The assessment policy demonstrates the commitment of City Lit to providing students with fair and equal treatment in relation to assessment of their learning. All students will be entitled to feedback on their progress and given every opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge to the best of their ability.
Quality assurance
City Lit has implemented a quality system to ensure all learners have access to fair assessment of their learning. This includes:
- A team of well-informed committed and supported tutors, sufficient in number for the planned provision
- Assessment training for new tutors/assessors
- Adequate resources to support learners’ study
- Guidance and support for learners and provision for individual needs
- Equal opportunities in practice that help to maximise the participation of learners
- Assessment procedures which are inclusive and offer participation, equity and reliable standardisation
- Systems which provide efficient recording and evaluation
- Effective record keeping
- Real progression routes for learners, and preparation for work and/or further study including confidence building and basic/key skills achievements.
Policy statement
All courses
The policy will be achieved by:
- Developing a culture where assessment is seen as a positive process
- Informing staff of their responsibilities to provide feedback to students
- Developing staff skills in appropriate assessment procedures
- Informing students of their entitlement to assessment
- Publishing clear learning outcomes in course description sheets
- Providing students with opportunities to develop their own skills of self assessment
- Confirming with students their levels of achievements
- Advising students on appropriate progression routes.
Externally validated courses
- Assessment procedures will be carried out within the advised framework and terms and conditions of the validating body
- City Lit has a clear internal appeals procedure.
Equality of Assessment
City Lit recognises that learners have different learning styles and will ensure that assessment methods will be varied wherever possible. City Lit will ensure that reasonable adjustments are made for learners with learning difficulties or disabilities, without giving unfair advantage or disadvantage to other learners.
Conflicts of Interest
To ensure that any assessment of your work is fair and without bias, we ask our staff to declare any conflicting interests or loyalties. Failure to declare a conflict between personal, professional or business interests that could impact upon assessment activity is deemed malpractice.
Examples of potential conflict of interest situations in relation to assessment activity are:
- When a member of staff has a position in one organisation which conflicts with his or her interests in another organisation
- When a member of staff has personal interests that conflict with his or her professional position
- When a member of staff involved in college teaching or learning activity is involved in any way wit the development of secure assessments for either internal or national use
- When a member of staff has friends or relatives involved in receiving teaching, training or assessment from the college
- When a member of staff is asked to assess, invigilate or internally verify the work of an enrolled student who is a family member or close friend
- When the appointment of assessors, invigilators, internal verifiers and assessment-related administrators is not made against published criteria and on a transparent and objective basis.
Each member of staff is responsible for ensuring that they are familiar with the above and that they disclose any potential conflict of interest. It is an individual's responsibility to raise any concern relating to a potential conflict of interest with their line manager, in the first instance.
Where there is a potential or actual conflict of interest, the Exams Officer is responsible for ensuring that this is documented. A member of staff must not undertake any activities that could be deemed to compete or conflict with assessment activities.
Appeals
All students will be informed of the appeals procedure by their tutor as part of the induction programme. This procedure will be followed in all cases where a student disagrees with an assessment decision made by a tutor. If a student wishes to appeal over the result of an external examination, advice is available from the Exams Officer.
Use of Assessment Data
Data on student achievement is used to inform the college's work on quality improvement and measure progress against its targets. All information on student achievement is captured and evaluated. This contributes to the annual Self-Assessment Report, ensuring that accredited and non-accredited learning are equally valued and the quality of teaching and learning is consistent across all provision.