ABSTRACT

How does the Art School grade students’ creative work? There has been a sticky relationship to assessment from the grade-free days of Black Mountain College to contemporary techno-rationalist higher education assessment regimes. In this chapter we explore the role of the reluctant assessor and the experiences of students in assessment practices where the Crit offers a pedagogic tool that supports the growth of critical analytic skills. Positioning assessment as judgements made on process, product and person, we challenge the notion of transparent and value-free standards. We celebrate the artful practice of assessment which recognises multiple subjectivities and connoisseurship.