The 4I=R2 Framework: Advancing an agenda for psychological assessment in South Africa

Professor Sumaya Laher, Head of the Department of Psychology at Wits will present her inaugural lecture.

The unprecedented rise in the use of technologies across all sectors during COVID-19 hastened South Africa's participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). However access and distributional challenges in South Africa remain core concerns amidst a volatile and complex global context. Psychology and psychological assessment in particular requires a rethinking within this time and space.

This lecture will present a brief history of assessment internationally and locally to contextualize the need for a 4I=R² framework for assessment in South Africa. The 4I=R² framework affords an opportunity for the discipline to advance beyond traditional assessment practices where the 4 I’s of Inclusion, Indigenisation, Innovation and Impact will be discussed as necessary components for a relevant and responsive discipline.

In so doing the lecture will present evidence where traditional forms of assessment are evolving in line with social contexts and technological developments. The extent to which this aids in addressing challenges in the South African assessment landscape with regards to theory, research, policy and practice will be discussed together with what still needs to be done to meet the 4I=R² vision.

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