TY - JOUR

T1 - Student perspectives on assessment

T2 - connections between self and society

AU - McArthur, Jan

AU - Blackie, Margaret

AU - Pitterson, Nicole

AU - Rosewell, Kayleigh

N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education on 10/08/2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02602938.2021.1958748

PY - 2022/7/31

Y1 - 2022/7/31

N2 - This article explores STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) student associations of assessment with individual achievement, becoming part of a discipline or profession, or developing an orientation towards society. This perspective is based in Frankfurt School critical theory, which argues for the inter-relation between individual and social wellbeing. From a critical theory perspective, education should facilitate movement from a conception of the individual as autonomous towards the individual as a member of society: this is the foundation of social justice. We consider this philosophical position against the empirical experiences of students to explore the extent to which their engagement with assessment has helped shape a sense of interconnectedness between themselves and others in society. We describe a longitudinal and comparative study among chemistry and chemical engineering undergraduate students at universities in England, South Africa and the USA. The study finds that only a very small number of students display any orientation to society when discussing assessment. This is surprising because there are a number of socially-related assessment tasks within the curricula. More may be required to achieve a higher education oriented to social justice than simply the deliberate inclusion of socially-related activities in the curriculum or as assessment tasks.

AB - This article explores STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) student associations of assessment with individual achievement, becoming part of a discipline or profession, or developing an orientation towards society. This perspective is based in Frankfurt School critical theory, which argues for the inter-relation between individual and social wellbeing. From a critical theory perspective, education should facilitate movement from a conception of the individual as autonomous towards the individual as a member of society: this is the foundation of social justice. We consider this philosophical position against the empirical experiences of students to explore the extent to which their engagement with assessment has helped shape a sense of interconnectedness between themselves and others in society. We describe a longitudinal and comparative study among chemistry and chemical engineering undergraduate students at universities in England, South Africa and the USA. The study finds that only a very small number of students display any orientation to society when discussing assessment. This is surprising because there are a number of socially-related assessment tasks within the curricula. More may be required to achieve a higher education oriented to social justice than simply the deliberate inclusion of socially-related activities in the curriculum or as assessment tasks.

KW - Assessment

KW - social justice

KW - critical theory

KW - chemistry

KW - chemical engineering

KW - assessment for social justice

U2 - 10.1080/02602938.2021.1958748

DO - 10.1080/02602938.2021.1958748

M3 - Journal article

VL - 47

SP - 698

EP - 711

JO - Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education

JF - Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education

SN - 0260-2938

IS - 5

ER -