Heaps, prototypes and ethics : The consequences of using judgements of student performance to set examination standards in a time of change

Cresswell discusses the processes by which expert judgements of students' performances are made and their nature, arguing that they give rise to examination grades which are best understood as rough sets defined by dynamic performance prototypes.

Considering the problem of maintaining comparable standards through a major change of examination regime he argues that setting examination standards by judging the quality of students' examination performances is likely to lead to ethically or socially problematic consequences in these circumstances.