Student partnership in assessment in higher education: a systematic review

Abstract

<p>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.<br></p>