Why do we have exams? The idea of the memorisation and narrative regurgitation of facts being a measure of learning is, in many ways, quite absurd. The exam system can also be excluding of students with different linguistic, cultural and social capital from those for whom the system was originally developed (nearly 200 years ago, for Oxbridge candidates, if you’re interested). We know that authentic, practical assessment can remove some socially-embedded hierarchies, but changes to the operational mechanics alone will not resolve these issues of inclusion: the social space has to be changed as well, through our pedagogical dynamics, through our language and through our assessment processes. The awarding gap is all about what can be measured or counted, but inclusion is about how students feel in, belong to and navigate through the educational space. Students who feel included, to whom assessment can really speak, will do better and achieve more. When we aim for the transformative over the transactional, everybody wins. 

The resources we mentionedNazir, M. B., Johnson, K., Greenhalgh, J., Aston, L., & Pedley, N. (2026). Exploring student assessment literacy: how undergraduate students actualise and transform their assessment strategies. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (39). https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi39.1798 

An article that explores the relationship between intellectual knowledge and transmitted knowledge in Islam. 

And the publication we talked about

Nazir, M. B. (2025). Understanding inclusive assessment: how British Pakistani male graduates engage with university assessments. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (36). https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi36.1478