Prefigurement, identities and agency: the disciplinary nature of evaluative judgement

© 2018 selection and editorial matter, David Boud, Rola Ajjawi, Phillip Dawson and Joanna Tai. Evaluative judgements take place in a specific assessment context; they are not generic approaches to learning. Making an evaluative judgement should therefore allow students to engage with criteria of disciplinary quality. In doing so, students may grasp what Shulman terms the surface, deep and implicit structures of a discipline. This chapter explores the role of agency and disciplinary identity with respect to evaluative judgements. Practical implications include designing authentic assessments that present opportunities for students to author themselves into the narratives and hierarchies of the discipline.