Inclusive assessment design: students with disabilities speak out

Research knows a great deal about how assessment could be 'more inclusive', but what do students have to say about inclusive assessment design? This study considers the voices of students with disabilities – a prime example of students whose unique ways of knowing are systematically marginalised in assessment – in formulating design principles for inclusive assessment. Based on an analysis of 139 qualitative survey responses and nine narrative interviews with students with disabilities in Finland, this study proposes novel practical and conceptual contributions to inclusive assessment research. It is grounded in an 'utopia as a method' approach that reaches towards more inclusive futures of higher education, aiming to challenge both cynicism and solutionism. The findings demonstrate how, according to the students, inclusive assessment should not only promote learning, but also nurture 'other' ways of being and becoming.