Compassionate assessment: the value of programme-level student-staff collaborations

Assessment practices in the high-stakes environment of contemporary tertiary institutions can appear to be far from compassionate. Over-assessment, heavy assignment weightings, and clustered deadlines, among other challenges, contribute to the risk of student anxiety, stress, and imposter syndrome, and create an assessment landscape that is not conducive to joyful learning or student wellbeing. Considering the impact assessment experiences have on student confidence and identity formation, alongside grade award and job prospects, assessment practices that have student wellbeing at their core are vital. This opinion piece is co-authored by student and staff colleagues at the University of Aberdeen, the former of whom were appointed through a recruitment call for paid assessment and feedback internships. These were offered to students in their final year of undergraduate study during the 2022-2023 academic year. Our contribution focuses on a jointly implemented degree programme assessment review as a means of enhancing student assessment experiences. We posit that the inclusion of students as colleagues rather than simply as data sources provides a unique vantage point from which to begin thinking about the ways in which assessment practices can be made more compassionate.