Assessment principles to support students’ transition into higher education: Outcomes of a scoping review

For students transitioning into HE, assessment can be a particularly important influence on how they experience university, with the potential to build confidence and motivation or to heighten anxiety and fear (Christie and Morris 2021). Students in transition, and particularly those who are less familiar with the conventions and expectations of HE, can find their sense of belonging, confidence and self-efficacy challenged, which can affect their academic achievement and success (Kift 2009; Thomas 2012). Given the significance of assessment for students’ learning, it is therefore crucial that assessment design for students transitioning into HE is grounded in best practice principles that support the development of self-efficacy, belonging and academic success.

Like their counterparts in access education in the UK (https://www.face.ac.uk/), educators in Australian enabling programs (https://enablingeducators.org/) aim to prepare students for the rigours of university learning while providing a pathway into undergraduate study. These programs tend to enrol higher proportions of students from non-traditional backgrounds such as first-in-family, low socio-economic status, and regional or remote areas (Syme et al. 2021). Enabling educators have long been cognisant of the potential impacts of assessment design on student confidence, success and retention, and in response have developed assessment practices that aim to improve learning outcomes for diverse and non-traditional student cohorts. However, despite the recent emergence of scholarly initiatives to describe and benchmark enabling curricula (Syme et al., 2022), very little work has focused specifically on what can be learned from assessment practices in enabling education.

To offer insights that can assist educators with designing assessments that support students’ successful transitions into HE, a scoping review (Arksey and O’Malley 2005) of Australian enabling education literature was conducted. The review was focused around two key questions: What pedagogical principles are explicitly connected to assessments in Australian enabling education? What can educators learn from this literature to support students’ transitions into HE? Three databases and thirteen targeted publication sources were searched for peer-reviewed journal articles and reports pertaining to assessment in Australian enabling education from 2012 to 2022. From the 765 sources located, 24 full-text sources were examined using collaborative discourse analysis. The findings aim to stimulate dialogue around how to apply key assessment principles such as authenticity, flexibility and scaffolding in various contexts, at both pathways and undergraduate levels. Overall, the scoping review highlights best practice assessment design principles for students transitioning into HE.

References

Arksey, H. and O’Malley, L. (2005) ‘Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology: Theory and Practice, 8(1), pp.19–32.
Christie, H and Morris, N (2021) ‘Assessment and emotion in higher education: the allure of blogging’, Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 26(2), pp.148–163.
Kift, S. (2009) Articulating a transition pedagogy to scaffold and to enhance the first year student learning experience in Australian higher education: final report for ALTC Senior Fellowship Program. Available at: https://transitionpedagogy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Kift-Sally-ALTC-Senior-Fellowship-Report-Sep-092.pdf. (Accessed: 19 January, 2023).
Syme, S., Davis, C. and Cook, C. (2021) ‘Benchmarking Australian enabling programmes: assuring quality, comparability and transparency’, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(4), pp.572–585.
Syme, S., Roche, T., Goode, E. and Crandon, E. (2021) ‘Transforming lives: the power of an Australian enabling education’, Higher Education Research & Development, 41(7), pp.2426–2440.
Thomas, L (2012) ‘What works? Facilitating an effective transition into higher education’, Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 14(1), pp.4–24.