Developing University Students’ Assessment Literacy and Autonomy through Coaching and Mentoring

This conceptual paper explores how university students’ assessment literacy and learner autonomy are developed, and the potential role coaching or mentoring can play. Its purpose is to inform and stimulate discussion with and amongst university educators. It argues that assessment literacy and learner autonomy may be mutually supportive, reinforcing constructs that operate synergistically and can be developed through coaching and mentoring within a curriculum that is designed to allow for and incorporate this. A recently developed model of curriculum development, the C-BAss framework, is identified as being a suitable vehicle for introducing coaching and mentoring for assessment literacy and autonomy into higher education academic programmes.