Chapter 19 - Looking Back, Moving Forward

Summary

To look forward, it is necessary to look back and learn from the past. Hence this diverse collection of histories provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on what a future assessment might look like globally. Across the regions the themes for the future of assessment were similar. These centered around the need to adapt tests, to incorporate more local or emic assessments, as well as the need to use more indigenous knowledge. There was a clear narrative of a lack of training and resources in countries that would typically be described as developing or as low- to middle-income countries. This need was also evident in countries that are relatively developed but engaged with psychological assessment later in their histories in comparison to the United States, Britain, France, and Germany, for example. Typically, countries that were colonized, especially those colonized by Britain, showed more developments in the field of assessment as they had more contact with early developments in the field. This chapter reflects on the international histories of assessment and provides an overarching view on what we assess, why we assess, who assesses, and how we assess. In so doing the chapter presents a possible blueprint for the way forward for assessment in the global village that will be equally accessible and applicable to all.