A spanner in the works: the portrayal of disabled students in assessment adjustment research

ABSTRACT

In scholarly research, disabilities are predominantly understood as something that obscures assessment rather than enriches it. In this study, I examine how research on assessment adjustments (e.g. extra time in tests and separate testing rooms) portrays disabled students. I discuss how this area of research plays a role in constructing an image of ‘the ideal student’ and its shadow, the ‘non-ideal student’. I conduct a critical review to analyse how 26 assessment adjustment studies portray their object, disabled students, as being ontologically different from normal and ideal students. The ‘disabled examinee’ is portrayed as ‘a spanner in the works’ that endangers the objectivity of the assessment systems in higher education. Disabled students are framed as ‘Others’ who pose a danger for academic standards and integrity: assessment adjustments are thus seen as safeguarding academia from this danger. I argue that this portrayal contributes to marginalising disabled students in higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Assessment adjustments
• disabilities
• inclusion
• literature synthesis
• accommodations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. I refer to ‘disabled students’ (rather than ‘students with disabilities’) to emphasise the active role of assessment in disabling students (Nieminen, 2021, 2022a). This study employs a broad definition of disability, considering various kinds of disabilities, illnesses, mental health issues, impairments, and their intersections, while acknowledging the social, cultural and political aspects of what counts as a suitable reason for students to gain access to assessment-related adjustments. Notably, the 26 studies in the literature synthesis draw on various definitions and conceptualisations of ‘disability’.

2. Throughout the study, I use British English and thus the term ‘assessment adjustments’. However, in American English, these practices are commonly called ‘assessment accommodations’. As many studies in the dataset of this review were conducted in the context of the United States, the word ‘assessment accommodations’ is used frequently in the citations of the findings sections.

3. There are some exemptions, such as Swinburne University: https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2022/03/swinburne-introduces-ungrading-for-greater-creative-risks/

4. References have been omitted from the data excerpts.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juuso Henrik Nieminen

Juuso Henrik Nieminen is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong. Dr Nieminen’s research concerns the social, cultural and political aspects of assessment and feedback in higher education, often from the students’ point of view.