Abstract:
Entrance assessment and standardized testing is a feature of the South
African higher education landscape, with many universities using
assessment and testing as benchmarking, placement or, in some
instances, gatekeeping exercises. Entrance assessment practices seek to
inform universities about the capabilities of students. In this paper we
examine current entrance assessment paradigms and practices through
our frame of humanity, expectations, access and transformation (HEAT)
embedded in a broader lens of postcolonialism. We claim that current
practices do not lay a foundation for meeting the larger goals of higher
education – they do not transform human relationships, ignore ways of
being in the world, fail to sufficiently embed learning-centred teaching,
nor promote metacognitive development, self-efficacy, resilience or lead
to transformation. In so doing, we contribute a new way of thinking
about the transformation of higher education today and the way in
which diagnostic assessment could be re-visited to meet broader goals.
