Understanding inclusive assessment: how British Pakistani male graduates engage with university assessments
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi36.1478Keywords:
ethnic awarding gap, institutional racism, intersectionality, ethnic capital, widening participation, university assessmentsAbstract
Assessment experiences of ethnic minority students in UK higher education present complex challenges in identifying salient barriers to inclusive practice. Ethnic minority students can be excluded by a range of factors which include the procedure, content and context of assessment. By analysing twelve narratives of British Pakistani male graduates, this study examines student engagement with traditional and more contemporary assessments and explores how students negotiate racialised learning spaces. Findings highlight student disengagement, and subsequent underperformance, in more traditional academic assessments than occupational and practical forms of assessment. To this end, practical assessments, which reflect the aims of authentic assessment approaches, were considered most inclusive, primarily due to their alignment with students’ career aspirations, though critical considerations around inclusive learning spaces are still required to mitigate extraneous racial exclusion.
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