Experiences with authentic assessment on two practitioner-focused business degree programmes

Authentic assessment (Villarroel et al, 2017), formed the basis for developing two full-time practitioner-focused business degrees at University of Cumbria. The authors’ experiences with the BSc (Hons) Social Enterprise Leadership degree, part of Brathay Trust’s Aspiring Leaders Programme (Ryder and Greenwood, 2015; Watton, 2013), informed their approach to the BA (Hons) Management and Leadership degree. The latter degree prepares students to gain their Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship and in both cases, the students are nominated by their organisations to participate in the programmes as part of their full-time employment. Employers are motivated, in part, by the immediate impact that students have on their business. There is therefore an expectation from students and employers that their coursework assignments are inspired by, and contribute to the solution of, business problems. Modules on both programmes have assignments that focus on the theory and the practice of what is being assessed. Using an approach developed by Christopher (2015), this paper will reflect on the design and difficult validation of the BA (Hons) Management and Leadership degree and report early evidence from preliminary analysis of early feedback from employers and students.