ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1 we identified assessment as ‘arguably one of the most influential facets of contemporary education’ (p. 1) and established it as a social process and social activity. From this perspective, assessment always needs to be understood as socially, culturally, historically and politically situated and as being in a dynamic relation with the educational and social contexts in which it is set. Assessment is thus acknowledged as actively shaping education and social systems, as well as being shaped by them. With this in mind, we also established that our stance in relation to assessment and its educational and social potential is active rather than passive. Indeed, much of our motivation for this text lies in the scope that we see for assessment to be a means via which to make a positive difference to physical education, particularly from an equity perspective.
