in the exam hall after their friends had left. Something for all of us to keep in mind is how we try to normalise these different arrangements.”
Why is there an issue with confidence in assessment understanding?
Valeria Miño, Teacher and inclusive education specialist from Uruguay identified assessment literacy as an issue in formative assessment:
“Sometimes teachers do not feel confident enough with their knowledge. In my research, I have found that 63% of teachers in Uruguay claim that they don't have the tools to be able to assess students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). If educators are not aware of how to assess students with SEND or different ways of assessing or gathering information about their learning process, that is an issue.”
This was also true in Higher Education said Bek Genery, Researcher and Developer (Neuro and Physical disabilities) at Anglia Ruskin University:
“One of the things that we come across is confidence in colleagues around teaching us because we come with different labels. But if we're asking people to develop a range of alternative assessments, it's all right to feel a little bit lacking in confidence, but I would encourage people to ask people around them for advice.”
What are the barriers to making standardised assessments accessible?
The speakers acknowledged that in the case of large-scale high-stakes assessment systems it can be a much greater challenge to innovate around approaches to accessibility due to resource, space, and coordination demands.
Bek explained: “If you’ve got around 800 people with special examination adjustments to be assessed then you’ve got to think about rooms and supervisors, logistically the system can really start to creak. If you are working within a high stakes examination system, then I do think adjustments are the way to go.”
Lauren agreed: "Standardised exams are door openers and, to open those doors, they need to be standardised. We're working within that system right now. What we can do is make the assessment design as accessible as possible within those constraints, while also supporting the application of reasonable adjustments where they're needed.”
What opportunities are emerging to improve accessible assessments?
Paul invited the speakers to share emerging areas that might better ensure we “design assessment systems that start from the assumption that learner diversity is normal, expected and valued.” They explored opportunities in collaborative working, learning from less regulated sectors, keeping the user voice in the loop and innovating with digital developments.
Bek advocated strongly for more student agency and co-creation: “Talk to us, don’t design for us – look at a co-created form of assessment, which I appreciate in a very standardised system is tricky. But where it is possible it would make a huge difference.”
Valeria explained: “I have seen that the best formative practices are the ones when the teachers plan together. They enrich each other's planning and assessing perspective and point of view. Networking is paramount because it's not only improving the learning experience, but also the teaching experience.”
Lauren added: “The steps we're taking towards digital assessment are opening up some exciting opportunities. For example, with built-in reading tools, some students may no longer need a human reader, and voice recognition technology could reduce the need for a scribe in certain circumstances. It's a steep learning curve that awarding organisations across the sector are navigating together.”
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Illustration: Rebecca Osborne