1. Periodic Programme Review Report
– Validated Programmes in Sport, Exercise and Fitness at
2. Date
of report: March 2006
3. JACS
codes: to be added as necessary
4. ‘Department’:
5.
Objectives of review
All
departments in the University undertake a ‘periodic programme
review’ once every five years. The
review is conducted by an independent review panel and covers a
department’s complete portfolio of programmes. A self-evaluative commentary forms the focus
of discussion between the department and the review panel, whose report and
recommendations are intended to assure the University of the quality of the
department’s programmes and the standards being achieved by its students. The review panel will also report on the
effectiveness of the department’s arrangements for managing quality and
standards in relation to learning and teaching.
The
University has determined that its validated programmes will be subject to a
similar ‘periodic programme review’ process, with the appropriate
section of the partner institution – in this case the Sport, Exercise and
Fitness Team at Loughborough College – participating in the same role as
a University department.
The
revalidation of the relevant programmes will be informed by the PPR process.
6. Conduct
of review
The
Panel comprised the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (Chair),
the Faculty’s Associate Dean (Teaching), two senior academic staff from
departments in the Faculty, the Head of Academic Practice and Quality in
Professional Development, and an External Assessor from another University, with
the Programme Development and Quality Team Manager as Secretary. The Chair of the Learning and Teaching
Committee in the
The
Panel met the Senior Manager for HE in the College, the Team Leader for Sport,
Exercise and Fitness, the relevant programme leaders, module leaders from the
Honours top-up programme, and the Development Manager. It also met with a group of current students
from the programmes under review.
The
Panel undertook a brief tour of sports science laboratories and the Learning Resource
Centre during the course of the review.
A draft
report was circulated to all Panel members and their comments incorporated into
the final version.
7. Evidence
base
Documentation
provided to the Panel in advance of the review met the University’s
requirements and formed a helpful basis for the Panel’s discussions. It included
·
A self-evaluative
commentary
·
Programme specifications
·
Annual programme review
forms from 2004 onwards – relating to sessions 2002/03, 2003/04 and
2004/05 (including data on recruitment, progression, withdrawals, degree
results, first destinations, summary of actions taken in response to feedback)
·
External Examiners’
reports 2002/03 to 2004/05
·
QAA Subject Review Report
on Hospitality, Leisure, Recreation, Sport and Tourism, 2001; QAA Foundation
Degree Review Report, Sports Science with Sports Management, 2005
·
Minutes of Course Committee
Meetings with Students 2003 to 2005
·
Retention and Achievement
Statistics
·
An ‘assessment
matrix’ showing the mode of assessment for all the modules included in
the programmes under review
·
A table mapping module
intended learning outcomes against the QAA subject benchmark statement in
Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism, and the qualification benchmark for the
Foundation Degree
·
An outline of the Team’s
future plans
The Team
also provided copies of the College ‘Teaching and Learning Policy’,
its own ‘Teaching Policies and Procedures’ document, and individual
staff profiles.
8. External peer contribution to the process
The
University’s academic quality procedures require that the review panel
includes an External Assessor who is not
a serving External Examiner for the area under review. The External Assessor was a senior academic
in the same discipline area from another university, who had not been an
External Examiner for either the University or the College. The External Assessor reviewed the
documentation provided, took a leading part in discussions between the review
panel and the College Team and contributed to the report.
9. Overview of the main characteristics of
the programmes covered by the review
The
review covered three Foundation Degree programmes (the year of the first intake
is shown in brackets):
·
FDSc in Sports Science (SS)
(2001)
·
FDSc in Sports Science with
Sports Management (SSSM) (2002)
·
FDSc in Exercise and Health
(EH) (2005)
and the
one-year Honours ‘top-up’ degree:
·
BSc in Applied Sports
Science (2003).
All
four programmes are designed and delivered by
The FDs
are delivered primarily in full-time mode, although part-time study is also
possible. The programmes have been
developed mainly for school leavers and also to provide elite athletes with a
relevant qualification to pursue a second career in the sports, exercise and
fitness industry. The programmes aim to
provide students with the knowledge and skills required for a range of employment
opportunities in the industry.
Students
on the SS FD take 14 compulsory sports science modules (140 credits), 4
optional sports science modules (40 credits) chosen from 6, and complete 60
credits of work-based learning (WBL), including two industrial placements, an
employability skills module and a project.
SSSM FD students take 8 compulsory sports science modules (80 credits),
4 optional sports science modules (40 credits) chosen from 10, 6 compulsory
management modules (60 credits), and again 60 credits of WBL. EH FD students take 12 compulsory
subject-specific modules (120 credits), 6 compulsory management modules (60
credits) and 60 credits of WBL. There is
extensive commonality in the sports science modules taken by SS and SSSM
students; and several of these modules are also taken by the EH students. The same management modules are taken by SSSM
and EH students: these are contributed by staff from the Management and
Professional Team within the College and allow students to obtain an
The FDs
are planned to ensure that academic knowledge underpins and aids the
development of vocational work-related skills.
The majority of staff have relevant vocational experience and a range of
vocational qualifications, on which they are able to draw in their teaching.
The
College continues to offer an HND in Sport and Exercise Science alongside the
FDs, which requires a lower UCAS tariff for entry and tends to attract a larger
proportion of non A-level entrants from FE routes.
The
Honours top-up is a full-time one-year programme, designed specifically as a
progression route for students who successfully complete one of the College
FDs. In order to progress to the top-up,
FD graduates must achieve an average of 55% in Part B FD modules; they are not
required to take a bridging programme. Transfer
to the final year of an Honours degree programme in the
28
students (including 2 PT) were admitted to the SS FD in 2005, 15 to the SSSM FD
and 6 to the EH FD. There were 22
students on the BSc Hons programme in Applied Sports Science (including 5
PT).
10.
Conclusions on innovation and good practice
Examples
of innovation and good practice observed by the panel included the following.
10.1
The College had made a
strategic commitment to Foundation Degrees and underpinned this with human and
physical resources.
10.2
It was apparent that the
staff had a strong team-working ethic.
Students appreciated their accessibility and support.
10.3
A strong emphasis was
placed on addressing the differentiated needs of individual learners.
10.4
The team were willing to
innovate in the delivery of the programmes and to respond to student needs, for
example, in the delivery of the management modules in intensive week-long
blocks which eased the timetable burden in the rest of the semester and allowed
elite sports students more time for training.
10.5
The way in which staff
introduced students to new modules was consistently helpful and commented on by
the students.
10.6
All students were allocated
a progress tutor and tutorials were held on a regular basis. Additional tutorials could be booked if
students required them. Personal
development plans were maintained within the tutorial context.
10.7
The use of an electronic
‘Student Tracking System’ allowed the programme leader and progress
tutor to gain current information on each student.
10.8
The College has a
comprehensive Professional Development Scheme which combines a Professional
Development Review with Continuous Professional Development and provides
opportunities for individual members of staff to review their development and
prioritise individual objectives on a regular basis in relation to corporate
goals of the College. Part-time staff are
included in the scheme.
10.9
Peer evaluation and
teaching observations by senior staff inform the staff appraisal process.
10.10 The links between the College and the
10.11 The encouragement given to students to take additional
vocational qualifications within the College but outside the curriculum (eg
coaching awards) in order to enhance their employability is commendable.
10.12 An electronic progress file to support personal
development planning was being trialled, through a JISC funded project. Materials were being re-written at the time
of the review which prevented the panel from obtaining feedback from the
students on its effectiveness. This was
nevertheless considered a good example of innovation.
11. Conclusions
on quality and standards
11.1 The panel
was satisfied that the aims and ILOs for the FD programmes were appropriate and
matched to the intermediate level of the FHEQ.
Those for the BSc programme were almost identical however and would
benefit from being further differentiated from the FDs.
11.2 The Panel
was satisfied that the FD programmes reflected the defining characteristics of
Foundation Degrees as set out in the QAA Qualification Benchmark, including
employer involvement, accessibility, articulation and progression, flexibility,
and partnership.
11.3 Employers
had been consulted in the design and development of the curriculum, and
industry needs identified through the sector skills council had been taken into
account. There was ongoing employer
involvement through the industrial placements, and the panel welcomed the
College appointment of an Employer Liaison Officer to organise, monitor and
evaluate student placements and co-ordinate employer links. External contacts with employer bodies were
also fostered by the Development Team.
11.4 FD success
rates at the end of Part B are good; excellent results have been achieved by
the students who have progressed to the Honours top-up in Applied Sports
Science, and very good results have been achieved by the few who have transferred
to a final Honours year in SSES. There
have been high initial failure rates, however, at the end of Part A. The panel was informed that the Team was
rolling out an action plan to address this, including assignment guidance in
progress tutorials, use of ‘A’ grade exemplars, individual
tutorials with at-risk students, and stricter assignment submission
procedures.
11.5 The external
examiners’ reports were generally positive and were complimentary of the
staff and the standards achieved. Over
time they had identified a number of weaknesses that needed to be
addressed. On some issues, which
recurred, the College appeared to have been slow to respond and only one,
recent, written response was provided for the panel to see. The panel was assured, however, that full
attention was being given to the critical issues and that more robust
procedures were being adopted, for example, in relation to second marking and
moderation – details of these procedures were provided - and to improve
the consistency of marking and feedback given to students. A change of external examiner had taken place
in the current session and it was reported that the new external had already
made a number of helpful inputs to programme developments.
11.6 Student
feedback is gathered at the end of each module and discussed in the programme
team. First year students also complete
an evaluation at the end of their induction period. There are College-wide surveys on issues such
as support and welfare facilities. There
are discussions with course representatives, though the small numbers (<25)
mean that individual students are often able to pursue issues with the staff as
they arise.
11.7 Although
the QAA FD Review complimented the College on its electronic learning
resources, the panel was informed by the students that it was sometimes
difficult within the College to access PCs and the PC areas were sometimes
noisy; it was also said that some of the new technological equipment did not
always work. These points were put to
the College team who accepted that there had been teething problems with some
innovations such as the wireless ‘mobile classrooms’, but assured
the panel that any routine faults were quickly rectified.
11.8 The panel
encountered a long-standing issue over College students’ access to the
University Library. Their access was
currently limited and subject to an additional charge to the College. Both the staff team and the students who met
with the panel felt it would make a huge difference to the students on the
validated programmes to have greater access rights, especially to electronic
journals. The panel and the students
were of the view that the College library resources were inadequate to support
the FDs and the Honours programme and felt that opening hours were restrictive.
11.9 The
question was raised within the panel whether the documentation requirements for
the University’s Annual Programme Review (APR) process were sufficiently
robust to ensure that issues were identified and followed up. The AD(T) explained that the review included
his meeting with the College team and that he wrote a summary of his
discussions of the documentation for the University Faculty Board and Learning
and Teaching Committee, though this had not been presented to the panel. He was also in regular contact with the
link-person in SSES to ensure that issues raised at APR were being progressed
within the College.
12. Conclusions on whether the programmes
remain current and valid in the light of developing knowledge in the discipline,
practice in its application, and developments in teaching and learning
12.1
The Team have been involved
in the development of foundation degree sector frameworks by SkillsActive, the
sector skills council, and the sports curriculum of the FD programmes reflects
current requirements.
12.2
The link with SSES also helps
to ensure the currency of the academic curriculum.
12.3
Many changes have been made
in modules since the programmes were first launched, to reflect student
feedback, self-assessment by the teaching team, external examiners’
comments and in response to the needs of the relevant industry sector.
12.4
The effectiveness of the learning
and teaching process is subject to review and evaluation throughout the year. There was clearly a willingness amongst the College
team to reflect on aspects of delivery.
12.5
All teaching staff have a
relevant first degree, the majority a second degree, and all are expected to
have or to be working towards a teaching qualification. Most also have strong vocational backgrounds.
12.6
The College’s CoVE
status for Sport Exercise and Fitness should provide an excellent basis for the
development of progression routes from FE into HE.
13. Forward-looking recommendations for
actions to remedy any identified shortcomings, and for further enhancement of
quality and standards
13.1 There has
been a rapid rate of development in the College since the introduction of the
first FD in 2001 and it is apparent that the College is still pursuing a growth
strategy in respect of its HE activity.
The Sport, Exercise and Fitness Team are well qualified, dynamic and
enthusiastic, very supportive of the students, and yet relatively young and
inexperienced. The panel recommends that
any future expansion of programmes should be considered with great caution in
the light of their impact on the workload of the existing team and current
resources available within the College.
13.2 The panel
recommends that the College develop more formal mechanisms and procedures for
quality assurance and enhancement, in order to rely less on informal methods of
communication as student numbers increase and the provision becomes more
complex.
13.3 The panel
recommends that the College develop an HE-focussed learning, teaching and
assessment strategy at institutional level, which each curriculum team can
reflect in its own methods of operation.
13.4
The panel would strongly
encourage the College to pursue the development of a designated study/resource
area for HE students.
13.5
The panel recommends that greater
efforts be made to ensure that industrial placements provide a meaningful
experience for students and opportunities for students to develop and enhance
their skills. Some of the comments from
students indicated that they did not appreciate the centrality of work-based
learning to their programmes. In the
view of the panel this reflects a need for greater integration of academic and
WBL elements throughout the programme. This
has been commented on by the external examiner, the QAA FD Review Team and is a
major issue for many FDs across the country.
13.6 With the
increased commitment of staff to this area, the panel believes the College
should be taking a more proactive role to involve individual employers in the
programmes and nurture productive links; for example, in the arrangements for
student placements, where it is understood the onus is on students in the first
instance to find and approach an employer.
13.7
The College is advised to review
its placement arrangements against the relevant section of the QAA Code of
Practice.
13.8 The QAA
Review of the SSSM FD indicated that some employers did not clearly understand
the College’s WBL agenda and that their mentoring support for students on
placements could be improved. The panel was
informed that steps were being taken to address these matters, for example
through the Employer Liaison Officer and the provision of a mentoring pack. The panel recommends that these issues be
given a high priority and that feedback from individual employers should be
more systematically sought.
13.9
It was helpful to the panel
to see the mapping of module ILOs against the relevant subject benchmark
statement and the FD qualification benchmark.
The panel recommends that the team undertake a similar mapping exercise
to identify how modules support the achievement of the programme ILOs. The assessment matrices provide helpful
information in reviewing the diversity of assessment methods used across
specific programmes. The team may wish
to consider undertaking a similar mapping exercise to review the variety and balance
of teaching methods used in the programmes.
13.10 The
assessment matrices point to the students being over-assessed. The panel recommends that the College team
acts quickly to address this situation. The
external examiner commented on some assessments being rather too basic. It would be beneficial to have a smaller
number of more challenging assessments. At
the same time, there is felt to be a need for more formative assessment, to
help students gauge better their own progress on modules.
13.11 The FDs do
not currently attract large numbers of non-traditional students. The Sport, Exercise and Fitness Team was
attempting to address this through changes in marketing; the EH FD in
particular would be promoted as a part-time day release programme for students
already in employment. The panel would
encourage the College to make efforts to increase access and widen
participation in line with the defining characteristics of FDs.
14. Further
observations and recommendations
14.1
The panel noted that the
links between the College and the University in the area of sport, exercise and
fitness were complicated by the role of the University Sports Development
Centre which had a different sphere of influence and different priorities from
SSES that were not always appreciated by the College. The panel recommends that the University review
and clarify the relationships between SSES and the SDC and the College, to
ensure that the mutual interests of both the University and the College are
being served effectively.
14.2 The panel
recommends that the University review the Library access rights of
RAB 250406