QUESTIONS ON ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION. OUTLINE OF ISSUE

Abstract

The axis of the reflection conducted in the text is marked by questions concerning goals of assessment in higher education and real possibilities of fulfilling them in the context determined, on the one hand, by established practices of university assessment and, on the other hand, by changes pertaining to implementation of the NQF and the LLL strategy. The yardstick of the analyses, grounded in critical hermeneutics, is the pedagogical theory. In the emerging picture there dominates the logic of the technology of education, giving advantage to the systems functions of summative assessment over formative assessment, subjected to individual needs of learners. The logic is solidified, on the one hand, by the educational policy emphasising verification of the outcomes of education and detailed documentation of this process, and, on the other hand, by seeming obviousness and impartiality of the analytical assessment strategies, easily falling under bureaucratic procedures. One of the possible consequences of such a state of affairs may become ignorance of development of social competences and more complex academic abilities, the verification of which by virtue of traditional verification methods is practically impossible, whilst possible changes in this respect require not only engagement of academic teachers but also an increase in financial outlays on higher education.