Student partnership in assessment in higher education: a systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review aims to explore how student partnership is enacted in higher education assessment using community of practice and liminality of student roles as the conceptual framework. Forty-three empirical studies were selected, and extracted data were synthesised using thematic analysis. The results show that student partnership occurs in four main areas of assessment – assessment and feedback design, execution and implementation, quality assurance, policy establishment – and that students adopt the role of co-designers, assessors, consultants and decision-makers in assessment partnerships. The analysis also reveals four types of support university staff can provide to facilitate partnerships: essential knowledge, training and coaching, accuracy and quality check and partnership management. Based on the findings, a framework is proposed to elucidate student partnership in assessment as situated learning in a community of practice. The findings of this review have theoretical and practical implications for policy makers, researchers and practitioners.