Using assignments instead of final exams: a case for assessing learning in prisons

What happens when a learner has the skills, but the exam itself becomes the barrier?

This action research project follows a prison learner who had worked carefully through his Excel training but failed six assessments. Rather than testing him again in the same way, the tutor developed a practical assignment that allowed him to demonstrate the same skills through a more realistic task.

The result was revealing. The learner reported feeling less pressure without the exam time constraint, while the project also highlighted how greater choice, ownership and real-world application could make assessment more meaningful.

The paper explores whether assignment-based assessment could provide a fairer alternative for some learners in prison education — without lowering the required standards — and reflects on what worked, what needed changing and how the approach could be developed further.