ABSTRACT
One of the key differences between teaching in the school system and teaching in universities concerns the power of assessment. As discussed in Chapter 2, universities, by definition, have the power to award their own degrees. This places lecturers in the dual position of teacher and final arbiter of the examination performance of their own students. The responsibilities of this dual role are sometimes difficult and uncomfortable. While lecturers are motivated by a desire to nurture the academic and personal growth of their students, they must also act as a judge of their own success as teachers. There is clearly an in-built tension here between the desire to encourage and motivate students to learn and the responsibility to sit in judgement on their performance (Shils, 1982; Kennedy, 1997). The future career prospects of individual students can hinge on the judgements made by lecturers with whom they have developed a close academic and pastoral relationship over several years. While blind marking of student work is on the increase as a mechanism for eradicating bias in assessment, in practice lecturers are often aware of the identity of the student.
