Assessment and exam appeals procedure

There are two kinds of accredited course offered at City Lit:

• internally marked assessment /exams
• externally marked assessment /exams.

1 Internally marked assessments and exams

1.1 On internally marked assessments/exams, City Lit teachers are responsible for assessing work and awarding grades. The results are then sent to the examining body who award the qualification.

1.2 In order to ensure consistency, we have a detailed quality assurance process of internal moderation and standardisation. The awarding body will also sample teachers’ marking and our internal procedures to make sure judgements are consistent with other colleges and organisations.

1.3 Where work is internally assessed, you will have the right to appeal if you consider that, relation to your work:

• an administrative, or similar, error has occurred
• the assessment process was not conducted in accordance with the programme or unit guidelines, or our assessment policy.
• your performance was affected by ill health or some other valid reason during the assessment.

1.4 Any assessment appeal should be supported by appropriate evidence, e.g. examples to support your submission or medical evidence.

1.5 You may not appeal the academic judgement of members of staff, nor their academic integrity. This includes the mark awarded for a particular piece of work or any judgement of demonstration of competence standards.

1.6 If you have a concern you should, in the first instance, discuss the matter with your tutor/assessor. Alternatively if you do not feel able to speak to your tutor/assessor, speak to the course leader. This should normally be done within one week of receiving the result of any assessment/exam.

1.7 If this does not resolve the matter you should:

• appeal in writing to the relevant Head of Programme, normally within two weeks of receiving the result of any assessment/exam;
• supply any evidence you want considered
• tell us if you wish to meet as part of your appeal; e.g. to supply evidence, or if you are unable to put the details of your appeal in writing.

1.8 On receipt of an appeal the Head of Programme Area or Assistant Principal will address your grounds and investigate as appropriate. We will send you a full response, normally within 20 working days. If your appeal is more complex and requires additional investigation it may take longer to respond to you. We will tell you by the end of the initial 20 working days if this is the case and will give an indication of how long it will take us to respond.

1.9 There is no further internal appeal. If you wish to make an external appeal (e.g. with the awarding body), you will be advised how to do this as part of our decision.

2 Externally marked assessments and exams

2.1 If your course is externally assessed or examined, appeals must be made according to the relevant awarding body’s appeals procedure. For further information, please contact the Examinations Office within 2 weeks of receiving your results about the process, costs and deadlines for appeals.

2.1.1 GCSE/GCE exams

2.1.2 These exams are covered by the Joint Council for Qualifications Post-Results Enquires Service. You will be informed about deadlines and costs during your course. Information is also available on the City Lit website.

3 Appeals following Reviews of Results (RoR) for GCSE/GCE exams

3.1 Appeals following RoR enquiries need to be submitted on your behalf by the Head of Centre within 30 days of receiving your outcome of the RoR. If you want to discuss submitting an appeal following RoR, please contact the Examinations Office as soon as possible.
In order to submit an appeal following RoR we will need evidence that an awarding body has:

• used procedures that were inconsistent with regulatory requirements
• applied its procedures improperly and unfairly in arriving at judgements
• improperly applied the marking scheme.

3.2 Head of Centre will assess the evidence and decide whether your appeal fulfils the acceptable grounds as detailed in the JCQ Appeals Booklet. You will be informed of the outcome in writing within 10 working days.

3.3 Candidates are not permitted to make direct representations to an awarding body.

4 Centre decision not to support an appeal following Review of Results

4.1 If you are unhappy with the Head of Centre’s decision not to submit an appeal on your behalf following a Review of Results, you can ask for the decision to be reviewed by another senior member of staff.

4.2 You will need to contact the Exams Office within 3 days of receiving the Head of Center’s decision, and submit further evidence to support the request for an appeal.

5 BCS appeals

5.1 If you are unhappy with the outcome of an appeal submitted to BCS by City Lit, you have the right to submit an appeal directly to BCS. This must be submitted within 20 working days of the date of the assessment or test, and will incur a fee of £10. The fee will be refunded if your result improves following appeal.

5.2 Learner appeals must be submitted to centresupport@bcs.uk.

5.3 Once an appeal has been reviewed by BCS, BCS will write to the appellant with details of their decision to either:
• Amend the decision considering the rationale or any new evidence put forward
• Confirm we stand by the original decision.

5.4 You will then have the right to seek an independent review. This will be carried out by someone who is not employed by, or otherwise connected to, BCS.

For further information, please contact the Exams Office on 020 7492 2574 or exams@citylit.ac.uk.