ABSTRACT

A lot hangs on the summative grades that students are given. A good degree opens doors which otherwise might remain closed. Yet, as higher education is now a mass rather than an elite system, what is expected of its graduates is different from the expectations of previous generations. Students are expected not only to be able to demonstrate high standards of academic achievement, but also a variety of capabilities that have at different times been given labels such as ‘generic skills’ and ‘transferable skills’. These abilities are difficult to grade for a variety of reasons and some graduates may be losing out because their particular strengths are given insufficient acknowledgement in current summative assessment practices.

Using the UK honours degree classifications as a case study, this book appraises the way in which summative assessment in higher education is approached and shows that the foundations of current practices (in the UK and elsewhere) are of questionable robustness. It argues that there is a need to widen the assessment frame if the breadth of valued student achievements is to be recognised adequately.

chapter |9 pages

Prologue

Through a glass, darkly

chapter Chapter 1|21 pages

The complexity of assessment

chapter Chapter 2|37 pages

Grading and its limitations

chapter Chapter 3|13 pages

Variations in assessment regulations

Three case studies

chapter Chapter 4|24 pages

UK honours degree classifications, 1994–95 to 2001–02

A case study

chapter Chapter 5|29 pages

How real is grade inflation?

chapter Chapter 6|21 pages

The cumulation of grades

chapter Chapter 7|17 pages

Value added

chapter Chapter 8|10 pages

Fuzziness in assessment

chapter Chapter 9|25 pages

Judgement, rather than measurement?

chapter |2 pages

Epilogue

Beyond the sunset