The uneasy alliance of assessment and feedback

Assessment and feedback can make strange bedfellows. Their goals sometimes lie at cross purposes. Summative assessment, for example, is judgmental, telling us whether or not learners have reached a necessary standard; as Konopasek observes, “when practicing summative assessment, we are acting far more as regulators than educators” [1]. Feedback, on the other hand, is developmental, facilitating learners’ progress. Reconciling judgement and development is a tenuous balancing act.