I spent three years as an AL before moving into my current post as senior lecturer and year 1 lead on BAPJD. In my first AL role, I was assessing first year students using the Pass/Grade system. This felt very comfortable to me, being used to this from my own educational background. When we moved to pass/fail in 2019/20 I wasn’t aware of the reasons behind the change – except that it was precipitated by the pandemic. My first thought was that while this was easier on the tutors in terms of working through the marking, it felt unfair on students. I found myself wanting to let the students know, within the feedback, what grade they might have received. This felt particularly important for the highest and lowest achieving students. My instinct was to fall back on grading to highlight the best and worst submissions rather than relying on the quality of my feedback. I felt it was unfair to give two students from opposite ends of the scale the same ‘grade’ (a pass) when their effort and attainment was so different. This has been at the back of my mind since the change to pass/fail, even though I’ve become more confident that my feedback is detailed and personalized.
Coming across the Pass/Fail episode of the UAL podcast Interrogating Space has given me some much needed clarity on both why the change was made but also the value judgements behind the decision.
The podcast took the format of a panel discussion recorded during the ‘Belonging through assessment: Pipelines of compassion’ symposium on 21st October 2021. The panel speakers were: Professor Sam Broadhead (LAU), Dr Neil Currant, (UAL) and Peter Hughes, (LAU) and the facilitator Dr Kate Mori (Academic Engagement Manager, QAA).
The panel discussed pass/fail as a “compassionate approach to assessment” it also explored ” the challenges in changing practice and policies from the perspective of staff, students and the wider institution.”
All three of the speakers had been involved in research that led to their institutions switching to Pass/Fail, primarily as a result of the pandemic. The discussion covered the benefits of pass/fail, and the challenges, both for students and staff.
After listening to the podcast clear themes emerged explaining the thinking behind Pass/Fail. Firstly there was the feeling amongst all 3 speakers that grading encouraged competition amongst students and a focus on ‘grade chasing’ (Hughes) rather than fostering a drive towards valuing ‘learning’.
This made a lot of sense to me and chimed with my own experience of being a student when I was at school. I was never a particularly conscientious or hard working student but I had a good memory and I performed well in exams, so consequently received A grades, which in reflection, rewarded my exam performance rather than my understanding or engagement with the learning. I was definitely guilty of grade chasing and valuing an A above any actual knowledge that I accrued.
Secondly there was reduction of stress in a pass/fail environment.
Dr Currant conducted research with first year students who were assessed using pass/fail and found that:
“one of the big things that we saw was that students felt there was a reduction in stress and anxiety. You know, students really talk about grades causing a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety. And so that pass fail, particularly during the pandemic was a real, really helped them calm down and come into university transition into university and feel they could get their feet, if you like, under the table, and not have to worry about performing. ” (Currant)
And thirdly there was some data that suggested that progression rates for Black and Asian students had increased relative to their white peers.
“And I think intriguingly, we got some data that suggests that our progression rates for Black and Asian students have increased relative to their white peers. So the gap of progression has actually decreased during the period when we had pass/ fail.” (Currant)
These are convincing and important findings that back up why pass/fail might be a better assessment criteria for a large percentage of students. However there is also the issue of how to help students, who like me had grown up in a grading environment and had become used to the validation or otherwise of grades, to adapt to and accept the value of pass/fail.
The panel discussed this at length with Professor Broadbent explaining that they start preparing students for a pass/fail environment right from open days so that students know what the are signing up for. He also talked about instilling a culture that values creative, independent thinking above grades and fosters a collegiate spirit as opposed to one of competition.
For me, helping students adapt to pass/fail also comes back to feedback and how important it is for it to be detailed and personalised, refering to specific areas in their projects and explaining what could be improved (and how) and praising what worked well. But also ensuring to give an overall feel of how well they have responded to the brief.
The speakers also spoke of evidence of students embracing collaborative working and seeing themselves as a cohort rather than individuals in competition with each other.
One of units that I currently lead is based on collaborative working so this is very relevant to me. I try to instil a mentality of ‘no man left behind’ and encourage students to embrace group work, whether they are natural leaders, or prefer to work in the background. After listening to the podcast I feel that students might find it easier embrace a group ethos knowing that other people’s performance won’t affect their own grades. Groups that I’ve worked with on collaborative projects have occassionally had issues working together, and I’ve been asked if another student’s performance will affect their own grade. Being able to answer simply that students will either pass or fail in this unit, has immediately de-escalated what could be an area of contention in a grading environment.
The panel also touched on how taking away grading encourages risk taking and a focus on learning rather than reproducing, which is particularly important for arts’ students. There was also evidence that students were more willing to take on extracurricular activites. I have not seen evidence of this myself, I find that first years in particular are generally not willing to take risks or take on extra external activities. In the second and third year this changes a lot so I wonder if this was taken into consideration.
The podcast was enlightening and helped me understand the reason behind installing pass/fail. It also made me reflect again on the importance of feedback and has given me important insight to share with the ALs and unit tutors who work with me.
Works Cited:
“Interrogating Spaces. Pass/fail assessment in arts higher education” 01 Dec. 2021. www.interrogatingspaces.buzzsprout.com/683798/9644305-pass-fail-assessment-in-arts-higher-education