ABSTRACT
Assessment drives learning. Amongst other things, assessment must assure that learning outcomes have been met. Thus, it needs to discriminate between students who have and who have not met the appropriate outcomes at the requisite level. This means that students should not be excluded on the basis of characteristics or abilities that are outside of and irrelevant to the nature of the outcome being judged. In the move from elite to widespread higher education, the diversity of students has increased. If diverse students are accepted into universities, there is a moral obligation for universities not to act directly or indirectly to disadvantage those enrolled. In this chapter, we outline the ways in which assessment can exclude students and compare assessment for inclusion with overlapping concepts such as assessment for social justice. We argue that assessment needs to be reconsidered to ensure that universities, and those who work in universities, are only judging students on legitimate criteria.
