Juuso Henrik Nieminen, Deakin University

Jan McArthur, Lancaster University

Tim Fawns, Monash University

Assessment profoundly shapes students' lives and identities through grades, examinations, scores, and metrics, yet scholarship has largely overlooked its political dimensions of power, equity, and social justice. This special issue invites critical examination of how assessment functions within higher education, challenging the prevailing view of assessment as neutral and objective.

The issue seeks both theoretical understanding and practical transformation of assessment practices toward greater justice and equity. Authors are invited to submit empirical studies, conceptual analyses, policy reviews, or research syntheses that adopt explicitly socio-political and critical approaches to assessment, engaging with themes such as agency, identity, inclusion, technology, and epistemic justice in assessment.

Submissions must clearly engage with socio-political perspectives while allowing diverse interpretations of what constitutes critical scholarship. Authors should reference the accompanying points of departure article and may engage with or critique its arguments.

Appel publié par Teaching in Higher Education. Voir l'appel sur le site de l'éditeur. Fiche de l'appel sur kerostig.

Potential topics

• Teacher and student agency: Who decides how and why assessment is done?
• Identity, diversity and inclusion: How does assessment exclude and marginalise, and how can it be more equitable?
• Grading and ungrading: How to disrupt the status quo?
• Critical theory: How to challenge power and privilege in assessment?
• Epistemic injustice and colonisation: What counts as legitimate knowledge in assessment?
• Politics of technology: How does assessment take place in a digital world?

Timeline

• November 2, 2026: Abstract deadline
• November 30, 2026: Expected date for abstract decisions to be communicated to authors
• May 24, 2027: Manuscript deadline