Assessment as an exercise of responsible citizenship Issues and perspectives in educational and training systems

The paper moves from the evaluation concept as judgment about the value of something or someone and puts into evidence its cultural and ethical dimensions and the related responsibilities, with particular attention to education. It then deepens some issues and shifts of the current evaluation systems, based on cultural models and methodological approaches not sufficiently sensitive to the social and environmental aspects of the (professional, organizational, educational) evaluated contexts. On the basis of the international research, the paper points therefore out the cultural and collaborative perspective in order to develop evaluation systems and practices suitable for the needs of different subjects (administrations, professionals, customers etc.) so to develop a shared culture of evaluation and to motivate everyone to act responsibly for its good use.