Affect and ipsative approaches as a counter to pedagogic frailty: the guardian of traditional models of student success

Abstract

In this paper I consider how the neoliberal discourses surrounding Higher Education have resulted in an increasingly risk averse culture of learning and teaching. Students are frequently reluctant to engage with troublesome or challenging knowledge and academics are less likely to push learners into contested spaces or deviate from excepted pedagogical practices for fear of upsetting them. The consequences of this situation are that we potentially have a generation of graduates who lack the resilience to cope in the graduate market. Drawing on the notion of pedagogic frailty consideration of how models of success that are associated with high stakes, single point assessment, might limit the development of positive affect in learners. I argue instead for a reconsideration of notions of success building on the principles of ipsative assessment as a means of supporting the development of affective attributes, such as resilience, optimism and hope, in an effort to ensure graduates are equipped for an uncertain future.

Propositions for a counter-economy of assessment: Adventures in the assessment of creative arts in higher education

“…The undervaluation of the learning process is a symptom of neoliberalism's "valorisation of quantity over quality" that occurs in higher education through the foregrounding of efficiency and performance-measurement (Bozalek, 2021:2, 14). In this neoliberal equation, students are positioned, on the one hand, as the objects of assessment (from which data might be extracted with regard to success rates) and, on the other hand, as consumers demanding certification and its associated success as the product of their tuition fees (Rattray, 2018(Rattray, :1489. These conditions result in an increasingly risk-averse academic environment-characterised by what Kinchen and Winstone (2017) refer to as academic frailty-where 'pushing' students into uncomfortable (albeit generative)…”

“…terrains is avoided at all costs (Rattray, 2018(Rattray, :1489. Such academic frailty stultifies the development ISSN 2523-1154…”

“…SOTL in the South 7(2): August 2023 Jonker of renewed academic approaches by fixating on grade results as the primary goal and sole indicator of success (Rattray, 2018(Rattray, :1491.…”

Significance and Challenges of Formative Ipsative Assessment in Inquiry Learning: A Case Study of Writing Activities in a “Contemporary Society” Course in a Japanese High School

“…First, ipsative assessment supports the development of complex higher-order cognitive functions, such as academic writing and evaluative judgments, which cannot be measured using traditional memory-replay tests (Malecka & Boud, 2021; Malecka et al, 2021; Seery et al, 2019; Univio & Pérez, 2019). Second, as the school systems are part of the global neoliberal marketplace, which intensifies the competition between students and between schools, an ipsative perspective provides a socially safe space for people to respect their own identities and develop positive, social emotions, such as resilience and curiosity (Lucas et al, 2013; Rattray, 2018). Third, past and present learning comparisons that are based on various learning resources are possible, such as e-portfolios (Malecka et al, 2021) and self-administered testing in virtual learning environments (Penn & Wells, 2018), and extensions to online learning environments are encouraged, which adds value to the assessments.…”

Hong Kong Chinese university students’ conceptions of teacher care: a dialectical framework of care

“…Instead, such academics focus attention on assessments and reducing conflict and challenge in their classrooms to ensure that students pass the course and get the degrees they are paying for with the minimum of dissent and conflict (Kinchen, 2017). This has resulted in the affective dimensions of learning and teacher-student interactions being largely neglected or at least misunderstood (Rattray, 2016(Rattray, , 2018.…”