Anti-oppressive Assessment Strategies for Design Teaching

This editorial aims to contribute to the discussion opened by the editors of this special issue by making visible the power dynamics that are implicit in evaluation strategies. It is argued that, by uncritically evaluating students, we not only reproduce patterns of social stratification but also legiti­mize them. Three strategies are proposed that could contribute to the adoption of liberating forms of assessment in the field of design education: self-assess­ment, freedom of format, and free assessment weighting. Beyond their instru­mental value, it is emphasized that these strategies make power relations visible, opening a way to subvert them.