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28 OCTOBER 2013, WEEK 6
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BADGER
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE STUDENTS’ UNION
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Tutors marking mayhem STUDENT TOLD ‘I DON’T BELIEVE IN YOUR LEARNING DISABLITY’: CONCERNS RAISED OVER MARKING
Aubrey Allegretti Editor-in-chief The University has admitted that there is no compulsory training for markers of assessed work on how to approach a piece submitted by a student with a specific learning difficulty, raising serious concern amongst several senior members of departmental staff that this could put a large number of students at a severe academic disadvantage. Dyslexic students make up a high proportion of those who identify as having a learning difficulty in the University, with an average of 370 students per year identifying themselves as dyslexic. This puts the figure at around 3% of the campus populous, but the British Dyslexia Association suggesting that the national average could be much higher at 1 in 10. In a Freedom of Information request submitted by this newspaper, it was revealed that only 25 out of all tutors attended a voluntary training session that would inform markers how to grade a piece of work submitted by a student with learning difficulties. This year’s attendee figure is almost double that of the previous year, when only 14 members of University staff went on the course- a small improvement from the 13 in the previous year. However, several senior members of staff said they had never been alerted to any course or training provided by the University that dealt specifically with submissions from students with learning difficulties, and voiced concern that enough was not being done to curb the problem. The disparity in the amount of training that markers are receiving has been criticised by some students, who say that more needs to be done to properly maintain a high standard of support for the tutors marking assessments. One dyslexic second-year Psychology
Ho Wah
student said: “in effect if you’re giving some tutors training but not others, then there’s likely to be a disparity in the marking of work. “It really is the luck of the draw as to whether your tutor has been given enough support by the University - but with only 25 tutors having undergone the training last year, it’s unlikely that it’ll be yours.” The University has said that students who identify as having a specific learning difficulty are offered advice by the Student Support Unit (SSU), based in Pevensey I, who make up a specialist team of advisors trained to advise students on a range of
challenges they might face, ranging from Disability Support to Mental Health. They provide stickers, which are used to identify a submission by a candidate with a learning difficulty, to make sure tutors take their condition into account when marking their piece of work. The University says that these stickers are intended to direct markers to the Examiners Handbook, which is available online, where further help and explanations on specific difficulties is offered to tutors. One third year History student however, contacted the paper to say that her seminar tutor, who had gone on to mark submitted work, had dismissed openly in
front of students in seminars that dyslexia affected their abilities. She praised support from the SSU but raised serious concerns over whether the University was being effective in explaining to some of its tutors how learning difficulties could affect performance. “It doesn’t make sense to me that some tutors are allowed to announce things like that openly in class. “And it doesn’t make you feel much more confident handing work in when you know that it’s going to be moderated by a tutor who ‘doesn’t believe’ in a legitimate learning disability, outlined in the 2010 Equality Act.”
The University has not commented on this specific instance. Sophie van der Ham, Welfare Officer for the Students’ Union said: “The University is very aware of its legal duty to comply with disability legislation and is looking at how to best train academic advisors and tutors on specific learning disabilities. “The Students’ Union wants the best for its students and we would push for training on learning disabilities to be incorporated in the earliest stages of PGCE and as part of a compulsory staff enhancement training.”