Examinations are an elementary part of everyday university life – both for students and teaching staff. As formalized procedures, they are intended to serve, among other things, as the conclusion of a teaching/learning unit or a degree program and allow conclusions to be drawn about individual teaching/learning success or educational processes.
The results achieved can open up or close off further opportunities for students and therefore have a direct influence on educational and employment biographies. To ensure that examination procedures are based exclusively on performance-related criteria, it is important to design examinations in a diversity-sensitive manner.
Hans Traxler, Chancengleichheit, in: Michael Klant (Hrsg.), Schul-Spott: Karikaturen aus 2500 Jahren Pädagogik, Fackelträger, Hannover 1983, S. 25. übernommen von https://www.zsb-os.de/beratungsangebot/toolbox-beratung/diversitaetssensible-beratung
How can you ensure that the planning, implementation, evaluation and follow-up of examinations are as diversity-sensitive as possible?
The following thoughts and questions are intended as an opportunity to reflect on your own “testing practice”:
- First-year students occasionally describe how they are given the feeling that they are being “tested”. Do you find a good way to convey the seriousness of the situation to students without making them feel insecure?
- How transparently do you communicate the learning objectives of your course during the semester?
- Is the content and form of your examination based on the previous teaching and learning content and learning objectives?
- Are the examination formats and criteria offered communicated transparently in advance?
- Are the students aware of the procedure and general conditions of the examination? (Time, room, breaks, registration, attendance, discussion culture, short-term illness before or during the examination, attempts at cheating, …)
- Do you plan your examinations to be inclusive in terms of space and time? (accessibility of the rooms, acoustics, consideration of non-Christian holidays, daycare closing times, …)
- Do you provide your students with accessible materials?
- Do you ensure that the content of the examination items and formats is designed in a diversity-sensitive and non-discriminatory way? (e.g. avoid reproducing stereotypes in case studies; explain when physical contact is necessary)?
- Do you design your examinations to be competence-oriented?
A central requirement of the bologna reform is to shift the focus from “pure knowledge transfer” to a competence-oriented university education.
For examinations, this means addressing the “question of whether students have developed competencies in a way that enables them to solve relevant problems”[1] instead of or in addition to querying subject knowledge. - Do you have the option of offering different but equivalent examination formats?
A standardized examination format for all students inevitably leads to disadvantages. Learning outcomes can often be assessed using different formats.[2] Sticking to traditional examination formats “such as exams, oral examinations and term papers leads to a preference for “traditional” over “non-traditional” students. Students with a professional background often have the impression that their training does not adequately prepare them for academic modes of operation and traditional examination formats. - Are you familiar with options for dealing with critical exam situations? (e.g. if the person being examined is very anxious)
- Are you aware of disadvantage compensation and do you communicate the options to your students?
The Rhineland-Palatinate University Act requires that higher education institutions take into account the diversity of their members and prevent or eliminate disadvantages in the performance of their duties.[4] In addition, it requires examination regulations to “ensure that students with disabilities or chronic illnesses are granted appropriate disadvantage compensation to ensure their equal opportunities.”[5] However, disadvantage compensation requires disclosure of the individual situation. Degree programs that are already designed to be as accessible as possible can reduce the need for disadvantage compensation. - Can you contribute your experience to the revision of examination regulations?
In the course of disadvantage compensation, students receive individual help and support, while standardized examination procedures are retained. These are therefore adaptation measures to a passing system. Making this system more equal in the long term is part of a diversity-sensitive and low-discrimination university culture.
Share your experiences and instruct the relevant dean’s office or examination committee to consider different examination formats in the next reaccreditation process in order to avoid disadvantages. - Do you allow your students (with the consent of all those involved) to view examinations in order to make a wide range of results visible?
[1] Gartmeier/ Sonnleitner 2022: 8
[2] Linde/ Auferkorte-Michaelis 2017: 154
[3] Linde/ Auferkorte-Michaelis 2017: 151f
[4] Cf. HochSchG § 2 (3)
[5] HochSchG § 26 (4)
Office of Accessibility at JGU: Information on disadvantage compensation and exam supervision
Gaus, Daniel (2018): Handreichung der Prüfungswerkstatt: Kompetenzorientiertes Prüfen. Zentrum für Qualitätssicherung und -entwicklung an der Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
Higher Education Act (Hochschulgesetz, HochSchG) Rhineland-Palatinate (2020)
Jorzik, Bettina (2013) (Hg.): Charta guter Lehre – Grundsätze und Leitlinien für eine bessere Lehrkultur. Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft. Essen 2013.
Gartmeier, Martin/ Sonnleitner, Karin (2022): Editorial: Prüfen im Kontext kompetenzorientierter Hochschulbildung. In: ZFHE – Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung. Bd. 17 Nr. 1 Prüfen im Kontext kompetenzorientierter Hochschulbildung.
Linde, Frank/ Auferkorte-Michaelis, Nicole (2017): Diversitätsgerecht Lehren und Lernen. In: K. Hansen (Hg.): CSR und Diversity Management, Management-Reihe Corporate Social Responsibility. Springer-Verlag. Berlin Heidelberg.
