Curriculum Information

Methods Of Quality Standards

Course Management

The Course Leaders work with the course team to develop a course to its full potential so that it provides a professional, employment-focused learning experience for students. The Course Leaders oversee academic standards, quality assurance and enhancement.

Arrangements for Feedback to Students

The arrangements for providing feedback to students on their assessed work within 20 working days are:

For electronic submissions, the module leader will ensure that electronic feedback is provided within 20 days.

For hard copy submissions, such as those assessments which include appendices and school data as part of action research, the module leader will ensure that feedback and grades are provided to at an agreed time within 20 days.

Student Representation

Students on this course will be represented at meetings with teaching staff and other members of the University by Course Representative and Student Voice Representatives.

The role of the Course Representatives is to elicit the views and issues of the students they represent, and reflect these views/issues at Student/Staff Course Liaison Groups (SSCLGs) and feedback to the students the outcomes/actions from the SSCLGs.

Student Voice Representatives are responsible for representing their group of Course Representatives at Course Boards and Faculty Quality Assurance Committee and Faculty Learning and Teaching enhancement Committees.

Quality Of Standards Indicators

Course Monitoring

The University is responsible for both the standards of its awards and for the quality of its students’ learning experience. In order to ensure that standards are maintained and there is continuous enhancement, a process of regular review, known as annual monitoring, takes place. The purpose of this process is to evaluate and improve course quality, ensure the best possible student experience and to identify and disseminate good practice. It also ensures that appropriate action is taken to remedy any identified shortcomings and enhance provision. Information will be communicated at Course Boards throughout the academic year.

LOOP

LOOP offers a custom evaluation service for our students. When logged in to the system each student will be invited to evaluate their course, and their modules (at selected times, according to the delivery schedule).

External Examiner

External examining provides one of the principal means for maintaining UK academic standards within autonomous higher education providers. The majority are drawn from other higher education institutions in the UK with relevant experience.

They provide carefully considered advice on the academic standards of the courses and/or modules to which they have been assigned, and can offer advice on good practice and opportunities to enhance the quality of those courses/modules. They are also able to offer an informed view of how standards compare with the same or similar awards at other higher education providers (primarily in the UK, and sometimes overseas as well) of which they have experience.

External examiners provide annual written reports to the University based on what he/she has observed of the University’s assessment processes and student assessed work.

The external examiner(s) associated with this course are recorded in the Course Handbook.

Engagement with Subject Benchmark Statements, QAA Quality Code, CQFW and FHEQ

Relevant benchmark statements that have been consulted are:

Knowledge and understanding

5.1 A necessary feature of a bachelor's degree with honours in education studies is an intellectually rigorous study of educational processes, and the cultural, political and historical contexts within which they are embedded. While individual modules within degree programmes may have a focus upon particular age groups, or learning and teaching, or particular contexts and education systems, they provide students with opportunities to engage in critical reflection and debate. Students have the opportunity to engage with a number of different perspectives and to evaluate aims and values, means and ends, and the validity of the education issues in question.

5.2 In order to achieve this, students draw upon contemporary research and other relevant educational literature. Students also require an awareness of relevant concepts, theories and interdisciplinary approaches from across a range of appropriate subjects.

5.3 Degree programmes enable students to demonstrate that they have acquired the ability to understand theoretical knowledge and research evidence about:

the processes of learning, including some of the key paradigms and their impact on educational practices;

formal and informal contexts for learning. Educational contexts will include some understanding of their own education system and other education systems, and the values underpinning their organisation;

a range of research perspectives and methodologies applied to education;

the complex interactions between education and its contexts, and relationships with other subjects and professions.

5.4 Programmes provide opportunities for students to:

analyse educational issues systematically;

evaluate education policy in an informed and systematic way;

accommodate new principles and new knowledge;

apply key principles across educational systems.

Application

5.5 Programmes enable students to apply their subject knowledge and understanding through:

the analysis of complex situations concerning human learning and development in particular contexts, including their own learning.

Reflection

5.6 Programmes provide opportunities for students to:

reflect on their own value systems, development and practices;

question concepts and theories encountered in their studies;

interrogate the assumptions underpinning theory and research.

Transferable skills

5.7 Programmes are designed so that, by the end of the degree programme, students are able to demonstrate ability to:

construct and communicate oral and written arguments;

make effective use of technology;

interpret and present relevant numerical information;

work collaboratively with others as part of a team, taking different roles;

improve their own learning and performance, through the development of study and research skills, and a capacity to plan, manage and reflect on their own learning;

identify, synthesise, evaluate, and analyse problems and solutions;

respond positively and constructively to changing environments.

Teaching, learning and assessment

6.1 The ways in which teaching and learning take place in education studies reflect and inform the principles of the subject itself. Attention is therefore given to the ways in which students develop:

knowledge and understanding;

application of key principles to related contexts;

the ability to reflect on salient issues;

transferable skills.

6.2 There is an understanding that teaching, learning and assessment are closely interrelated, and are seen by students to be related.

6.3 Approaches to assessment challenge and support all student learning and the teaching which promotes that learning. This is made explicit, with aims, tasks and criteria for grading clearly defined so that students have opportunities to demonstrate the full range of their knowledge and understanding. In particular, students are likely to experience a range of appropriate methods of assessment, which derive from the policies and approaches to teaching and learning in particular programmes and modules. Assessment is characterised by innovative practice and formative feedback which develops the learning of students.

The benchmark statement has been utilised in the following areas:

Design and Educational Aims

Construction of Learning Outcomes (Knowledge & Understanding, Intellectual Skills)

Design of the Professional/Vocational Skills

Module Content

Modes of Assessment

The course is further informed by political and sector developments such as; Welsh Government’s decision to accept all recommendations linked to curriculum reform published within: Successful Futures (2015), an independent review undertaken by Professor Graham Donaldson.