The EAT Framework is underpinned by a critical pedagogy (Waring & Evans, 2015) which requires us to constantly ask whether any aspect of assessment is differentially impacting any learner or group of learners.
Education should be equally accessible to all potential learners. However, not all learners are the same. They will come from different backgrounds and experiences, and have different ways of thinking and doing.
In addition, some may need to address disabilities, or neurodivergences, or logistical challenges to their lives (for example, some students on a course will be parents, or carers, or have to work on part time/full time jobs.
Assessment needs to take these variations in student experiences into account. Inclusive educational practices, and in particular inclusive assessment, aims to ensure that no learner is disadvantaged by the nature and pattern of assessment.
Inclusive approaches require an appreciation of the individual differences of learners, especially regarding the ways that they study, learn, and process information (Friedlander et al., 2011; Waring & Evans, 2015). In addition, some students self-regulate well, and others self-regulate poorly.
Assessment needs to support learners to develop their self-regulatory capacity to manage assessment.
Essentially, students given their individual differences are likely to navigate learning environments in different ways and assessment needs to acknowledge that.
The EAT Framework document (Evans, 2022) makes this point about assessment:
“Assessment design should promote student ownership of learning. Students should have equal opportunities to access the requirements of assessment and to demonstrate achievement of required learning outcomes.
Individuals need to be permitted to navigate learning environments in different ways.”
This module aims to consider some of the issues around inclusive assessment practices.
It will provide some ways in which you, as an educator can evaluate your assessments in terms of their accessibility and inclusivity to all learners.