Going ‘grade-free’? – Teachers’ and students’ perceived value and grading preferences for holistic competency assessment

This article seeks to investigate teachers’ and students’ perceived value and grading preferences for holistic competency assessment. Using a mixed-methods approach, quantitative data were collected from 2150 undergraduates and 215 academics from six Hong Kong universities with a validated Perception on Assessment of Holistic Competencies questionnaire. It was found that both teachers and students have common views towards the value of holistic competency assessment and grading preferences. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 19 teachers and 73 students to further illuminate the findings. The majority of the participants were somewhat positive towards the formal assessment of holistic competencies, but were against the use of quantitative scoring of holistic competencies. Instead, they prefer having a qualitative record of their holistic competency development without grading. While recognizing the need to move towards a ‘grade-free’ system for the assessment of holistic competencies, teachers and students seem to have only a vague idea of how such a system can be effectively implemented. Findings from the study point to the need to develop both students’ and teachers’ literacy in holistic competency assessment.