Are UK degree standards going up, down or sideways?
- 1 January 1998
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Studies in Higher Education
- Vol. 23 (1) , 35-42
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079812331380472
Abstract
It is argued that the most likely explanation of the upward drift in degree results over the past two decades is that the assessment instrument has been changed, through the inclusion of coursework (so that it now does not measure what it measured before), although the degree boundaries have been left unchanged. If this is so, then the effect reflects bad practice on the part of examiners rather than changes in student achievement. To discover whether there have been changes in student achievement requires a comparison of student performance with fixed standards. This article discusses the extent to which this can be achieved in practice and proposes appropriate means for achieving it.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Coursework Assessment, Class Size and Student Performance: 1984‐94Journal of Further and Higher Education, 1997
- Variability of degree results in geography in United Kingdom universities 1973–90: Preliminary results and policy implicationsStudies in Higher Education, 1994
- Student motivation and achievementStudies in Higher Education, 1988
- STUDENT PERFORMANCE UNDER DIFFERENT ASSESSMENT SITUATIONSAssessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1987