Proceedings of the 10 th International Conference on Education, Vol. 10, Issue 1, 2023, pp. 159 - 167 Copyright © Authors ISSN 2424 - 6700 online DOI: https://doi.org/10.17501/24246700.2023.10113 *Corresponding Authors’ Email: nora_skl@hotmail.com OPEN ASSESSMENT FOR OPEN SCHOOLING IN THE (POST) PANDEMIC WORLD. A THEORETICAL APPROACH KOUNATIDOU T, SAKKOULA N* and LIONARAKIS A School of Humanities, Hellenic Open University, Greece Abstract: Due to globalization and the unexpected pandemic outburst, the need for educational change and shift to openness came to the fore. Openness confirms the quality of education as a fundamental human right, providing educational opportunities to everyone and under any circumstances. Nonetheless, open educational practices are rarely applied and adopted by schools, and as a result, traditional school education remains outdated, maintaining its narrow and closed character. Student assessment, as an integral part of the educational process, can enhance either school’s openness or closedness. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine – through a literature review of peer- reviewed, topic-related articles – how the implementation of open assessment can contribute to forming an open school, which aims at students’ amelioration and not categorization, according to their scores. The major findings of our study show that open forms of assessment lead to promoting openness within schools, by developing 21st century learner skills in meaningful and authentic ways, as well as values related to democracy, human rights and equity. This paper adds up to the existing literature as it offers an alternative perspective regarding school assessment, which is in alignment with the needs of today’s learners and can function as an assistive tool for opening up school education in the long term. Keywords: traditional student assessment, open assessment, open schooling, equity, democracy, covid-19 pandemic Introduction In recent years, in the wake of the pandemic and the rapid changes taking place at all levels of the globalized modern world, much has been said about the promotion of Human Rights and Democracy, particularly in the field of education (Cunningham, 2017; Lionarakis, Manousou, Hartofylaka, Papadimitriou, & Ioakeimidou, 2020). The reconfiguration of traditional education systems and the creation of an Open School based on equity and social justice, as well as the implementation of Open Learning practices, are essential prerequisites for the foundation of sustainable democratic societies (United Nations, 1948; Lionarakis, et al., 2020). However, school continues to use outdated educational practices that promote inequity in all its manifestations, discriminations and fear of new initiatives. Assessment, as an integral part of the educational process, is included in these practices. In fact, it is solely aimed at ranking pupils according to their scores, creating two-tier pupils and thus perpetuating existing inequity (Black & William, 1998, 2018). The transition to openness can contribute to transforming traditional assessment from a sterile ranking process into an ameliorative one that will