Case Study: ‘You Can't Teach Those Things to Rats’. A case for neither grading nor failing students, related to an outline of a course which guarantees a rich learning experience.

Abstract

Since 1973 a number of staff in the History Department, offering courses in the schools of Humanities and Social Sciences, had allowed students to opt for a non‐graded pass (that is, for a P, rather than an A, B, C or D). A distinction between P and N (fail) was still maintained. However, the Board of the School of Social Sciences moved that this practice be no longer permitted by the Academic Board. In this paper it is my purpose to argue that non‐grading in certain courses has many advantages. I do not wish to put a case that they should be used generally, but rather wish to argue for tolerance. I hope to convince the reader that there is wide‐ranging and responsible evidence of disadvantages in traditional grading practices, and of advantages in non‐grading as part of a balanced programme of learning innovation.