Aural Fluency Assessment in Contemporary Music Education: A practice-led framework for plural-modal, genre-inclusive assessment

This white paper proposes a standards-oriented framework for assessing aural skills in contemporary music higher education. It introduces aural fluency as a core assessment construct, distinguishing contextual, directional, and relational listening capacities from symbolic aural literacy alone. The framework addresses a growing misalignment between increasingly diverse music curricula and assessment practices that remain implicitly benchmarked against Western classical norms. Drawing on practice-led and reflective-practitioner research, the paper outlines principles for valid assessment design, four complementary assessment modes, system-relative benchmarking strategies, and approaches to moderation and external examining. The document is non-empirical and design-based. It does not prescribe repertoire or pedagogy, but provides assessment principles, task archetypes, and grading structures adaptable across genres and musical systems. It is intended for programme leaders, module leaders, examiners, and curriculum designers seeking defensible, inclusive, and rigorous approaches to aural assessment in higher music education.