Designing inclusive assessment for students with ISPs

This resource is aimed at helping staff to design assessments in a way that is inclusive and requires fewer individual adjustments for students. As well as leading to a better student experience, it can also save staff time in the long run (Hector, 2020). Recently, Inclusivity was added to the guiding principles of the Oxford Brookes Strategy 2035:

“We take positive steps to create an environment in which we celebrate, value, and provide equal opportunity to all… When leading any activities being mindful, and taking proactive steps to ensure, that all participants have an opportunity to achieve their potential” (Oxford Brookes, 2020).

The university has also recently launched the Brookes Inclusive Curriculum IDEAS model. The model is designed as a 'travelling companion' to support programme teams with inclusive practice development from PDT stage through to annual review, quinquennial review and beyond. Inclusion is central to the model, and a key component is the notion of assessment for and as learning. IDEAS places partnership with students at its core aiming to promote a whole university community approach to inclusive practice and to progress the commitments and milestones of our Access and Participation Plan 2020-25.

Crucially, inclusion is also part of our anticipatory duty under the Equality Act (2010). The literature on this tends to recommend offering choice and/or diversifying assessment. The Office for Students describes offering choice of assessment as an inclusive assessment practice offered at some institutions (OfS, 2022). The OfS’s Disabled Students’ Commission (DSC) is developing a Disabled Student Commitment which asks Higher Education Providers to ensure “There is choice in the form of assessment for each module where possible and appropriate” (DSC, 2022). The Disabled Students’ commission int heir annual report 2021-22 conclude that “anticipatory reasonable adjustments and a more flexible approach to teaching, learning and assessment provides disabled students with the choice to learn and be assessed in a way that supports, rather than impacts on, their disability”(DSC, 2022).

This is why this guide has been produced to support the ‘HSS Assessment Toolkit’ and the Brookes IDEAS model. There isn’t one type of assessment that will suit everyone and develop the whole range of skills we want our students to graduate with. We recognise that whilst the spirit of inclusive practice is to move away from a medical model needs based approach to making individual assessments, it can still be helpful to be aware of how a particular type of assessment could disadvantage students with particular needs. With a more diverse range of assessment types and a diverse student body, it can be hard to know how or if to apply adjustments from the student’s inclusive support plan. With this in mind, this guide provides guidance on considerations for disabled students in respect of different assessment types. We hope to keep adding to this guide, so please do contact us with feedback or questions by emailing inclusivesupport@brookes.ac.uk

• Plymouth University’s ‘Guide to Inclusive Assessment’ (2016) is a fantastic resource that recommends a range of assessment methods that are more inclusive and can lead to the need for fewer individual reasonable adjustments.

• The Quality Assurance Agency’s ‘Inclusive Assessment Attributes’ (2022) provides a useful summary. It is part of a toolkit that includes reflective questions for leaders, academics and students as well as some case studies.

• Where possible, it is advised to consider the range of assessment types used across the whole programme, building in the need to develop all the skills that would be expected of graduates.

• At Brookes, we assess students against learning outcomes, and there are many benefits to allowing students choice in how they demonstrate they have met those learning outcomes. For example, there are times when writing is an intended learning outcome, but if it is not, why should students have to write an essay? They could choose the medium that allows them to best demonstrate their skills/knowledge.

• Involve a diverse group of students in assessment design. Collaboration with students and sometimes other members of the community, including those who identify as disabled, has been found to be a successful way to develop inclusive assessment with benefits for the whole cohort (McConlogue, 2020).

• Consider when the task is set so that it maximizes the available time students have to work on it. This is particularly important when students are not able to use extensions.

• Digital assessment has the potential to be more inclusive and improve student outcomes when designed with an ‘accessibility-first’ principle (Clay, 2020)

• Embed inclusivity into the assessment design by incorporating reflection into equality, diversity and inclusion

• Don’t introduce too many new types of assessment in one semester.

What type of assignment are you creating?

• Written assignments & Project work (PW)

• Portfolios

• Oral assessment

• Practicals

• Set Exercises

Hector M. (2020) ‘Arriving At Thriving: Learning from disabled students to ensure access for all’, Available at https://www.policyconnect.org.uk/research/arriving-thriving-learning-disabled-students-ensure-access-all (accessed 7 November 2022)

Office for Students ‘Assessment practices in English higher education providers: Spelling, punctuation and grammar’, Available at https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/assessment-practices-in-english-higher-education-providers/ (accessed 10 August 2022)

Disabled Student’s Commission (2022) ‘The Disabled Student Commitment: formal consultation’ Available at https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/disability-equality-higher-education/disabled-students-commission#Commitment (accessed on 8 November 2022)

Disabled Student’s Commission (2022) ‘Disabled Students’ Commission Annual Report 2021-2022’ Available at https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/disabled-students-commission-annual-report-2021-2022 (accessed on 8 November 2022)

Plymouth University (2016) ‘Inclusive Assessment: Good Practice Guide’, Available at https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/uploads/production/document/path/2/2516/Good_practice_inclusive_assessment_updated_May_2016.pdf (accessed 21 October 2022)

Quality Assurance Agency et al (2022) ‘Inclusive Assessment Attributes’ Available at https://www.qaa.ac.uk/membership/collaborative-enhancement-projects/assessment/developing-a-set-of-inclusive-assessment-design-attributes-for-use-across-the-he-sector (accessed on 16 December 2022)

McConlogue T. (2020) 'Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education: A Guide for Teachers', Available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13xprqb (accessed 21 October 2022)

Clay, J. (2020) ‘Digital assessment in higher education A primer created for university leaders as part of the learning and teaching reimagined initiative’, Jisc. Available at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/digital-assessment-in-higher-education# (accessed 21 October 2022)

Tai, C. et al. (2021) 'How do students experience inclusive assessment? A critical review of contemporary literature', International journal of Inclusive Education, Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2021.2011441 (accessed in 21 October 2022)