Accountability in grading student work: securing academic standards in a twenty-first century quality assurance context

Bloxham, Susan and Boyd, Pete ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2234-3595 (2012) Accountability in grading student work: securing academic standards in a twenty-first century quality assurance context. British Educational Research Journal, 38 (4). pp. 615-634.

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Abstract

This article, using a student outcomes definition of academic standards, reports on academics’ sense of standards as enacted through marking practices. Twelve lecturers from two UK universities were asked to ‘think aloud’ as they graded written assignments followed by a semi-structured interview. The interview data were used to investigate the source of tutors’ standards, their sense of accountability for their grading judgements, their use of artefacts and their attitude to internal and external moderation. The findings suggest that tutors believe there are established and shared academic standards in existence for their discipline and they endeavour to maintain them. There was no evidence of significant pressure or practice related to lowering of standards, although differences in tutors’ tacit ‘standards’ frameworks’ have the potential for bias. Whilst moderation has some power to secure standards within teams, the article discusses the implications of the research for assuring standards across universities and disciplines.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	British Educational Research Journal
Publisher:	Wiley for British Educational Research Association (BERA)
ISSN:	1469-3518
Departments:	Professional Services > Research Office & Graduate School (ROGS)
Depositing User:	Insight Administrator
Date Deposited:	19 Jan 2012 11:32
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 11:01
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/1180

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