Student Appeals
Practice environments that are approved and have university approved Mentors to participate in the summative assessment process of students are contributing to both the academic progression of the student and to the award of the academic and professional qualification the student becomes eligible to receive
- The university allows appeals in any assessment process if the student believes that the PROCESS of the assessment in some way disadvantaged the student and that it affected their performance.
- The University does not allow students to appeal on the outcome of the assessment or the assessor’s professional judgement.
Good Practice in the Assessment of Practice
This section should be read in conjunction with the Role Profile for Mentors identified at Appendix 2 and the requirements of assessment including scheduled meetings as advised in the information carried by the student. Minimally, these include meetings at the start - orientation and initial tripartite meeting, middle - progression meeting and a final tripartite meeting the end of the placement.
Formative Assessment is carried out a minimum of once per placement and takes the form of the Mentor giving written feedback using the appropriate Mentor Feedback of student progress sheet contained within the students portfolio, towards achieving the goals outlined at the preliminary tripartite.
Summative Assessment is when the goals agreed at the initial tripartite meeting are reviewed at the final tripartite meeting for each placement. The outcome is formally recorded along with any performance feedback the Mentor and Link Teacher wish to give the student.
As the portfolio represents a continuous assessment document, all elements, performance criteria and any other requested evidence have to be achieved by the end of the academic year.
Should a student be recognised as failing to achieve, the following actions should be followed.
Cause for Concern
If during formative assessment the student is understood not to be making progress as would normally be expected, and based on your observations of this performance, the following actions should be taken.
- Determine whether the student is failing to achieve assessment outcomes for skills, or that their personal / professional behaviour is not what is normally expected
- Give written feedback to the student using the form from their portfolio, Mentor's Feedback on Student Progress
- Contact the Link Teacher
- Document on Cause for Concern form in portfolio.
- Begin the process of action planning and goal setting using the form available
Failure by the student to Demonstrate the Assessment Outcomes
- Notify early, by contacting directly the Link Teacher for the student if the student is failing to achieve specific outcomes linked to a particular placement and seek their guidance.
- The Link Teacher will arrange to meet with the student and normally visit the practice area
Failure of the Student's Personal / Professional Behaviour in the Practice Setting
- If the failure to achieve is linked to the students personal / professional behaviour contact the Link Teacher, Pathway Leader or Year Leader directly and as soon as you have a concern
- The Link Teacher, Pathway Leader or Year leader will arrange to see the student and may visit the practice area.
- Contact personnel or the university as advised above
Record Keeping
In all instances it is the responsibility of the Mentor to keep a copy of any written feedback or action plans that have been given to or agreed with the student as part of the assessment in that setting. Should the student progress an appeal, this information will be required to show evidence of:
- The opportunities, support and guidance given to the student
- The process followed
Student Appeals
“An ‘appeal’ is defined as a request for a review of a decision of an Assessment Board charged with making decisions on student progression, assessment and awards. Such an appeal will always be concerned with the conduct of the assessment or with the personal circumstances of the candidate and not with questioning the academic judgement of a Board”
The procedure the student should follow is outlined in: THE UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD STUDENTS’ HANDBOOK OF REGULATIONS
Source: University of Huddersfield (2003) Students’ Handbook of Regulations, Section 4 Regulation 7 Para 7.1
- Each student has access to a copy of these regulations