Group Assessment at Final Degree Level: An Evaluation

There is a growing awareness among educators that it is important to provide a skills-based education as well as one based on academic achievements. This was articulated in the UK by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA, 2000), in its Subject Benchmarking Statement for Accounting (Gloucester: QAAHE). Within the heading 'cognitive abilities and non-subject specific skills', there is a requirement for students to demonstrate abilities and skills in group working (p. 2). In order to capture these key capabilities, curriculum development must focus on utilising appropriate pedagogic techniques, which enhance learning and develop appropriate interpersonal skills. However, universities need to assess these desirable skills otherwise; a 'backwash effect' will stifle innovation. Whilst group assessment has the potential to increase assessment validity, by bringing into the assessment framework skills and competencies, which are more closely related to real-life situations than traditional examinations and essays, appropriate moderation such as peer assessment needs to take place to achieve fairness and objectivity; otherwise the assessment exercise may marginalize reliability. This paper evaluates the introduction of a group assessment project into the final year of an Accounting and Finance degree. Performance data was collected for each student, which facilitated a comparative analysis on both examination and coursework results. Data was also collected from the students by way of questionnaires and a standard module evaluation form. This data provided information on how the groups and the peer assessment operated, together with the students' perceptions of the fairness of the exercise. The paper concludes with recommendations for practice.