Decolonising Assessment and Evaluation: Questions for Equitable Education

• In Event: Cultivating Equitable Education: Issues of Evaluation and Assessment

Abstract

Cultivating equitable education has been at the forefront of national and international educational policy agendas. The UN’s SDG 4 made this focus explicit, with the aim to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education.” This commitment to equitable education has been echoed in national educational policy initiatives aimed at reducing attainment gaps in terms of gender, ethnicity or linguistic background. However, the very notion of equity, and how it can be measured, remains contentious and debated. A narrow focus on measuring equitable education as access and enrolment risks overlooking quality and inclusion, and ignores the systemic inequalities embedded within educational structures. Recently, calls to decolonise education have highlighted the deeply seated inequalities that emerge from centuries of oppression and institutional racism.

Author

• Oakleigh Welply, Durham University