How is trust earned? Retained? Built? It's a pattern of consistent behaviours and interactions - evidencing reliability, consistency, honesty, authenticity, and deliverables. That sounds like a great assessment and exam system!

But since the pandemic, the relationship between citizens, the state, and custodians of trust has shifted. We’ve seen blue-chip government agencies such as NASA usurped by contractors like SpaceX. Is e-Assessment riding this turbulence to (re)build trust in assessment and qualifications?

Many believe the assessment world is in rude health. Figureheads claim that assessment and qualifications are 'well trusted’. But a fissure has created an existential threat to the assessment world. We have uncertified doctors, dysfunctional university admissions, raucous SME groups, headteachers interfering with exam papers, the AI explosion, a cheating epidemic. Is this 'well trusted'? Our sector has a crisis of trust. And without trust, assessment is meaningless.

But admitting that trust is being lost breaks a social taboo. Some advocate for the decentralisation of trust, via tools such as digital badges. Others yearn for centralisation, as England is attempting with its health service. Meanwhile, a vocal minority want a free market for assessment, empowering educators and learners. But some commentators go mute on exam taboos, and fallback to assessment fairy stories: casual invigilation, wayward grade accuracy, fallible human marking, exam maladministration, proxy testers, and others. To the detriment of all learners.

Is there appetite to (re)build trust? England’s school inspection regulator Ofsted specifically say they want to ‘rebuild trust’. But does bickering over semantics by assessment sector stalwarts that smack down dissenting voices, despite counterclaims that ‘the [assessment] emperor has no clothes’, besmirch our mission to nurture trust?

What practical ways can we build trust? The e-Assessment toolkit has many instruments that are proven, scalable, and available today. Digital also solves adjacent issues, such as candidate identity, authenticated coursework, and exam eligibility. But do we need to evidence the pillars of trust: Track Record; Commercial Dynamism; and Social Responsibility? Or introduce proven rating systems?

Is e-Assessment just mis-understood? It’s becoming increasingly difficult to support the assessment status quo when many betray their superficial understanding. A visible figure involved in England’s assessment system recently claimed, “A Grade 4 in maths and English is a relatively random indicator." And what if we told you that some items used for GCSEs and A Levels weren’t pre-trialled? Or no one knows the real cost of running school exams? Or only half of teachers believe e-assessment benefits SEN learners?

How is e-assessment more trustworthy? E-Assessment is held to a higher standard than incumbent analogue, paper-driven systems. Cynics shy away from current system issues, but parrot tropes of scale, security, and cost that our sector overcome many years ago.

Our international panel of experts will discuss where trust is being blighted. In this session, we will also look to engage the audience in meaningful discussion about the gaps in trust they have seen in their own work. But importantly, we will discuss why e-Assessment is a key to enrich confidence and certitude for everybody. "