Alternative assessment for learner engagement in a climate of performativity: lessons from an English case study

Abstract

In many education systems, young peoples’ ‘disaffection’ is increasingly equated with non‐participation in education, training and employment. There is also an expectation that educational activity can provide a key response to this situation. Drawing upon a case study of a successful development project based in Bristol, England which utilized an ‘alternative’ assessment regime in raising the participation and attainments of young people defined as disengaged from schooling, the paper considers a series of key issues. These include: the nature of the provision; the difficulties of understanding and evaluating it in a climate of performativity; a distinctive concept of learning promoted by the assessment practices; and the role of individual and networked professional mediation in creating the ‘space’ for the initiative. The paper concludes that the case study project represents a ‘marriage of convenience’ between the expectations of a culture of performativity and, on the other hand, a horizontal community of practice which provides a strong professional framework for action, and that there are implications for both practice and policy.