Challenges, Barriers and Enablers to the Implementation of and Engagement in Formative Assessment: : An Analysis and Exploration within Higher Education

Ward, Kath and McArthur, Jan (2025) Challenges, Barriers and Enablers to the Implementation of and Engagement in Formative Assessment: : An Analysis and Exploration within Higher Education. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

Formative assessment is a strategy that can be used by lecturers and students to provide information that they can use as feedback to adapt their teaching and learning strategies. Despite this, its implementation within higher education has reportedly been inconsistent for various reasons. The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges to implementing formative assessment in higher education institutions and the barriers and enablers to student engagement with it. The study used a design-based action research approach. Data collection methods consisted of informal observations, a literature review, focus group interviews, individual semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys. Data were analysed thematically. Seven themes were identified in the literature review findings and four themes from the fieldwork data. The discussion considers a number of factors that impact on engagement and implementation of formative assessment. These are, the complex relationship between formative and summative assessment, the burden of formative assessment, issues relating to assessment literacy, problems of peer review and integration of formative assessment into programme structures. This thesis provides an original contribution to the research around formative assessment through its combined use of two theoretical lenses, Self-Determination Theory and the Theory of Practice Architectures. The study facilitates an exploration of how the broader, more pervasive structural elements of an institution create controlling environments which impact on teaching and learning settings and then in turn on student motivation and engagement. The use of a design-based action research approach together with these two theoretical frameworks produces some empirically and theoretically informed design propositions with which to design and construct a programme-wide formative assessment strategy. A further original contribution is the way in which key concepts from both Self-Determination Theory and the Theory of Practice Architectures have informed these propositions.