Access Grading Briefing Assessment requirements

1. Access Grading Briefing Assessment requirements

2. Why these requirements? • To ensure that: • grades, credits and Access to HE Diplomas are awarded on an equivalent basis • the number and type of opportunities for reassessment are limited and clearly defined • the opportunity to be reassessed does not confer an undue advantage, nor diminish achievements of those who achieve at the first attempt • the reassessment opportunities do not undermine confidence in the standard of the Access to HE Diploma • that any extenuating circumstances are taken into account • that course tutors play a central role in making decisions about reassessment and tutor decisions about reassessment are confirmed through moderation • that opportunities for reassessment do not place unmanageable burdens on tutors or moderators

3. Assessment and reassessment • Formal submission of work • Draft submission • Successful submission • Unsuccessful submission • Late submission • Resubmission • Referral

4. Formal submission of work • Formal approach with standardised Assignment Brief sheets which include clear deadlines for submission, including drafts if applicable • Approach is clearly specified in standard course documentation e.g. Student Handbook

5. Draft submissions • Where there is an opportunity to submit a draft for an assignment, it is clearly specified on the assignment brief with a deadline for submission • Tutor feedback on drafts must not include predicted grade indicators or any other information about possible grading judgements • Once a formal submission has been made, it cannot be later declared as a draft by the tutor or student

6. Successful submissions • If the submission has met the learning outcomes and assessment criteria specified at Level 3, it is eligible for grading • Grade indicators are given for that assignment, which create a grade profile • Grade indicators given by the tutor for a submission cannot be adjusted by resubmission of all or part of the assessed work for a unit

7. Unsuccessful submissions • A submission is unsuccessful when one or more of the learning outcomes specified for that assignment have not been achieved • An unsuccessful submission is not eligible for grading • The opportunity for resubmission, together with the requirements and deadlines, must be explained to the student (see section on resubmission) • The original submission is retained for moderation purposes

8. Extensions and late submissions • Procedures and grounds for approval of an extension to a deadline are clearly stated in standard course documentation (e.g. Student Handbook) • If work is submitted after the formal deadline has passed, no extension has been granted and no extenuating circumstances explain the failure to request an extension, all grade indicators relating to that assignment are capped at ‘Pass’ • If an assignment is late and is unsuccessful, there is no opportunity for resubmission except via the referrals process

9. Resubmission : QAA requirements • Resubmission requirements must be: • Proportionate to the degree of non-achievement • Consistent with the way in which the learning outcome(s) was/were originally assessed • Subject to a clear deadline for resubmission • Applied consistently in equivalent assessment situations • Subject to moderation • The same regulations apply to successful resubmissions as successful first submissions and grades are given accordingly

10. Resubmission deadlines : OCNLR recommendations • OCNLR strongly recommends: • Where the resubmission is to address minor details such as non-achievement of a learning outcome or a particular skill has not been demonstrated, that the learner presents the resubmission within one week of tutor setting the additional task. • Where the resubmission is to address more substantial non-achievement such as a number of learning outcomes and where this may require a full assignment submission, that the learner presents the resubmission within two weeks of tutor setting the additional task.

11. Referrals • There is only one opportunity for resubmission • If the resubmission is unsuccessful, the only means by which the learners may be able to achieve the credits for that unit within the same programme cycle is through referral to the Awards Board • Details of this referral process are in Part J of the QAA Grading Implementation Handbook