When marks stop driving learning
Prof. Elizabeth Angstmann and A/Prof. Helen Gibbon
Over the past year, UNSW has explored what happens when marks are no longer the central focus of student learning. In 2025, colleagues from across all faculties participated in a university‑wide pilot of competency‑based assessment models across a range of courses. The results were striking: student feedback was overwhelmingly positive, including from those in traditionally high‑pressure programs. Many valued the opportunity to focus on genuine learning rather than maximising marks. These findings have since informed the University’s new Assessment and Progression Policy.
Realising the benefits of competency‑based assessment involves more than simply the removal of marks; it requires intentional course design based on core principles. The successful courses in the pilot shared these features: clearly defined learning outcomes, transparent standards of proficiency, multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate learning, and strong alignment between teaching, assessment, and course goals. Crucially, students were required to demonstrate competency across all core areas, rather than performing well in some areas to compensate for weaker performance elsewhere. This approach is most effective when assessment is decoupled from numerical grading, enabling students to focus on developing and demonstrating their learning rather than optimising performance against a grading scale.
The pilot included 25 undergraduate and postgraduate courses across 13 Schools, representing more than 5,000 enrolments. Surveys of both students and staff revealed consistent themes in their experiences.
Impact on students and learning
One of the most significant findings was the positive impact on peer relationships and classroom culture. Without the pressure to compete for marks, students reported more cooperative and supportive learning environments. As one student explained:
"Since there was no pressure of competing for higher grades, students were more willing to share ideas, support each other, and work together on tasks. This encouraged open discussion and collaboration, which helped to build a stronger sense of teamwork with my peers."
This shift was particularly valuable for students early in their degrees, where forming peer connections is critical. Many described their relationships with peers as “more cooperative and less competitive”, a change echoed by staff, who observed more interactions and richer discussions once expectations were clearly understood.
Student wellbeing was also improved. Many students reported reduced stress and anxiety about assessments once marks were no longer the primary focus. For some, particularly those new to university, this created a sense of psychological safety. Students felt more able to make mistakes, learn from feedback, and persist without fear that early missteps would permanently affect their results. As one student described:
“The SY/FL grading model had a very positive impact on my stress levels and overall wellbeing. Without the pressure of achieving a specific numerical mark, I felt less anxious about minor mistakes and more focused on genuinely learning the content.”
Importantly, this reduction in stress did not come at the expense of effort. Many students described moving away from “mark‑maximising” strategies towards deeper engagement with content and skill development.
From a teaching perspective, competency‑based assessment prompted valuable reflection on course design. Well‑designed rubrics helped articulate expectations and supported more constructive feedback conversations, focusing on improvement rather than justification of marks. At the same time, the pilot also highlighted challenges. In some courses, providing multiple opportunities to demonstrate competency increased marking and administrative workload. Additionally, recognising exceptional performance within competency-based models remains an area for further development.
The pilot reinforced that no single assessment model suits every context. Competency‑based approaches appear particularly effective in introductory courses, work‑integrated learning, and capstone experiences, where demonstrating core skills and readiness is more important than fine-grained numerical mark distinctions. These insights are shaping ongoing discussions about where and how such approaches can be applied most effectively.
Overall, the findings are encouraging. Competency‑based assessment is not a quick fix or a simple change; it is a design‑led approach that requires clarity about what we value in learning and deliberate alignment of assessment with those values. As UNSW continues to move towards a program‑level approach to assessment, the evidence from this pilot provides a strong foundation for future decisions.
Based on these insights, convenors of introductory courses – typically those undertaken in a student’s first term or semester of study, which are foundational in nature and form part of the core curriculum – are encouraged to consider whether competency‑based assessment could support student learning and transition to university in their context. Support is available for those interested in exploring this approach, including guidance on implementation and design.