ABSTRACT
Although of intense interest to those most intimately concerned with teaching and learning (pupils, teachers and parents), the issue of assessment has not greatly exercised the minds of philosophers of education. Some general works of philosophy of education have chapters devoted to the topic (for example, Wilson 1977 and Kleinig 1982) but, unlike issues to do with parents’ rights, indoctrination or multiculturalism, the issue of assessment has not been a traditional preoccupation of philosophers of education. Of late, however, the subject has featured on the philosophers’ agenda either directly or in connection with the notion of competence-based education (Davis 1995, 1996; Winch 1996; Winch and Gingell 1996; Bridges 1996; Hyland 1993). This is a welcome development because assessment is one area where notions of truth, accuracy and fairness have a very practical purchase in everyday life.
