[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-620821-105":59,"doc-detail-620821-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","accessibility-in-exams-for-students-from-different-cultural-backgrounds-research-and-innovation-phoebe-surridge","Accessibility in exams for students from different cultural backgrounds - Research and Innovation - Phoebe Surridge","","Review examining exam accessibility for students from different cultural backgrounds within the UK education system. Summarises key findings on how aspects of assessment can disadvantage learners due to cultural background, despite ongoing efforts toward equality, diversity, and inclusion in qualifications. Defines terminology such as cultural familiarity, cultural sensitivity, culturally relevant and culturally responsive assessment. Highlights the need for intersectional approaches and explores links between epistemologies, curriculum choices, and standardised assessment practices that may reflect limited perspectives.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/accessibility-in-exams-for-students-from-different-cultural-backgrounds-research-and-innovation-phoebe-surridge/620821/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/accessibility-in-exams-for-students-from-different-cultural-backgrounds-research-and-innovation-phoebe-surridge/620821.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Alex Sinclair","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-10-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does the document mean by cultural familiarity and how does it affect exam performance?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Cultural familiarity refers to assessment contexts or constructs that are easily recognisable to some students but not all. Students for whom items are culturally familiar may have an advantage over those for whom items are culturally unfamiliar or distant.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does culturally responsive assessment differ from culturally relevant assessment?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Culturally relevant assessment links materials to students’ backgrounds and everyday experiences. Culturally responsive assessment centres on the students taking the exam, creating assessments that respond to and adapt to their needs and demographic changes.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why does the review argue that intersectional approaches are needed in assessment?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Educational research often examines single characteristics, which can miss how different traits interact. The document notes that differential item functioning may need extension because separate analyses by factors like gender, SES, ethnicity, or school type fail to capture important intersections and patterns.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},620821,1792746451,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},1099523882182,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Accessibility in exams for students from different cultural backgrounds  \nResearch and Innovation  \nPhoebe Surridge  \n\n| Terminology used in this document: abbreviations and definitions |\n| --- |\n| Socioeconomic status (SES)\u003Cbr>Cultural familiarity within this report refers to the use of a context or construct within an assessment item that is easily recognisable, or ‘familiar’, to some students but not all. Students for whom the item is culturally familiar are likely to have an advantage in answering the question over those for whom the item is culturally unfamiliar or distant.\u003Cbr>Cultural sensitivity involves ensuring that assessments do not include any material that may be offensive, insensitive or upsetting to students based on their background, beliefs and life experiences.\u003Cbr>Culturally relevant assessment makes links between the assessment material and students’background and experiences, i.e. the assessment material and items are culturally relevant to the students who are taking the assessment and reflect their everyday lives (Evans, 2021) .\u003Cbr>Culturally responsive assessment centres around the students who take the exam, ensuring that assessments are created to respond and adapt to the needs of students and any changes to their demographic makeup (Montenegro & Jankowski, 2017; Evans, 2021; Bernstein-Ellis et al. , 2021) . |\n\nExecutive summary  \nStudents within the UK education system have a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. Despite efforts to improve equality, diversity and inclusion within qualifications, it is possible that some students may still be disadvantaged by aspects of assessment based on their individual characteristics, including their cultural background. This review summarises the key findings around exam accessibility for students with different cultural backgrounds and identifies areas for future exploration. It is part of a series of rapid evidence reviews shaped by Ofqual’s consultation on designing and developing accessible assessments. Other reviews focus on D/deaf students, students with learning difficulties, students with visual impairment, students on the autism spectrum, and students with English as an additional language.  \nIntroduction  \nThe UK has over nine million school-aged children covering a wide demographic , each of whom have different experiences both inside and outside of school; for example, 34.5% of students are from minority ethnic backgrounds, 19.5% of students have a first language other than English and 22.5% are eligible for free school meals (Department for Education, 2022) . In an effort to produce fairer assessment, AQA has made huge strides towards greater representation in its specifications  \nand has responded to issues around equality, diversity and inclusion in its qualifications (AQA, 2020) . However, some students may still be disadvantaged by particular elements of assessment based on certain characteristics, including their cultural background (Ofqual, 2022) .  \nEducational research often explores an issue or phenomenon from a single perspective (e.g. gender or ethnicity) , which may result in a failure to recognise how these different characteristics may interact or intersect in ways that could impact how students perform in assessments. Lyons et al. (2021) therefore highlight the need for more intersectional approaches in assessment with regard to ensuring students from different cultural backgrounds are not unfairly impacted by exam items. For example, approaches to differential item functioning may need to be extended, as separate analyses of items based on factors such as gender, SES, ethnicity or school type fail to capture important intersections and potential patterns between students in these groups and their interactions with the items (Lyons et al. , 2021) .  \nEpistemologies in assessment  \nLearning is often viewed as a culturally neutral process , but evidence suggests that this is not the case (Bang, 2019) . Epistemology is an area of phi","cbCaim87TkYavMm2","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaim87TkYavMm2","pdf",320624,11,"English","# Executive summary\n# Introduction\n# Epistemologies in assessment","[{\"question\":\"What does the document mean by cultural familiarity and how does it affect exam performance?\",\"answer\":\"Cultural familiarity refers to assessment contexts or constructs that are easily recognisable to some students but not all. Students for whom items are culturally familiar may have an advantage over those for whom items are culturally unfamiliar or distant.\"},{\"question\":\"How does culturally responsive assessment differ from culturally relevant assessment?\",\"answer\":\"Culturally relevant assessment links materials to students’ backgrounds and everyday experiences. Culturally responsive assessment centres on the students taking the exam, creating assessments that respond to and adapt to their needs and demographic changes.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the review argue that intersectional approaches are needed in assessment?\",\"answer\":\"Educational research often examines single characteristics, which can miss how different traits interact. The document notes that differential item functioning may need extension because separate analyses by factors like gender, SES, ethnicity, or school type fail to capture important intersections and patterns.\"}]","Accessibility in exams for students from different cultural backgrounds - Research and Innovation - Phoebe Surridge | PDF",1792464640,28]