Marking of assessed work excluding the Thesis

(3)9.8

Marking shall be undertaken in accordance with agreed written criteria. All marking schemes and practices regardless of format should secure reliability and transparency through the use of assessment criteria, rubrics, or marking grids to which all markers and professional doctorate students shall have access.

(3)9.9

Marking outcomes shall be measured against the written criteria and shall not be adjusted against a statistical distribution.

(3)9.10

Assessed components which would not contribute to the award of an intermediate qualification may be marked on a pass/fail basis. Otherwise, the pass mark for assessed components shall be 50% except for:

• specified professional competency tests for the degree of DClinPsy where the pass mark shall be 75%
• the probation review at the end of the second year for the degree of EdD where the pass mark shall be 60%

(3)9.11

Assessed components which would contribute to the award of an intermediate qualification shall be graded according to the mark achieved. The grading scheme shall be described in the programme specification.

(3)9.12

Professional doctorate students cannot carry an assessed component for which they fail to gain a pass mark or which is deemed to have failed for any reason. The markers shall normally recommend to the Board of Examiners that such students should have their registration terminated.

(3)9.13

The professional doctorate student shall be deemed to have failed an assessed component owing to non-submission if they do not submit the required assessed component.

(3)9.14

The professional doctorate student shall be deemed to have failed an assessed component owing to late submission if they:

• submit the assessed component after the specified deadline without an approved extension, or
• submit the assessed component after the end of an approved extension period

(3)9.15

Course results, module results, and assessed component results shall not be released to professional doctorate students who are in debt to the University.

Marking practices

(3)9.16

The Board of Examiners shall be responsible for the appropriateness of the marking practices for the assessed components of the degree excluding the thesis. The marking practices for professional doctorate programmes shall be reviewed through the annual and periodic review mechanisms.

(3)9.17

With the exception of assessed components that are marked automatically by electronic or other means, assessed components shall be subject to one or more of the following systems of moderation:

• Double Marking – Two markers work to the same mark scheme; they may either
  • a. mark blind in parallel, or
  • b. the second marker reviews the reliability of the first marker’s grading and comments (rather than directly assessing the work itself)
  An agreed mark must be reached for each piece of work. If it is not possible to reach an agreed mark, a third marker should be involved.
• Sampling – Work is marked by the first marker and a sample of work is seen by the second marker who blind marks; samples can be a random selection, a stratified random sample from different grade boundaries, borderline cases between grade boundaries, or other sampling as appropriate; if it is not possible to reach an agreed mark, a third marker should be involved
• Moderation – Work is marked by the first marker; the second marker receives a full set of marks and a sample of work – the sample selected using one of the means described above – which can be used to test the robustness of the marking; the second marker does not directly assess the work itself
• Blind Marking – Work is provided to the second marker or moderator as original copies without any grade or comments from the first marker 

(3)9.18

Any first marking not undertaken by members of the University’s academic staff or a member of staff of the National Health Service holding an honorary position with the University – such as first marking undertaken by an associate tutor – shall be subject to a system of moderation by a member of the University’s academic staff or a member of staff of the National Health Service holding an honorary position with the University.

(3)9.19

With the exception of members of staff of the National Health Service holding an honorary position with the University, honorary and emeritus staff shall not be appointed as first or second markers or moderators. Current research students shall not be appointed as first or second markers or moderators.

(3)9.20

The markers shall be responsible for:

• confirming that the approved system of moderation has been applied
• approving provisional assessment component results for reporting to the Board of Examiners
• approving re-submission opportunities with respect to the first submission of assessed components which fail to achieve a pass mark or which are deemed to have failed owing to non-submission or late submission
• recommending to the Board of Examiners termination of registration with respect to assessed components which are deemed to have failed owing to plagiarism
• recommending to the Board of Examiners termination of registration with respect to resubmitted assessed components which fail to achieve a pass mark or are deemed to have failed for any reason
• recommending to the Board of Examiners termination of registration or transfer to a lower intermediate qualification with respect to professional doctorates students who do not meet the progression requirements specified in (3)9.34
• agreeing the release of provisional assessment component results to professional doctorate students

(3)9.21

The markers shall make decisions on the basis of evidence of the professional doctorate student’s achievement. Scaling or norm referencing of marks shall not be used. Marks which have been approved by the markers may not be adjusted except as specified in (3)9.53.

Return of marked work and feedback

(3)9.22

The Programme Director shall be responsible for ensuring that the marking practices are in accordance with the University’s Policy on the Return of Marked Work.

(3)9.23

Marked assessed components should be returned to the professional doctorate student with appropriate feedback to enable the student to identify both where they have demonstrated particular strengths and how they can improve their performance in subsequent assessed components.

(3)9.24

Professional doctorate students should be provided with a provisional mark and associated feedback on submitted assessed components within twenty-eight days from the date that the assessed component was submitted (DSocSci, EdD, and EngD degree programmes) or within forty-two days from the date that the assessed component was submitted (DClinPsy degree programme).

(3)9.25

In exceptional circumstances where marked assessed components cannot be returned within the specified period, the programme team shall notify the relevant professional doctorate students of the expected return date and the reasons for the longer turn-around time. The relevant professional doctorate students shall be provided with interim feedback where possible.