we "face a significant challenge in understanding what is meant by truth and in establishing what counts

as trustworthy in many aspects of public life". Such challenges are aligned with the dominance of so-
called post-truth discourses.

Post-truth, named by Oxford Dictionaries as its Word of the Year in 2016, is defined as “relating to or
denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than
appeals to emotion and personal belief”.

Essentially the discourses surrounding public issues have become polarised; many debates lack
substantive truth in relation to the evidence presented and thus, public levels of mistrust and scepticism
have flourished,”

fake news ramps up a level of confusion which builds really shaky arguments which feed back into very
poor ideas which then perpetuate falsehood, and that continues to sustain this post truth narrative that
feeds back into the public discourse,

How do we establish ideas and truths and challenge some of the falsehoods?”

I think the only way we can really establish trust in what it is that we do and really develop a sense of
trustworthiness about assessment and education is to make sure that we have everybody engaged

there are four main areas to focus on: a commitment to reframing terminology to improve
understanding; improving communication with stakeholders and the public; transparency and a
commitment to truth; and lastly engaging people, as it was a vital public endeavour.