| Title | 21. Freedom to learn |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Developing autonomous critical learners through self-assessment in Higher Education |
| Contributor | Agnese Di Domenico (author) |
| Aidan Harvey (author) | |
| Beth Karp (author) | |
| Elizabeth Shakespeare (author) | |
| Ingeborg van Knippenberg (author) | |
| John Cowan (author) | |
| Zack Moir (author) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0462.21 |
| Landing page | https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0462/chapters/10.11647/obp.0462.21 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Agnese Di Domenico; Aidan Harvey; Beth Karp; Elizabeth Veldon; Ingeborg van Knippenberg; John Cowan; Zack Moir; |
| Publisher | Open Book Publishers |
| Published on | 2025-07-02 |
| Long abstract | Rooted in the transformative pedagogies of Paulo Freire and Carl Rogers, and influenced by contemporary thinkers such as Jesse Stommel, Susan Blum, David Clark, Robert Talbert, and Jan McArthur, this chapter presents a collaborative exploration of self-assessment by a team of students and staff at Edinburgh Napier University, UK. Through shared inquiry, they examine alternative assessment practices that prioritise student metacognition, self-awareness, and learning as a self-directed, meaningful process—rather than one solely validated by institutional metrics. Drawing on their lived experiences of learning without grades, they reflect on how such approaches can foster critical thinking, autonomy, and deeper engagement. Ultimately, they argue for self-assessment as a vital component in the pursuit of a more socially just and equitable Higher Education system. |
| Page range | pp. 237–246 |
| Print length | 10 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
Agnese Di Domenico is a researcher interested in liberatory practices in Music Education. Interested in the field of critical pedagogy and informed by the works of Freire and Gramsci, her work is concerned with how formal music education influences critical thinking and group consciousness. Integrating social justice with critical pedagogy, she is driven by the aspiration to provide a platform for counter-hegemonic practices in compulsory music education.
Aidan Harvey is a researcher and popular music education practitioner. Informed by the work of Freire and Giroux, he is interested in a move away from pedagogies strictly aimed at employability, and towards course design, assessment practices and pedagogy instead suited to facilitating development of critically engaged, empowered members of society. He is also an active musician and composer.
Beth Karp entered into postgraduate academia as a creative practitioner in music; her academic pursuits led to new ways of thinking and approaching learning. She has developed ideas of transformative learning practices and put these into action in her own research. Beth’s key areas of interest focus on facilitating spaces and people to engage in learning practices that aid freedom of growth both for practitioners and participants. Beth believes equipping people with the tools for liberatory praxis is key to the freedom of learning. She is an advocate for social justice with a specialism in trauma-informed practice and domestic abuse.
Elizabeth Shakespeare is a Senior Manager (Information and Guidance) in the STEM Student Support Team at the Open University (OU). She has worked within the Information, Advice and Guidance Service at the OU since 2012, in both student-facing and managerial roles.
Ingeborg van Knippenberg became a lecturer in Learning and Teaching Enhancement after starting her academic life with a PhD and postdoctoral work in a STEM subject. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Programme Leader for the Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education. Her work in staff development aimed at enhancing education is inspired by people like Karen Gravett, Jan McArthur, and Jesse Stommel and their ideas of social justice in Higher Education, pedagogies of care and mattering, and “ungrading”. Her research interests include authentic assessment, teacher identity in academics.
John Cowan is a nonagenarian and still active Professor of Engineering Education who launched and evaluated fully autonomous self-assessed learning in his subject area forty years ago—with widespread national approval throughout the Education for Capability Movement of the Royal Society of Arts. Thereafter, an incoming and authoritarian head of department expressed his disapproval by ordering the closure of the largest UK departmental resource-based learning unit of its time. Cowan moved to become Scottish Director of the UK Open University (OU), where he enjoyed full licence and effective encouragement to concentrate on enhancing the learning and learning experience of the OU students across Scotland, by promoting reflective development of core abilities.
Zack Moir is Professor of Learning and Teaching in Music at Edinburgh Napier University, UK. Zack’s research interests are in popular music in Higher Education, liberatory arts education, Higher Education assessment for social justice, improvisation as liberatory praxis and composition/improvisation pedagogies. Zack is the Lead Editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education: Perspective and Practices (Bloomsbury, 2019), an Editor of The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music Education (Routledge, 2017), and an Editor of Action Based Approaches in Popular Music Education (McLemore Ave Music, 2021), and Editor of Improvisation as Liberatory Praxis in Popular Music Education (OUP, 2025). Zack is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, the Chair of the International Society for Music Education’s Popular Music Special Interest Group and is on the Board of Directors of the Association for Popular Music Education. Zack is also an active composer, musician, and multimedia artist. Recent compositions include pieces for saxophone and tape, solo cello, and a reactive generative sound art installation for the Edinburgh International Science Festival.