Investigating the use of ‘professional dialogues’ when assessing academic practice: revealing learning, managing process, and enabling judgements

In 2015, over 40% of UK higher education (HE) institutions employed oral assessment when assessing and awarding fellowship on HE Academy-accredited schemes using the UK Professional Standards Framework. This article develops research on assessed ‘professional dialogues’ for this purpose. Data collected at four UK institutions, in which 12 assessed dialogues were recorded, transcribed, and analysed, revealed common patterns and processes. The article discusses how the ‘assessed dialogue’ evolves to expose learning and is managed, in order to support those using dialogue for assessment. It augments the body of knowledge on oral assessment in the UK and internationally.