Formative assessment in higher education: Moves towards theory and the enhancement of pedagogic practice

Abstract

The importance of formative assessment in student learning is generally acknowl- edged, but it is not well understood across higher education. The identification of some key features of formative assessment opens the way for a discussion of theory. It is argued that there is a need for further theoretical development in respect of formative assessment, which needs to take account of disciplinary epistemology, theories of intellectual and moral develop- ment, students' stages of intellectual development, and the psychology of giving and receiving feedback. A sketch is offered of the direction that this development might take. It is noted that formative assessment may be either constructive or inhibitory towards learning. Suggestions are made regarding research into formative assessment, and how research might contribute to the development of pedagogic practice. Knowledge of results Learning depends on knowledge of results, at a time when, and at a place where, the knowledge can be used for correction. (Bruner 1970, p. 120) Bruner's dictum contains an important truth, but it is not the whole story. 'Correction' implies the existence of a right answer, and suggests a homeo- static or single loop (Argyris and Schon 1974) view of education that contrasts with the title of a collection of his writings: Beyond the informa- tion given (Bruner 1974). The quotation is from a chapter whose emphasis is on school education (although there are allusions to a broader range of educational contexts), in which considerable weight is placed on getting things right. Whilst 'getting things right' is of obvious importance in higher education as well (examples from medicine, science and engineering come quickly to mind where 'not getting it right' had direct and seriously damaging consequences), there is a significant dimension to higher education that can, following Barnett (1997), be labelled as 'emancipatory' and which implies