Capability to identify quality and to make decisions regarding the quality of work of self and others is known as evaluative judgement. Evaluative judgement is an emerging concept that can only be developed by a quality partnership with an educational environment. Though newly named, the concept of evaluative judgement has existed in the literature since late 1980’s. At first glance, it may seem like a more complicated way of referring to critical thinking or self-evaluation. However, it entitles more than learner's participation in the assessment tasks designed to develop critical thinking or self-evaluation capabilities.
Not much is known about the developmental process of evaluative judgement. Some recent research provides evidence that pedagogical activities such as feedback, self and peer assessment, portfolio, among many others, may contribute to the development of evaluative judgement. Development of evaluative judgement capability is crucial for learners, not only in terms of success in the educational environment but also in transforming them into life-long learners and preparing them for the professional world beyond education. Evaluative judgement capability is not explicitly as a graduate attribute but seen by many as a necessary capability. The notion of quality is a complex concept as it is something that is not easily described but identified when seen. Such complexity provides a barrier of clear identification and development as we are unclear what learners perceive as quality, therefore further investigation is required.
One of the benefits of evaluative judgement is a need to facilitate dialogue about quality between learners and learners and learners and educators. Such partnerships established around the concept of quality will help create a new generation of learners and industry professionals. The primary purpose of this study is to expand discussion about the development of evaluative judgement and to position it as a new graduate's attribute.