Authentic assessment at UvA

Authentic assessment is often understood as a form of assessment that mirrors the ‘real world’ of work or a future career. This view is now seen as too narrow; it risks conflating students’ identity with their labour-market value and implicitly suggests that universities are not part of the ‘real world’.

In the literature, authentic assessment is now framed as more than a reflection of future working life: it encourages students to move beyond ‘learning about’ and to develop as reflective, educated human beings in the world (McArthur, 2023; Forsyth & Evans, 2019).

Academic Citizenship

The UvA’s recently updated educational vision reflects this shift. With ‘academic citizenship’ as its guiding principle, it aims to educate critical, socially engaged thinkers who connect academic knowledge with social responsibility.

Domains of educational purpose and academic citizenship

This vision of education aligns with the three domains of educational purpose identified by Biesta:

• qualification (knowledge and skills)
• socialisation (becoming part of traditions and communities)
• subjectification / personal formation (growing into an autonomous, responsible person) (Biesta, 2009).

Education should support students’ development in all three domains, and not only with a view to the labour market.

Why do we need assessment for this?

Like it or not, assessment drives student learning behaviour (Boud, 1996). If assessment determines what, how and why students learn, then making assessment more authentic is crucial for fostering deeper engagement, more meaningful learning experiences and long-term growth.

Authentic assessment and self-determination theory

To understand how authentic assessment can foster this deeper, meaningful engagement, we can look at the psychological basis of student motivation. Deci and Ryan’s (2000) self-determination theory identifies three basic psychological needs for intrinsic motivation: competence, autonomy and relatedness.

Authentic assessment can support these needs in concrete ways:

• Autonomy; Meaningful choice in relation to topic, format or process gives students a sense of agency and responsibility for their work. When choices are genuine but remain within clear learning outcomes and criteria, students can pursue directions that matter to them while still working in line with the programme’s objectives.
• Competence; By engaging with substantive social, economic or political issues, students can experience their growing capability as they tackle complex, far-reaching problems. Well-designed assessment criteria, staged guidance and feedback reinforce this sense of competence.
• Relatedness; An authentic audience (for example stakeholders, communities, professional or disciplinary peers) and opportunities for collaboration can foster a sense of relatedness – with others, with the discipline and with society. By working on real issues for real people, students gain a stronger sense that what they are learning matters beyond the classroom.

When design features such as choice, realism and connection align with these psychological needs, students are more likely to experience assessment as meaningful, engaging and authentic.