‘Pray(ing) the person marking your work isn't racist’: racialised inequities in HE assessment practice

Abstract

Relatively little critical attention has been given specifically to ‘assessments’ and related processes in relation to race and racial inequalities in UK HEPs. Consequently, we know relatively little with regards to rather routine questions, such as: What are the assessment experiences of BAME students? To what extent is BAME student inclusion intrinsic to specific assessment types or connected to wider pedagogical practice? Or to the ways in which wider social and cultural factors intersect, influence and may contribute to the experiences (and performances) of different BAME-heritage students in particular forms of assessment? Drawing on (focus-group) interview-data of 44 BAME and White undergraduate students, findings illustrate how institutional- and cultural-processes which (dis)advantage students from different minority-ethnic backgrounds are deeply imbedded within assessment. They also sketch-out how these processes work to prioritise and marginalise specific racialised currencies, which are clustered unevenly in certain communities.