Learning and Teaching Committee

Subject:        Impaired Performance Claims

Origin:           PDQ Team

 

 

The PDQ Team at its meeting in January 2006 received details of a judgement made by the Independent Adjudicator in the case of a complaint from a Loughborough student. 

PDQ noted, and concurred with, the view of the IA that it was ‘not fair to assume that, because a student’s marks do not seem to be abnormally low, his performance was not impaired.’ 

There was also a suggestion in the OIA document that the Programme Board had given undue weight to the student’s marks in previous years of the programme in deciding whether there was evidence of impairment.  PDQ felt this was perhaps legitimised by the University’s guidelines for staff on impaired performance claim procedures, and requested that the guidelines be amended.

Amendments to the guidelines were presented to the subsequent PDQ meeting.  These were endorsed and recommended to LTC (attached).

  

The University’s Impaired Performance Policy and Procedures

A Guide for Staff

 

Note for PDQ/LTC: a two-page preamble about the 2003-04 review of IPCs and the main modifications to previous procedures has been deleted. The changes for consideration are in Sections 2.2 and 2.3

 

Learning and Teaching Committee approved changes to University policy and procedures for dealing with Impaired Performance Claims  with effect from 2004-05.

This ‘Staff Guide’ on the procedures to be followed when considering impaired performance claims is matched by a Guide for Students on the procedures for making impaired performance claims, available at

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/admin/ar/student/exams/ip

1.      The Impaired Performance Decision Making Process

The procedure for undergraduate claims (and any claims forwarded from a postgraduate  Review Board to a Programme Board) is as follows:

1.1    Each Department should convene an Impaired Performance Panel (consisting of at least 3 Internal Examiners) to consider all IP claims for students “owned” by that department and to make recommendations on action to the relevant Board(s).

1.2    The membership of the Panel should be the same for the consideration of all claims in a specific Part of all programmes but separate Panels with different membership can be held for different Parts.

1.3    The Panel should be empowered (but not obliged) to seek information from the Head of Department of any module delivered by another department where it deems the information appropriate.

1.4    Each Panel should be serviced by the Secretary to the relevant Board(s).

1.5    The membership of the IP Panel should be detailed in the relevant Board Report.

1.6    In cases where a Board decides to insert a substitute mark which is greater than a 5 percentage points change to the existing mark (see page 7, boxes 4-7), the source of the substitute mark should be recorded in the Board Report.

1.7    Since the Internal Examiner will not be required to make recommendations to the relevant Board as a matter of course, IP forms will be copied by the Student Records and Examinations Office only to the department owning the relevant student.

 

2.      Processing and Consideration of Claims

The IP Panel and the relevant Review and Programme Boards should follow the guidance given below on the process to be worked through when considering IP claims, to include:

  • Determining the eligibility of a claim (see 2.1 below).
  • Determining whether a candidate’s performance has been impaired (see 2.2 below).
  • Deciding upon the appropriate action for the impaired performance (see 2.3 below).

 

2.1    Determining the Eligibility of a Claim

The Guide to Students contains the following preamble:

 

“It is to be expected that in the normal course of life a student will experience occasional illness and perhaps other problems or events that coincide with the completion of coursework assignments or preparation for written examinations.  It is essential to recognise that these are part of the everyday frustrations of life and that it is normal to have to manage these while continuing with work or study.  Such circumstances do not in themselves excuse failure or a poor performance and do not automatically provide grounds for an impaired performance claim. 

 

You are expected to take responsibility for your own personal organisation, including managing your learning, coursework assignments and revision, in a way which anticipates that events will not always run smoothly. 

 

The University will, however, take account of genuinely exceptional serious and acute problems or events that affect your performance in your assessments, and which you draw to its attention in a claim for impaired performance.”

 

IP Panels and Review and Programme Boards are advised to bear in mind this guidance to students when they are determining the eligibility of claims.

 

2.1.1   The following types of IP claims are normally eligible for consideration:

 

·        Claims referring to a serious or significant medical condition or illness (to include both physical and mental health problems).

 

·        Claims referring to exceptional personal circumstances (e.g. serious illness or death of an immediate family member or close friend, including participation in funeral and associated rites; being a victim of crime).

 

·        Claims referring to exceptional travel circumstances beyond the student’s control which prevented the student from attending an examination or other scheduled assessment.

 

2.1.2   The following types of IP claims are NOT normally eligible for consideration:

 

·        Claims without independent supporting evidence.

 

·        Claims which do not state clearly how the student’s performance in the assessments has been affected.

 

·        Claims referring to ‘bunching’ of examinations or coursework deadlines.

 

·        Claims where the student’s circumstances have already been fully catered for by the granting of a coursework extension.

 

·        Claims where the problem is caused by English being an additional language.

 

·        Claims arising from poor time management or personal organisation (e.g. failure to plan for foreseeable last-minute emergencies such as computer crashes, printing problems or travel problems resulting in late submission of coursework; misreading the examination timetable).

 

·        Claims referring to circumstances within the student’s control (e.g. family wedding or holiday; paid employment; getting a cheaper flight; choosing to miss an assessment or coursework deadline for something considered more important).

 

·        Claims referring to minor ailments such as colds, headaches, stomach upsets, etc., except where the ailment made it impossible for the student to sit an examination or other scheduled assessment.

 

·        Claims referring to a long term illness or disability, where the Department has already made special arrangements for the student’s assessments (or where such arrangements could have been made if the Department had been made aware of the problem at the proper time) except where these arrangements prove inadequate on the day because of unforeseen circumstances.

 

·        Claims referring to circumstances which were known to the student prior to the date of registration as a student.

 

·        Claims made after the published deadline for their receipt, except where the student’s Department has accepted that there was good cause for the claim not to have been made at the proper time and confirms that it will accept receipt of the late claim.

 

It is not possible to specify all conditions which may or may not constitute a valid claim, and the above should be taken as examples only. 

 

Students with exceptional personal commitments, such as sporting or cultural activities at the highest level (normally representing their country) which are likely to impact upon their assessments, will normally be dealt with outside the impaired performance procedure.  They should be advised to consult their Department well in advance and not wait to submit an impaired performance claim after the event.

 

It is anticipated that ongoing circumstances where special arrangements are not appropriate (e.g. stress caused by a close relative being diagnosed as terminally ill, children persistently truanting resulting in ongoing involvement with statutory authorities, etc.) will continue to be problematic.  However it is hoped that the changes to the IP form and increased emphasis on a description of how particular circumstances have impacted on students’ assessment might help.

 

2.1.3   Fraudulent Claims and Falsification/Fabrication of Evidence

If a fraudulent IP claim and/or falsified or fabricated independent supporting evidence is detected, the student should be reported to the Senior Assistant Registrar (Student Records and Examinations) and may be subject to the University’s academic misconduct procedures.

 

2.2    Determining Whether Performance has been Impaired

Although a student may have an eligible claim, this does not in all cases mean that their performance has been impaired.  Although a student may have achieved high marks, this does not in all cases mean that their performance has not been impaired: Boards should be open to the possibility that even a good performance could have been better had it not been impaired.

In order to determine whether performance has been impaired, Boards should take into consideration both all of the following:

·        the statement on the IP form about how the circumstances described have had an adverse effect upon the student’s performance,

and, where available,

·        where available the student’s marks in other assessments not claimed to have been impaired (including those from previous academic years) and

·        any other relevant information such as the profile of marks achieved by all candidates.

Even where a student’s performance is in line with or better than expectations, Boards should be open to the possibility that higher marks could have been achieved if the circumstances described in the IP form had not occurred. Undue weight should not be attached to performance in previous years.

 

2.3    Deciding Upon the Appropriate Action to be Taken

If it is considered that a student’s performance has been impaired, then some action should always be taken by the relevant Board.  Whether or not the student has performed sufficiently well to receive an award or to progress to the next part of their programme should not be taken into account when deciding upon the action to be taken. 

Similarly, the fact that it would be impossible/highly unlikely for any mark improvement to change a student’s degree classification should not be taken into account.

In determining the appropriate action to be taken, the relevant Board should take into account some or all of the following factors:

·        the nature and severity of the circumstances;

·        the marks achieved by the candidate in assessments judged to have been impaired;

·        other component marks achieved by the candidate in the same module where performance has not been impaired;

·        marks achieved by the candidate in modules for which an impaired performance claim has not been submitted (including those from previous years);

·        the profile of marks achieved in the relevant assessment by all candidates.

The table overleaf gives the recommended courses of action appropriate for each type of eligible IP claim.  Within those available for a particular set of circumstances, the Board is free to exercise its discretion on the most appropriate remedy to be deployed in each individual case: the possible remedies are not listed in any order of priority.

Note that in the table overleaf:

(a)     In box 3 the option of inserting a mark lower than that actually achieved for the late coursework is provided, to take account of cases where the Board judges that the candidate may have gained an advantage by having had more time than other candidates in which to complete the coursework, over and above any extra time judged appropriate to the circumstances outlined in the IP claim.

(b)     In boxes 4 and 5 an ‘other scheduled assessment’ means an assessment other than a formal written examination comprising a specific task on a specific date/time, e.g. a specific assessed laboratory exercise, a coursework test, a timed computer assisted assessment, etc.  It does not mean an ordinary coursework submission deadline.

 

Recommended Action to be Taken Regarding Eligible Impaired Performance Claims

 

 

Type of Impairment

Recommended Action

1

Entire examination or coursework element missed.

Repeat first/second attempt or;

If more appropriate to the nature of the claim, substitute examination or coursework mark for the missing mark or;

Where no such mark is available, derive a mark from an appropriate source (e.g. average of other examination marks etc.) or;

Set alternative work and insert the mark achieved.

2

One coursework element of a multi-element coursework assessment missed.

Calculate mark on the basis of completed assessments or;

Set alternative work and insert the mark achieved or;

Repeat first/second attempt

3

Late submission of coursework.

Insert the mark for the coursework submitted late or;

Insert the mark adjusted either upwards or downwards as appropriate given the circumstances of the individual case (see note (a), previous page)

4

Short-term serious medical condition or personal circumstance in the period immediately preceding an examination period or other scheduled assessment - such that revision programme affected for one or more modules.

Add 1-5 percentage points to each affected examination/coursework mark or;

Repeat first/second attempt or;

In exceptional circumstances, insert a substitute mark derived from an appropriate source (and record the source of the substitute mark in the Board Report)

5

Short-term serious medical condition during an examination or other scheduled assessment.

 

Ditto

6

Serious medical condition or personal circumstance during the semester – resulting in general impairment of most/all examination and coursework performances in all modules.

 

Ditto

7

Ongoing serious medical condition of which the student was originally unaware which was diagnosed too late for the department to make special arrangements.

 

Ditto