Exploring Ipsative Assessment

Abstract

In the earlier chapters I argued that a strong emphasis on competition and selection in formal education perpetuates educational and social inequality. Although competition motivates some learners and may promote high standards, competitive assessment also inhibits learning and diverts resources away from teaching and learning into a near impossible task of guaranteeing academic standards and reliability. But there is a conundrum here: competitive assessment and its role in social selection receives widespread support, so any attempt to counteract the discriminatory aspects of assessment clashes with the very purpose assessment is designed to fulfil. So how can the negative effects of competitive assessment be prevented or reduced?