Addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has become of paramount importance for higher education institutions; however, a lack of a transparent, transferrable approach to identifying and quantifying the extent of SDG contributions hinders the ability to benchmark against past performance or other institutions. In this study, a…

Optimizing the workload of university students is important for their academic performance and student experience. Large perceived workloads are associated with poorer academic performance and lower student satisfaction in university students. In response to student feedback in 2021, we redesigned a second-year undergraduate physiology subject to…

Responding to calls for partnership among students and teachers in feedback and assessment, this study explores the question: "What do students and teaching staff talk about when they talk together about feedback and assessment?" We used reflexive thematic analysis to interpret 15 hours of conversation involving 14 students and 22 staff…

In 2019, a new English Senior Secondary syllabus (QCAA, 2019) was implemented in all schools across Queensland, Australia. This syllabus, incorporating high-stakes external examinations and supporting documents, instigated a shift in the teaching and assessing of senior secondary English that has been both challenging and revitalising for…

This paper discusses the evolution of assessment for learning (AfL) across the globe with particular attention given to Western educational jurisdictions. Scholars from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States discuss prominent assessment reforms within their respective countries over the last decade.…

Student agency in assessment is evident when students make assessment choices, and their voices inform decisions. This paper presents an in-depth case study of a high performing school that sought student voice to reform its assessment culture to enhance student agency. Secondary students in an Australian school were invited to draw a visual…

COVID-19 caused substantial change in learning and teaching in higher education. In this article we explore how assessment changed in the initial semester of emergency remote teaching in an Australian university. Seventy academics responsible for courses (unit of study), representing a wide array of disciplines, completed an online survey at the…

This paper aims to survey the current landscape of education policy evaluation across OECD countries and economies by examining recent trends and contextual factors that can promote more robust education policy evaluation, as well as identifying key challenges. It takes a view of policy evaluation as an activity that takes place throughout the…

The multiliteracies framework provides a pedagogical approach relevant to English language direct entry pathway (DEP) programs at university, recognising that education and communication in a multicultural, multimodal, and globalised world involves more than language literacy. Integrated assessments, in which some combination of listening,…

Professional scepticism forms an integral part of a professional accountant's skill set and is fundamental to their training. Recent revisions to IESs 2, 3, 4 and 8 reflect changes in the market expectation in relation to professional scepticism. In this paper, we answer calls for additional research into professional scepticism by investigating…

A series of worldwide projects concerning assessment, student outcomes and quality in higher education has revealed the need for a change in how higher education institutions assess student outcomes; however, many academics remain unconvinced. The success of assessment change arguably depends on the assessment culture within the institution. This…

One year after the implementation of an Inclusive Curriculum Capacity Building (ICCB) project in an Australian university Arts faculty, this paper revisits the curriculum, teaching staff and student outcomes, exploring what it takes to achieve lasting change. There are positive findings to report, but the study also finds that lasting change in…

This article explores contested possible meanings of the term 'impact' used in recent initial teacher education review body and accreditation documentation in Australia. It proposes a model of program design that explicitly evidences graduate capabilities to generate effective teaching and learning in school classrooms. It argues that we cannot…

The most recent review of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Australia titled Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers (Craven et al. 2014) heralded the introduction of Teacher Performance Assessments (TPAs) as summative assessments of graduate profession 'readiness'. The conceptualization, research-informed design and implementation of authentic…

Despite widespread recognition of the need to improve assessment in higher education, assessment tasks in individual courses are too often dominated by conventional methods. While changing assessment depends on many factors, improvements to assessment ultimately depend on the decisions and actions of individual educators. This paper considers…