ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to explore the efficacy of inclusive assessment within higher education. The initial catalyst came from a funded project to develop an assessment toolkit which focused on the needs of disabled students. The project identified that, in addition to those hard outcomes associated with the toolkit, the process of moving from current practice concerned with special arrangements, to providing alternative methods of assessment was crucial. To achieve this, the authors (project team) used an action research methodology. According to Lewin (1952, quoted in Carr and Kemmis 1986), action research consists of analysis, factfinding, conceptualisation of problems, planning and executing action, then more fact-finding and evaluation, representing circles of activities that continually develop and improve on what has gone before. At its simplest level, action research is designed to combine research and practice in order to impact on or improve on that practice. One key aspect of action research is a collaborative and participatory approach, and in the context of the chapter is predicated upon an understanding of the need to engage with disabled people rather than working under the misapprehension that the research is on their behalf . This also reinforces the British Disability Movement’s call for disability research to ‘be about research with rather than for or on disabled people’ (Goodley 1999: 6).
