Enhancing Error-Visibility of Assessment Practices for Sustainable Educational Reform: A Monitoring and Evaluation Perspective

Abstract

Assessment remains central to the integrity and effectiveness of tertiary education, serving as a vital tool for measuring student learning outcomes and ensuring accountability. However, hidden errors in assessment practices—including flaws in design, administration, marking, and interpretation—undermine fairness, validity, and trust in higher education. Enhancing error-visibility, the ability to detect and understand such errors, is essential for sustainable educational reform. This paper explores how the potential of unobtrusive observation as a robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanism, in increasing the visibility of such errors, can promote sustainable educational reform. Through immersion in the lived realities of assessment processes, unobtrusive observers provide nuanced insights into human, systemic, and contextual factors often missed by other data gathering methods. The paper discusses theoretical underpinnings, methodological considerations, benefits, and ethical challenges, emphasizing the role of unobtrusive observation in promoting reflective practice, accountability, and continuous improvement in tertiary assessment systems. Drawing on systems theory and total quality management principles, the study emphasizes the role of error-detection, assessment audits, and stakeholder feedback in improving assessment quality. Recommendations are provided for integrating error-visibility into institutional and national education quality assurance frameworks.