| Abstract: | The title of the Hardgrind paper (AMA, 1958) is ‘And the first shall be last… ‘. The ‘revisit’ addresses the potential for error when sets of marks for different assessment components (and examination questions) are combined. If allowance is not made for significant differences in mark distribution then errors will be automatically introduced for grading and ranking purposes. This is distinct from setting an overall pass level which is independent of pass rate. The intentions associated with the weightings assigned to assessment components are discussed with regard to interpretation, and to the need for good quality information to produce good quality judgements related to student performance. Issues of professional development as part of quality assurance for professional judgement are discussed with reference to an in‐service programme comprising 19 modules available on disk. |
