PGCE and School Direct Trainees’ Assignments Handbook 2017… · PGCE and School Direct Trainees’ Assignments Handbook 2017/18 11-16 PGCE (With Post-16 Enhancement)

PGCE and School Direct Trainees’ Assignments Handbook 2017/18

11-16 PGCE

(With Post-16 Enhancement)

PGCE and School Direct Assignments Handbook 2017-18

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Guide to assessment

The University’s guide to Assessment Standards, Marking and Feedback contains the University’s formal procedures relating to the conduct of assessment. It provides clear and detailed information on each aspect of student assessment and is a useful resource if you want to know more about how your work is assessed. For further information, visit: www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/support-and-admin/registry-services/guide/ The York PGCE ITT course is Pass/Fail. There are four key strands of formal assessment in the York ITT PGCE course: classroom teaching & involvement in school life; assignments; self-assessment and attendance. Further details on how you are assessed appear in the Trainee Handbook, however one key element in passing the course is that you will complete the written assignments to a satisfactory level at Masters’ level which means:

Either: Each of the three 20 credit assignments has been marked at 50 marks or higher; Or: One assignment of the three comprising the programme of study has been marked as a marginal fail (40-49 marks) but is compensated (not rewritten and resubmitted) as the average mark across all three assignments is 50 or above and neither of the other two assignments is a fail; Or: One assignment of the three comprising the programme of study was marked originally as an outright fail (0-39 marks) but was rewritten and resubmitted; it achieved a mark of at least 50 upon resubmission.

Assessment Methods used for the Assignments

You will encounter two types of assessment as you write and submit your PGCE assignments: formative and summative. Formative assessment is there to help you develop. While it does not contribute to your final degree mark, it will help you to learn more effectively – you will be provided with feedback which will help you to review and improve your performance. Formative Assessment Opportunities You are encouraged to discuss your assignments with your University Tutor as you plan and draft them. You are also invited to submit a section of your assignment to your Tutor in advance of the final deadline in order to gain some feedback. There is also an opportunity for you to use Turnitin formatively (see page 3) to help you gauge how much and how well you have used other sources. More details will be given to you about using Turnitin formatively in WSI or CA sessions. Summative assessment indicates the extent of your success in meeting the assessment criteria and how well you have fulfilled the learning outcomes of a particular assignment. The marks from this type of assessment will contribute to a decision as to whether you will pass the PGCE course.

http://www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/support-and-admin/registry-services/guide/



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Assignment Overview, Format & Submission

Assignment Submission Date Format

1 Lesson Observation

and Wider School Ethos (20 credits)

Autumn Term

Friday 15 December 2017

Electronic & printed hard

copy

2 Evaluation of a Teaching and Learning

Sequence

(20 credits)

Spring Term

Friday 23 March 2018

Electronic (Section A

only) & printed hard copy

(Sections A & B)

3 Special Study

Reflective &

Research-Literate Practitioner

(20 credits)

Summer Term

Friday 25 May 2018

Electronic (without

appendices) & printed

hard copy with any

appendices

.

Submission of assignments

Each written assignment should be accompanied by the appropriate Assignment Feedback Form (Forms F, L, and O). You should complete your section of the form before handing in the assignment. You must submit both a hard copy and an electronic version (Turnitin) of each assignment before the relevant deadline. Failure to submit either will result in a lateness penalty (see below). Turnitin is a text-matching service that is used to detect unoriginal material in submitted work. It matches content in student assignments against a collection of sources including, the Internet, published articles and papers and assignments submitted by other students at the University of York and other institutions. These instructions below detail how to submit work to a Turnitin submission point:

Go to the VLE and on the side toolbar select "Assignments" and then the "Turnitin submission folder"

Locate the correct submission point

Click View/Complete

Select “single file upload” in the Submission Method box.

Note that you cannot change the text in First Name or Last name fields – they are for information only.

Enter a Submission Title. This will appear to the marker when they access your work.

Click [Choose File], and select the correct file from your computer.

Click [upload]. Your submission is not yet complete.

You will be taken to a review point where you can review the text of your submission. You can click the “return to upload page” link if there are any problems with the file you have uploaded.

Ensure that you have uploaded the correct file and click [submit].

You will now be taken to a “Digital Receipt”, which confirms your submission. NB the “Turnitin Tool 2017 PGCE” on the VLE is for formative assessment purposes only (see above – page 2) and CANNOT be used for final submission.


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Penalties

In the interests of fairness, transparency and to be equitable the University has strict rules around deadlines and the quality or quantity of work submitted, and has clear penalties where these rules are not followed.

Late Submission All work submitted late, without an approved claim of Exceptional Circumstances affecting Assessment, will have ten percent of the available marks deducted for each day (or part of each day) that the work is late, up to a total of five days, including weekends and bank holidays, e.g. if work is awarded a mark of 58 out of 100, and the work is up to one day late, the final mark is 48. After five days, the work is marked at zero. The penalty cannot result in a mark less than zero.

Submitted Penalty

1 day 10% deducted from mark

2 days 20% deducted from mark



5 days Work marked at zero

Failure to submit If you, with no approved claim of Exceptional Circumstances Affecting Assessment, fail to submit an assessment by the deadline after five days or fail to attend an examination, a mark of zero will be awarded. You may be given the opportunity for reassessment – see the Feedback on Learning and Assessment section on page 19. If the assignment missed is already a re-sit or re-assessment to redeem an initial failure, no further re-assessment opportunities will be available without proof of exceptional circumstances. If you are struggling to meet deadlines or submit a piece of work you will need to inform the University as soon as possible and apply for Exceptional Circumstances Affecting Assessment – See section on Exceptional Circumstances Affecting Assessment (page 28).

Breaches of Word Count

The word count for all 3 PGCE assignments is 4000 words. A tolerance of 10% is permitted, meaning

that an assignment may be between 3600 and 4400 words. Assignments which fall short of the word

count tolerance or exceed it will be penalised and this may cause marks to be deducted.

Anonymity

All schools’ names, teachers’ names and pupils' names mentioned in the assignments MUST be

suitably anonymised. Failure to anonymise work may result in penalties such as mark deductions

being applied or even an assignment being referred. Further guidance to help with referencing school

based sources can be found on pages 21-23 in this handbook


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How are assignments marked?

Assignments 1 & 2 are submitted anonymously and marked by a member of the PGCE Tutor Team. A

moderation process in line with University requirements and procedures is in place which means that

all markers’ marking will be sampled and checked by another marker. All assignment 3 first marking is

second marked, because submitted work is not anonymised. Any assignment which is felt to be below

the pass mark of 50 is marked by a third, and, if necessary because doubt or disagreement still

obtains, a fourth marker. Marks are checked finally by administrative staff before being released to

trainees, along with feedback reports, via E-Vision. Feedback and marks are reported to trainees

within the University’s required timescales; trainees are made aware of specific feedback dates as the

year progresses.

External Examiners, including the Chief External Examiner for PGCE, sample the marking and

contribute to quality assurance procedures. You will find more details about the role of External

Examiners on page 29.

M Level criteria

60 credits are awarded for successful completion of the assignments (20 credits each assignment). Assignments should show depth, breadth and independence of research. In any piece of work, you

will be expected to select appropriate concepts and examples, prioritise these (show judgement of

their relevant importance), and relate them effectively to your topic. You will be expected to organise

your text (into sections and paragraphs) in such a way as to guide a reader. Arguments must be

backed up by relevant empirical findings or theoretical ideas. The presentation of arguments and

evidence should form a structured, coherent pattern that addresses the title directly. Professional

standards will be expected, in matters of spelling and punctuation, vocabulary choice, grammar, and

the conventions of academic discourse.

A typical assignment may be characterised by strengths in relation to some of the assessment

criteria, and weaknesses in relation to others. Therefore, in reaching a decision about the grade to be

awarded, the balance between strengths and weaknesses is assessed.

An assignment of PASS standard will demonstrate the following characteristics as and where applicable:

Comprehending the issue and developing an argument

Searching literature Conceptualising and comprehending Critical understanding Using evidence Linking theory and practice Relating conclusions to arguments made Reflecting on own experience, where appropriate

Presenting your assignment

Spelling, punctuation and sentence structure Structure Use of language Referencing

Additional guidance when completing a research-based assignment

Evidence of engagement with methodological literature Presentation of the method(s) used for data collection and analysis Presentation and analysis of the data gathered

Grades


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There are three categories of pass - distinguished, merit and satisfactory.

100 - 70 Distinction

69 - 60 Merit

59 - 50 Satisfactory

49 - 40 Marginal fail

Below 40 Outright fail

Grade descriptors

The following grade descriptors are not intended to be exhaustive. They are meant as a general

guidance to the qualities that examiners look for, and to indicate what kinds of weaknesses incline

them to give a lower mark. The precise mark awarded for a formally assessed assignment will depend

on the relative quality with which you have met each of the criteria for a pass, and will generally match

the descriptor. Some criteria, however, may be more important than others for different assignments.

Level Grade Criteria PGCE specific features

Distinction 100 - 80 (i) Excellent command of the topic, perceptive and insightful, all suggesting that the work is of publishable quality in an academic forum;

(ii) Outstanding selection that makes a substantial contribution to academic debate;

(iii) Outstanding use of source material;

(iv) Excellent argument that is of the highest academic quality;

(v) Critical distance and outstanding analysis of the question;

(vi) Referencing impeccable using appropriate APA conventions;

(vii) Virtually no errors in grammar and syntax

In all assignments, references to a trainee’s own school experience, and critical reflections on what was learnt from this, are systematically integrated into the text. This is likely to mean that a variety of material will be included such as references to discussions with teachers and/or pupils. This will be very well integrated into the body of the assignment, with clear-sighted analysis, and/or provided as appended evidence (eg copies of questionnaires used). Reference to books, journal articles, university inputs and school training inputs are made as appropriate. There is very clear and systematic critical engagement with all these references.

79 - 70 (i) Demonstrates command of the topic by showing a high level of perception and insight – a serious contribution to academic debate;

(ii) Outstanding selection from a wide, relevant and innovative range of perspectives and sources;


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(iii) Sources very well-integrated into the overall argument;

(iv) Clear, well-structured argument that is well crafted and cogent;

(v) Critical distance and outstanding analysis of the question;

(vi) Referencing clear and accurate using appropriate APA conventions;

(vii) Virtually no errors in Grammar and syntax.

Merit 69 - 60 (i) Demonstrates a good command of the topic by showing perception and insight;

(ii) Selection from a wide and relevant range of perspectives and sources that draws upon contemporary academic debate;

(iii) Sources well-integrated into the overall argument;

(iv) Clear, cogent and well-structured argument;

(v) Critical distance and sound analysis of the question;

(vi) References clear and accurate using appropriate APA conventions;

(vii) Near perfect grammar/spelling/ syntax.

In all assignments, references to a trainee’s own school experience and critical reflections on what was learnt from this are integrated into the text. This is likely to mean that a variety of material will be included such as references to discussions with teachers and/or pupils. This will be integrated into the body of the assignment, with analysis, and/or provided as appended evidence (eg copies of questionnaires used). Reference to books, journal articles, university inputs and school training inputs are made as appropriate. There is good critical engagement with all these references.

Satisfactory 59 - 50 (i) Shows understanding of contemporary academic debate;

(ii) Relevant selection from a relevant range of perspectives and sources;

(iii) Sources mostly well-integrated into the overall argument;

(iv) Mostly clear and well-structured argument;

(v) Demonstrates criticality and reasonable level of analysis;

(vi) Referencing clear and mostly accurate using appropriate APA conventions;

(vii) Satisfactory level of grammar/spelling/ syntax with some errors.

In all assignments, a trainee’s own school experience, and reflections on what was learnt from this, are evident in the text A variety of material will be included such as references to discussions with teachers and/or pupils in the body of the assignment and/or appended A range of background reading, along with reference to university inputs and school training inputs as appropriate. There will be some evidence of critical engagement with these.

Marginal fail 49 -40 (i) Demonstrating reasonable understanding but largely

The trainee has not yet demonstrated the ability to


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descriptive; (ii) Relevant but not wide

selection of resources; (iii) Sources sometimes not

properly integrated into the argument;

(iv) Some attempt at presenting argument coherently;

(v) Some successful analysis but has a tendency to accept the source material at face value;

(vi) References adequate but need to be clearer and/or more references needed;

(vii) Reasonable grammar/spelling/ syntax but with several errors.

write at M level. There will be little or no sense of a developing professional who has understood school experience through his or her own teaching, discussions with others or reading. Professionalism will not have been demonstrated in the presentation of the piece

Outright fail Below 40

(i) Limited/poor understanding demonstrated, and irrelevant material included;

(ii) Some/minimal relevant sources and limited topic coverage;

(iii) Sources only occasionally/not at all integrated into the argument;

(iv) Some/minimal structure and argument present;

(v) Limited/analysis and criticality; merely describes sources;

(vi) References limited/inappropriate;

(vii) Many errors in grammar/spelling/ syntax making it difficult/impossible to read.

The key criterion is the overall intellectual scholarship displayed in your writing appropriate to M

Level in a PGCE programme. This is reflected in your understanding of the topic you are writing

about, and your critical sensitivity to and awareness to the key ideas involved. As such, for example,

displaying a poor grasp of the key ideas in your assignment is such a serious shortcoming, that even

if you addressed several of the other criteria very well, your overall mark would be unlikely to reach

the level of distinction.

Marginal fail (40 – 49)

Assignments of this standard will typically demonstrate failure to meet some or all of the pass criteria.

For example, the assignment may display a clear misunderstanding of key ideas, or make use of a

very restricted or inappropriate set of sources, or contain a number of passages which are

incomprehensible. For PGCE, this could mean there is insufficient discussion showing the

interrelationship between professional practice, research evidence and theoretical perspectives.


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Another serious shortcoming would be that the guidance for the assignment contained a specific

requirement which was not met. For PGCE, the main reasons for fails in the past have been a

combination of the following;-

failure to relate assignments to a trainee’s own experience in school

failure to engage with the background reading, including primary sources where appropriate,

or to achieve a proper balance between theory and practice

poor referencing

poor presentation

failure to respect the word count prescribed for the assignment.

Compensation

One marginal fail (i.e. the mark for the assignment is 49 - 40) may be compensated. However, to be allowed to carry a fail mark, there are two other conditions you must meet: 1) The average of your assignments (including the failed assignment) is at least 50 2) You have no outright fails (i.e. nothing below 40).

Outright fail

If your mark for one assignment is below 40, you must rewrite the assignment.

Two fails Two failed written assignments leads to failing the course.

Resubmission and reassessment One 20 credit PGCE assignment may be re-submitted and re-assessed once with a view to securing the academic credits needed to pass the PGCE. An outright fail (i.e. a mark below 40) must be re-submitted. Where a marginal fail can be compensated, reassessment is not permitted. At a PGCE Board of Examiners, decisions will be made about (1) where compensation will be applied and (2) where reassessment is needed. Decisions will be communicated to trainees and any trainee who needs to re-submit an assignment will have 3 weeks to revise and resubmit their work. In the same way that marks are lost for late submission, marks will be lost for late resubmission. A re-submitted assignment may receive any mark from 0 to 100; the mark is not limited, but your original mark will be used to calculate your average. NOTE: If you are aware that you will need to re-submit an assignment (i.e. because you were awarded an outright fail), you may start preparing your re-submission before receiving formal notification from the Board of Examiners; however we would strongly recommend that you discuss the advantages and disadvantages of doing this with your tutor. Details of re-submission tasks will be made available to trainees at the same time as they receive formal notification of the need to re-submit. If a trainee wishes to make an earlier start on a re-submission, details of resubmission tasks are available from the trainee’s tutor. When re-submitting an assignment, you may keep any references or even text from your original submission that you think to be relevant and good quality. We strongly advise you to act upon the markers’ comments in the feedback report to help you to improve your resubmission; you may seek additional guidance from your tutor if required.


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Decisions about compensation and re-assessment are subject to moderation by the external

examiners and the Board of Examiners.

All your written assignments are made available to the course External Examiners (see page 29). At

the end of the summer term you take all your work away with you.


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PGCE Assignment One: M Level 20 Credits Lesson Observation and Wider Whole School Ethos - Focusing on TS1, TS4 & TS7 Word limit 4000 words Introduction This assignment is asking you to begin to consider aspects of what constitutes effective teaching. To do this, you must synthesise ideas from the Masters Level reading you have undertaken, the learning you have done from university and school based training sessions and reflections on some of the classroom observations you have undertaken in your Placement 1 School. Completing Assignment One should develop your understanding of three of the Teachers’ Standards in particular: TS1, TS4 & TS7. Completing it should allow you to begin to explore what these Teachers’ Standards might actually mean. Assignment One provides a focus for initial lesson observations and allows you to reflect upon the ethos of your Placement 1 School following your experiences of wider whole school activities (e.g. observing the role of form tutors, attending parents’ evenings, participating in extra-curricular activities). Task: Reflecting on some of the professional practice you have observed so far on Placement 1, what do you consider to be effective teaching and why?

Focus your discussion particularly around 3 of the Teachers’ Standards (see Introduction above). You may find it helpful to discuss each as a separate section of your assignment:

o Inspiring, motivating and challenging all learners by setting high expectations

o Teaching well-structured lessons

o Ensuring a good and safe learning environment by managing behaviour

Remember to interrogate your observations of lessons by comparing/contrasting them with ideas from relevant literature, training sessions and research; try not to simply accept everything you see, hear and/or read at face value.

To complete this assignment successfully, it is essential that you:

familiarise yourself with the bullet points under each of the relevant Teachers’ Standards (TS1, TS4 & TS7);

engage with and consider referring explicitly to policies in your Placement 1 School, particularly your school’s safeguarding and behaviour policies (TS7);

observe lessons in both your own and other curriculum areas;

observe teachers: with tutor groups, leading assemblies; conducting parents’ evenings/open evenings; leading/facilitating extra-curricular activities;

read and refer explicitly in your finished assignment to relevant reading;

utilise your learning from WSI and Curriculum Area sessions (university and school based) by referring explicitly to sessions in the finished assignment as part of the range of perspectives upon which you draw;

highlight, reflect upon and say how you will apply what you have learned through observation to your own early classroom practice. This could form the conclusion to each section of your assignment and/or your assignment overall and may feature as a bullet point list.

You may also find it helpful to refer to the mark scheme printed on pages 3–6 of this handbook and consult the further guidance on presenting your assignment on page 16.


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Assignment One Submission

The deadline for Assignment One is: 2pm on Friday 15 December 2017. You must complete Form F and include it with your assignment when you submit it. The assignment should be submitted anonymously; your candidate number needs to appear

on each page and on Form F.


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PGCE Assignment Two: M Level 20 Credits Evaluation of a Learning and Teaching Sequence - Focusing on TS2, TS5 and TS6 Word limit 4000 words The purpose of this assignment is to help you evaluate pupils’ learning and progress as a result of your teaching. By completing it you should develop understanding of three particular Teachers’ Standards: TS2, TS5 and TS6, however it may also be appropriate to make links to other Standards. Task: Section A Addressing each as a separate sub-section of your assignment, evaluate, particularly by examining pupils’ work and any feedback you received from an observer, your planning, teaching and assessment of a sequence of lessons (approximately 5 lessons) by answering the following three questions:

TS2: How well did I promote good progress and outcomes by pupils?

TS5: How well did I adapt my teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils?

TS6: How well did I make productive use of assessment? As part of your evaluation and/or in conclusion suggest revisions and modifications you would make to the sequence if you were to teach it again and/or overall implications for your developing classroom practice. Section B (Appendices – Hard Copy Only) As part of this assignment you must include: • relevant detailed lesson plans; • copies of the resources used; • your lesson evaluations; • evidence of pupils’ learning (as shown by copies of pupils’ work); • any feedback (e.g. Form Ms) received. These materials should be labelled clearly and anonymised. These materials are not part of the word count for this assignment. To complete this assignment successfully, it is essential that you:

familiarise yourself with the bullet points under each of the relevant Teachers’ Standards (TS2, TS5 & TS6);

focus on a sequence of approximately 5 lessons you have planned, taught and assessed on Placement 1;

signpost explicitly and precisely in Section A to materials you have included in Section B, particularly examples of pupils’ work;

write in an analytical, evaluative style, avoiding narrative/description;

read and refer explicitly in your finished assignment to relevant reading, particularly subject specific reading;


highlight, reflect upon and say how you will apply what you have learned through teaching this sequence of lessons to your developing classroom practice.

You may also find it helpful to refer to the mark scheme printed on pages 3–6 of this handbook and consult the further guidance on presenting your assignment on page 16.


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Assignment Two Submission

The deadline for Assignment Two is: 2pm on Friday 23 March 2018. You must complete Form L and include it with your assignment when you submit it. The assignment should be submitted anonymously; your candidate number needs to appear

on each page and on Form L. Section B is submitted as a hard copy only. Section A is submitted as both hard copy and

electronically via Turnitin.


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PGCE Assignment Three: M Level 20 Credits Special Study: Reflective & Research-Literate Practitioner - Focusing on TS3, TS8, Preamble & Part Two Word limit 4000 words The purpose of this assignment is to help you to demonstrate your development as a reflective, research-focused classroom practitioner. In the assignment you will be addressing areas of the Standards relating particularly to your development as a professional with strong subject knowledge, who is aware of current developments both in your own curriculum area and issues related to the wider life of the school which have an impact on pupils’ learning. By completing it you should develop understanding of two of the Teachers’ Standards: TS3 & TS8, as well as working to requirements stated in the Preamble and Part Two. The assignment must be based on the teaching you have undertaken within your own curriculum area during the second placement but also be related to wider educational issues encountered in the WSI elements of the course. In the assignment you must demonstrate your developing understanding of educational issues and your ability to analyse classroom experiences, taking into account relevant research. This assignment requires you to conduct your own small-scale classroom-based research. You could for example consider whole school policy and practices and the impact they have on provision in your curriculum area in relation to one of the following:

SEN and disabilities

Behaviour management

Assessment and recording pupils’ progress

Provision for able pupils

Or you could undertake some research in your curriculum area related to one of the following:

Context based learning

Pupils’ attitudes and motivation

Pupils’ understanding

Use of digital technologies to enhance pupils’ learning.

The title of your assignment should be phrased as a question. This will help to give a clear focus to your investigation. Examples of successful titles from different Curriculum Areas include:

How can English teachers challenge, motivate and support English as an Additional Language students in a predominantly White British school?

What role does peer assessment play in the Year 7 History classroom?

How does the use of growth mindset effectively aid pupil progress in Mathematics problem solving?

Do Drama games affect students’ motivation in Languages lessons?

How does exposure to Science outside school affect ambition, motivation and achievement in the Science classroom?

To complete this assignment successfully, it is essential that you:

familiarise yourself with the bullet points under each of the relevant Teachers’ Standards (TS3, TS8, Preamble & Part Two);

conduct your research in an ethical manner and comply fully with University ethical procedures documentation and deadlines;

read and refer explicitly in your finished assignment to relevant reading;


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reflect upon what conducting this research has taught you about becoming a research-literate classroom practitioner; suggest how you will apply this learning to your future classroom practice in your NQT year and beyond.

You may also find it helpful to refer to the mark scheme printed on pages 3–6 of this handbook and consult the further guidance on presenting your assignment on page 16. Assignment Three Submission

The deadline for Assignment Three is: 2pm on Friday 25 May 2018. You must complete Form O and include it with your assignment when you submit it. Assignment Three is NOT submitted anonymously – your NAME needs to appear on each

page and on Form O. Ethical Issues Audit Form

As this assignment has a research element you MUST complete and submit an Ethical Issues Audit Form. This can be downloaded from the postgraduate section of the intranet on the Department of Education website under “Research Ethics Procedures” http://www.york.ac.uk/education/intranet/postgraduates/

and must be submitted to your Tutor between the 26th February and 13th April 2018.

On the Ethics form you are directed to two other documents: guidance on data protection and the other related to working with children under the age of 16. You will find both of these on the intranet of the Department of Education’s website. Click on "Research Ethics Procedures" to access both documents. The Department Guidance on Data Protection, Storage and Management describes important issues

relating to the "what, how, where and when" of collecting, storing and sharing data. The guidance is

based on the University's policies, complying with the Data Protection Act and good research practice.

The Ethics Audit Form also asks that you agree with your supervisor what will happen to your data

once you have written your assignment.

Assignment 3: A Suggested Structure with Suggested Word Limits

Title: What is your overall research question?

What “smaller” questions (about 3 in total) can you divide this overall question into which will help you to answer it?

Introduction (200-300 words approximately)

Give a brief indication of why you have chosen this topic – its relevance to you professionally in your current placement school.

e.g. Why does this topic interest you? How might researching it actually be of benefit to you professionally? What is the context of your placement school? How does your research sit within your placement school’s context?

Review of literature (1,200 - 300 words approximately)

http://www.york.ac.uk/education/intranet/postgraduates/


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What is a “Literature Review”? “The main point to bear in mind is that a (literature) review should provide the reader with a picture, albeit limited in a short project, of the state of knowledge and of major questions in the subject.” (Bell, 2010. P.91)

A literature review is not a description, catalogue or shopping list. It is a “new picture or story you are presenting with your judgements.” It is something which is “original, perceptive and analytical, based on a fair selection of sources.” (Jesson et al, 2011, p.87) “A literature review is a discussion of selected items from the range of (mainly) published material available in a given subject area.” (O’Hara et al, 2011)

N.B. “discussion” = you are engaging actively with the material, responding to it, exploring it & interrogating it, not passively summarising it “selected items” = you make an active choice as to what material to include and what to omit

One of the main reasons for a literature review is “to make a proposal for the research you intend to do.” (Hart, 1998)

N.B. In the context of PGCE, “Literature” includes University and school based training sessions as well as books and journal articles.

Methods (500 words)

Explain what research method(s) you will use & show some explicit awareness of research methods.

e.g. What data will you collect? Why have you chosen to collect this particular data? What limitations are you aware of in advance with regards to the methodology you have chosen to use? How have you endeavoured to minimise potential problems/limitations?

N.B. Two useful& very readable books to consult on research methods are:

Bell, J. & Waters, S. (2014). Doing your research project: A guide for first-time researchers in education, health and social science (6th ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press.

(This is available as an e-book from the University Library)

Denscombe, M. (2014). The good research guide for small-scale social research projects (5th ed.). Buckingham: Open University Press.

Results and Discussion (1,500 words)

Present your results. Tables, diagrams and graphs might help you to do this clearly and save words, but these are not obligatory and also depend on the type(s) of data you have collected.

Suggest some possible interpretations of your findings and discuss their implications. Link your discussion back to some of the ideas you presented in the literature review earlier in your research report. (Doing this, shows how you research fits within the bigger picture and possibly how it moves ideas about a particular topic on a little more.)

Conclusion (c. 500 words) How do your findings add to what is known about this topic either by building on previous work or contradicting previous findings? How do your findings fit with the overall bigger picture of this topic?

What are the implications of this research study for you professionally on your classroom practice?


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What have you learned through conducting this research? What further limitations do you recognise now having conducted the research? What might you do differently if you did this research again and why?

What might you want to research further in your own classroom?

What implications might there for further larger scale research?

References

Presented, as always, in line with APA requirements.

Appendix (hard copies only)

Include copies of your ethics form and any associated signed consent forms. These should not be anonymised as the marker will need to check that suitable consents were granted. Please be assured that if your assignment is used in any other way after it has been marked, all identifiable material such as signed consent and ethics forms will be removed and disposed of in confidential waste.

Include copies of any research instruments you used (e.g. blank questionnaires or interview or observation schedules).

Include any specific examples of completed questionnaires/pupil work/ lesson plans etc. which you refer to in the body of your assignment.

Cross reference to items in your Appendices in the main body of your assignment (as you did in Assignment 2).

Reference List Bell, J. (2010). Doing Your Research Project. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Hart, C. (1998). Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination. London: Sage Jesson, J.K., Matheson, L. & Lacey, F.M. (2011). Doing Your Literature Review: Traditional and Systematic Techniques. London: Sage O’Hara, M, Carter, C., Dewis, P. Kay, J. & Wainwright. J. (2011) Successful Dissertations: The Complete Guide for Education, Childhood and Early Childhood Studies Students. London: Continuum


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Style Guide: Guidance on how to present your assignments:

It is acceptable to write an assignment in the first person e.g. ‘On my placement I observed’

….’

Compile a list of references. Ensure that you use the Department’s APA referencing system (see below for full details)

The department recommends that trainees use: Font size 11 or 12 point Single sided printing Double spacing Left margin at 3 cms Ragged margin at 2.5 cms Page numbering

Ensure your candidate number (Assignment One & Two) or your name (Assignment Three) appears on each page of the assignment

An assignment can be up to 10% under the specified word length or not more than 10% over

the specified word length. (See page 4)

You should write the total word count on Form F/L/O before handing in your assignment.

You must self-assess against the criteria on Form F/L/O and complete the ‘Reflection against

the Standards’ section on each form.

You must electronically submit your assignments to ‘Turnitin’ and submit a hardcopy of

each one to the Education Derwent Reception. Further details will be given in WSI

Referencing You MUST include a Reference list at the end of your assignments. This should be ordered

alphabetically by surname of author.

Guidance on Referencing

The Department has adopted the APA system of referencing, with the proviso that for a paper published in a journal, you should also give the part number in brackets after the volume number. Examples of this system are given in all the student handbooks. For more detailed examples, you can consult either one of the several hard copies of the APA manual held in the University Library, or websites such as the following:

OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab http://www.thewritedirection.net/apaguide.net/apaguide.pdf Wikipedia APA Style

Please remember that the APA Manual is the official guide to the APA system of referencing. All other sources may contain errors.

Key Examples

A book

Hallam, S., & Rogers, L. (2008). Improving behaviour and attendance at school. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

http://www.thewritedirection.net/apaguide.net/apaguide.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APA_style


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Kyriacou, C. (2007). Essential teaching skills (3rd ed.). Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

Woolfolk, A., Hughes, M., & Walkup, V. (2008). Psychology in education. Harlow: Pearson.

An edited book

Aronson, J. (Ed.). (2002). Improving academic achievement: Impact of psychological factors on education. London: Academic Press.

Capel, S., Leask, M., & Turner, T. (Eds.). (2005). Learning to teach in the secondary school: A companion to school experience (4th ed.). London: Routledge.

Crossley, M., & Vulliamy, G. (Eds.). (1997). Qualitative educational research in developing countries: Current perspectives. New York: Garland.

A chapter in an edited book

Dweck, C. S. (2002). Messages that motivate: How praise molds students’ beliefs, motivation, and performance (in surprising ways). In J. Aronson (Ed.), Improving academic achievement: Impact of psychological factors on education (pp. 37-60). London: Academic Press.

Dyson, A. (2006). Beyond the school gates: Context, disadvantage and ‘urban schools’. In M. Ainscow & M. West (Eds.), Improving urban schools: Leadership and collaboration (pp. 117-129). Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Low, G. D., & Woodburn, L. (1999). On not disturbing “Our group peace”: The plight of the visiting researcher. In C. Jones, J. Turner, & B. Street (Eds.), Students writing in the university: Cultural and epistemological issues (pp. 61-80). Amsterdam: John Benjamins

A journal paper

Dockrell, J. E., Braisby, N., & Best, R. M. (2007). Children’s acquisition of science terms: Simple exposure is insufficient. Learning and Instruction, 17(6), 577-594.

Hurd, S. (2008). Does school-based initial teacher training affect secondary school performance? British Educational Research Journal, 34(1), 19-36.

Upton, T.A., & Connor, U. (2001). Using computerized corpus analysis to investigate the textlinguistic discourse moves of a genre. English for Specific Purposes, 20(4), 313-330.

An electronic source

Day, C., Stobart, G., Sammons, P., Kington, A., Gu, Q., Smees, R., & Mujtaba, T. (2006). Variations in teachers’ work, lives and effectiveness (Research Report RR743). London: DfES. Retrieved April 14, 2008, from http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/RRP/u013380/index.shtml

Fredrickson, B. L. (2000). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 3, Article 0001a. Retrieved November 20, 2007, from http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html

Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (2007). Economic indicators. Retrieved February 10, 2008, from http://www.missourieconomy.org/indicators/cost_of_living/index.stm

Publication in a foreign language

Wang, X., & Liu, X. (2002). Yingxiang ligongke xuesheng yingyu yuedu xiaolü de xuesheng yinsu diaocha [A survey of the factors that affect English reading of science and engineering students]. Waiyu Jiaoxue, 23(1), 49-54.


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Thesis

Zhu, D. (2008). EFL learning motivation in Shanghai upper-secondary students and the influence of important others. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of York, York.

Research report

Kyriacou, C., & Issitt, J. (2008). What characterises effective teacher-initiated teacher-pupil dialogue to promote conceptual understanding in mathematics lessons in England in key stages 2 and 3? In Research Evidence in Education Library. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.

Book review

Edkins, A. (2008). Every school a great school – Realizing the potential of system leadership [Review of the book Every school a great school – Realizing the potential of system leadership]. British Educational Research Journal, 34(1), 143-144.

Conference paper not in published proceedings

Braund, M., & Driver, M. (2002, September). Moving to the big school: what do pupils think about science practical work pre- and post-transfer? Paper presented at the annual conference of the British Educational Research Association, Exeter, United Kingdom. Retrieved August 21, 2008, from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002157.htm

A government report

Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office. (1989). Discipline in schools (the Elton Report). London: HMSO.

Newspaper article

Judd, J. (1999, May 10). New GCSE in citizenship will teach children how to cope. The Independent, p. 5.

Specific PGCE Referencing Issues: Anonymity

Earlier in this handbook on page 2 it says: “Anonymity All schools’ names, teachers’ names and pupils’, names mentioned in the assignments MUST be suitably anonymised.” In the context of PGCE, this does mean ALL, so…

1. Make your current placement school, School A

2. If you talk with teachers/pupils or have school based training in a school/schools other than in

your actual placement school (School A), assign labels accordingly (i.e. School B, School C

etc.)

But: everything from University sessions (even if sessions are delivered by teachers as visiting speakers) should be referenced fully rather than anonymised.

1. WSI school based training events/inputs should be referenced like this:

In-text: (Teacher A, 2016) Teacher A. (2016, October 8). Literacy Across the Curriculum. WSI Session. School B.

(This is showing that the trainee is referring to a WSI training event at a school other than his/her current placement school)


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2. WSI university based training sessions should be referenced like this:

In-text: (Otter, 2016) Otter, C. (2016. October 26). Introduction to SEND. PGCE WSI Session. University of York.

3. CA school based training events/inputs should be referenced like this:

In-text: (Teacher F, 2015) Reference List: Teacher F. (2016, October 16). Lesson Planning in Geography. CA Session. School A.

(This is showing that the trainee is referring to a training input in his/her subject area which occurred at his/her current placement school)

4. CA university based training events/inputs should be referenced like this:

In-text: (Granger, 2016) Reference List: Granger, H. (2016, October 16). Lesson Planning in Mathematics. CA Session. School A.

5. School policy documents should be referenced like this:

In- text: (School A, 2016) Reference List: School A. (2016). Assessment Calendar 2016-17. School A. And like this, if more than one school document originates from the same year:

In-text: (School A, 2016a) (School A, 2016b)

Reference List: School A. (2016a). Assessment Calendar 2015-16. School A. School A. (2016b). E-Safety Policy. School A.

6. School websites should be referenced like this:

In-text: (School A, 2016) Reference List: School A. (2016). Retrieved October 23, 2016 from http://www.School A.york.sch.uk/

N.B. Use 2016a / 2016b / 2016c etc. to distinguish between your references to ideas from school policy documents and items taken from the school website.

7. School Ofsted reports (online version) should be referenced like this:

In-text: (Ofsted, 2011) Reference List: Ofsted. (2011). School A Inspection Report. Retrieved October 22, 2016 from Ofsted: http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/: School A.pdf Or if retrieved from the school’s website like this: Reference List: Ofsted. (2011). School A Inspection Report. Retrieved October 22, 2016 from http://www.SchoolA.york.sch.uk/wp-content/documents/ofstedreports/2011/SchoolA%20School%20Ofsted%20Report%202011.pdf

8. School based conversations with teachers/pupils should be referenced like this:

In-text: Teacher/Pupil G (personal communication, 21 October 2016) Reference List –This is classed as a non-recoverable source so you should not include conversations as part of your reference list.

http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/

http://www.schoola.york.sch.uk/wp-content/documents/ofstedreports/2011/SchoolA%20School%20Ofsted%20Report%202011.pdf




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N.B. Emails, text messages, telephone calls should be referenced in the same way as professional conversations.

For further help with referencing, visit: http://www.york.ac.uk/integrity/apa.html# and use the two excellent pop-up boxes to guide you. If you are still unable to resolve a specific referencing query, please email your University Tutor and seek their guidance.

Citing your sources in your text

This section is written in the style of an essay setting out how to use the APA system for citing sources in your text.

Kelly and Andrews (2007) argue that all referencing systems take a bit of getting used to. Several other authors have made the same point (Johnson, 1999; Smith, Held, & Roberts, 2006; Wood & Verma, 2002). You will notice at the end of the previous sentence that when you cite more than one source within brackets, these should be in alphabetical order, and divided using a semi-colon.

When a publication has two or more authors use “&” when citing the source within brackets, but “and” when it appears in normal text.

If the source has three or more authors, you should list all the author names the first time you cite this source in your text, but thereafter give the first name followed by et al. Here is an example: Jones, Kirk and Adams (2006) think this is a good point. Jones et al. (2006) also argue that it needs to be remembered. The exception to this rule is that if there are six or more authors, you just cite the first name plus et al. on its first use and thereafter.

At the end of a direct quotation, you must give the page number. A direct quotation can be run into a sentence if short (fewer than 40 words) enclosed by double quotation marks, or presented in block without double quotation marks, if long, as follows:

A number of writers have defined stress. James (2001) argues that “stress is a complex term” (p. 26). He also goes on to say:

There are two key ways of looking at stress. Firstly, you can view it as a stimulus. Secondly, you can view it as an emotional response. This issue has plagued definitions of stress for many years. Either way, however, you need to emphasize its negative nature. (p. 30)

When you refer to a primary source (Jenkins & Black, 1999) by taking information given in a secondary source (Apple, Goodman, & Austin, 2006), you should write the following in your text:

A study by Jenkins and Black (as cited in Apple, Goodman, & Austin, 2006) reported that …

When you do this, it will be the secondary-source reference (Apple, Goodman, & Austin, 2006) that will appear in your list of references, not the primary-source reference (Jenkins & Black, 1999).

You may occasionally use a secondary source to quote something which itself quotes someone else. An example of this is to write:

Robinson (as cited in Miller, 2009) quotes Piaget as arguing that “the mental images of the child at the preoperational level are almost exclusively static” (Miller, 2009, p. 45).

The citation of p. 45 here refers to the page in the publication by Miller (2009) where this quote from Piaget can be found. It’s important to ensure you say where you got a quote from, as it is possible that Robinson or Miller may have misquoted Piaget, so you must not imply you have read the original source (Piaget, 1966).

http://www.york.ac.uk/integrity/apa.html


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Proofreading Guidance

The University official guidance on the use of proof-readers describes what constitutes the appropriate use of proof-readers for summative academic work. A list of proof readers is available to download from the intranet.

Academic Integrity

Students at the University of York are part of an academic community in which we all share and discuss ideas and in this way develop and improve our own ideas. This is done freely but on the basis that we acknowledge the source of the ideas we are working with. The online academic integrity tutorial on the VLE explains what is meant by plagiarism and provides information on the key issues affecting every student. At the end of the tutorial there is a two-part test.

All new students have to successfully complete the online Academic Integrity Tutorial before the end of their first term. Once you have successfully completed the tutorial you will have the opportunity to print out a certificate which you can keep for your own records. Checks will be carried out by Registry Services at the end of the autumn term. Failure to complete the Academic Integrity Tutorial could lead to your registration being suspended. Your supervisor will discuss these arrangements with you at your first meeting and be able to answer any queries you may have.

Academic Misconduct

The University is committed to developing high standards of academic practice among its students and to safeguarding the standards of its academic awards. It regards any form of academic misconduct as an extremely serious matter (see the University’s Academic Misconduct Policy).

Academic misconduct offences are divided into two categories: assessment and disciplinary. Assessment offences are committed by a student(s) in work submitted for assessment for their own programme of study and for which the penalty or judgement can be applied to the assessed piece of work. Disciplinary offences are offences committed by students, or staff, that are intended to gain an advantage in assessment (for themselves or for others) where the penalty cannot normally be attached to a specific piece of their own academic work.

Assessment offences:

1. Plagiarism – the presentation of ideas, material, or scholarship sourced from the work of another individual, group or entity - or from the student’s own work previously submitted for assessment - without sufficient acknowledgement.

2. Collusion between students taking the same assessment – is the process whereby two or more students work together – without official approval – and share ideas, solutions or material in work submitted for assessment.

3. Cheating – failure to comply with the rules of closed assessments e.g. unauthorised access to materials in a closed assessment.

4. Commission and incorporation – to seek to gain advantage by incorporating material in work submitted for assessment that has been improved by, or commissioned, purchased or obtained from, a third party e.g. family members, essay mills or other students not taking the same assessment.

5. Fabrication – to seek to gain advantage by incorporating falsified or fabricated material or data in work submitted for assessment or publication.

Disciplinary offences:

6. Soliciting – where a student asks a third party to produce work for them or for the third party to inappropriately assist, or act as them, in undertaking an assessment(s).

7. Personation – one, or both of, a) to produce work for another student with the reasonable expectation that the incorporation of that work is intended to deceive an examiner, b) to appear as another student in an assessment(s).


http://www.york.ac.uk/education/intranet/

http://www.york.ac.uk/integrity/


http://www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/support-and-admin/registry-services/academic-misconduct/


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8. Deception – presenting fabricated or misleading evidence to gain advantage in assessment arrangements (e.g. mitigating circumstances) or in making research proposals.

9. Unethical research behaviour – unethical behaviour in the undertaking of research or in seeking funding e.g. including failure to obtain appropriate permission to conduct research, unauthorised use of information which was acquired confidentially, failure to acknowledge work conducted in collaboration, fraud or misuse of research funds or equipment.

10. Academic misconduct involving staff members – any offence, as defined above, involving staff.

11. Academic misconduct alleged subsequent to the conferment of an award – any offence, as defined above, alleged or discovered after the award of a degree from the University of York.

If the examiners believe that the case is of particular gravity, they may also recommend that further disciplinary penalties be applied to the candidate. The penalties available are:

a marks cap on the affected piece of work;

suspension or exclusion from the University for a defined period of time;

permanent exclusion, i.e. failure of the degree;

withdrawal of any entitlement to redeem the failure. If you have any queries about what constitutes academic misconduct, and in particular about the proper attribution of material derived from another’s work, you should seek advice from your supervisor or tutor. The full regulation can be consulted at: http://www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/support-and-admin/registry-services/academic-misconduct/

The Department of Education uses Turnitin text matching software to check for plagiarism. The Department will check assignments for each module and dissertations. In addition, where markers suspect plagiarism, they can request a Turnitin check. The work suspected of academic misconduct will be investigated by the Standing Academic Misconduct Panel (StAMP), which consists of staff from the student’s home department and two other departments. The StAMP recommends the penalty for academic misconduct on the module to which the assessment is connected. The student may be invited to submit a statement or attend an interview to provide an explanation. In serious cases, the StAMP can recommend termination of the students registration.

Ethics

Carrying out research in education often raises ethical issues, because it involves people other than the researcher. An ethical issue is one that concerns right and wrong ways of acting and behaving. One central principle of ethical behaviour is that we should not act in ways which may cause foreseeable harm to another person, or group of people. Another is truthfulness – a commitment to report what you find as accurately and honestly as you can.

In the case of psychological or educational research, ethical issues may arise in the conduct of a study (the way it is carried out), and in the reporting of a study (how it is written up).

Informed consent

A key issue in conducting research where people are the subjects of the study is informed consent. The people from whom you collect data (by written questionnaires, or interviews, or observation) should have given their consent to be involved in the research. It is not appropriate simply to expect people to participate; they must be asked, and have a right to decline. You should inform your intended research subjects of the purpose of the research, in as much depth as you can. Sometimes telling people exactly what your research is about might alter their responses, so you need to exercise some judgment here, and should discuss this with your supervisor if you are uncertain. You should also tell your intended research subjects what data you intend to collect, and how you will collect it, what will be done with it afterwards, who will see it, how it will be stored, and how it will be disposed of once the research is completed. You should also tell them how the research will be written up and reported – assuring them of anonymity, that is, that a reader will be unable to work out who the individual people or institutions (e.g. schools) involved were.

http://www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/support-and-admin/registry-services/academic-misconduct/


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It is good practice to prepare a brief written summary of all of the points mentioned above, and ask each research subject to sign it to indicate that they have consented to take part in your study. You should certainly do this if you are planning to conduct interviews or focus group discussions, and it is also good practice when using written questionnaires. Here you might include a consent form as the front page of the questionnaire, so that people read and sign this before turning over to begin completing the questionnaire itself. If the research subjects are young (below age 16), then the informed consent of a parent or guardian should be sought, rather than (or perhaps in addition to) that of the research subjects themselves.

In the case of studies involving observation of classroom events which are happening anyhow, it might be more appropriate to seek the consent of the class teacher, or the school head, rather than of each individual pupil in the class. On the other hand, if your study involves an intervention (trying out something different from normal practice in order to observe or evaluate its effects), then you should obtain the informed consent of everyone directly involved (e.g. pupils and/or parents, class teacher, school Head).

The impact of a study on the research subjects

Informed consent is not, however the only ethical issue to consider. Your research will involve asking the research subjects to give you some of their time, and perhaps to do something different from what they would otherwise do (so that you can study the effects). You need to ask yourself if this might cause them some harm, by taking time away from other things. For example, if a school class has to miss a lesson in order to complete a questionnaire for you, then this could potentially cause some damage to their educational progress. Doing anything has potential ‘opportunity costs’ of this sort – and if we never did anything that might take a little of a person’s time away from some other activity, we would simply be unable to conduct many kinds of research. So the key question here must be, is the amount of time you are asking for, or the amount of disruption to normal routines you are causing, relatively small – and justified by what might be gained from the research. Again, if in doubt, you should discuss this with your supervisor.

As well as time, you should also consider if any of the questions you plan to ask in your research, or actions you plan to take, might cause distress to any of your research subjects. This could happen, for instance, if you are planning to explore personal matters, or to probe people’s views on a subject that they might find sensitive. You should plan your research to minimise the risk of causing this kind of upset, think hard about what questions you need to ask and avoid asking any that are unnecessary – and, again, discuss this carefully with your supervisor. It is clearly particularly important to consider these issues carefully if the subjects of your research are below the age of 16. If you are planning individual or group work, or focus group discussions, with subjects under 16 years of age, you should have DBS clearance. If you do not have DBS clearance you should always plan to have a second adult present during the data collection.

Handling the data

Your research subjects have given you your data. You must handle this responsibly. Part of informed consent (see above) involves telling people what will be done with the data they provide. You should take steps to protect your research subjects’ anonymity, by ensuring that any data that identifies the subject is stored carefully, and disposed of after the research has been completed. It is good practice to collect all data which includes the names of individuals and personal information yourself where possible. If it is not feasible to collect the data yourself, it is good practice to advise those collecting your data to ask participants to put their data in a sealed envelope or similar. You should also anonymise your data at as early a stage as possible, for example, by replacing real names of individuals or institutions by pseudonyms or codes (e.g. a letter or a number). If you need a key to identify these codes, you should keep it separate from the data itself.

If your research involves producing a summary or a transcript of an interview or group discussion, it is good practice to allow the research subjects to read and comment on this, making alterations if they think it is inaccurate. You may have informed people that you would do this when you asked for their informed consent (see above).


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After your research is completed and the final report written, you should dispose of your data appropriately – making sure you do not compromise the anonymity of the research subjects.

Writing up your research

It is normal practice to write up an educational research study is such a way that anyone reading it is unable to identify any of the individuals from whom data were collected, or their institutions. Only in very exceptional circumstances, which are unlikely to arise in the kind of research study you are doing, would this ‘rule’ not be followed. So, for example, real names of individuals or institutions should be replaced by pseudonyms or codes (e.g. a letter or a number). Even local authorities are better referred to with a descriptive label, for example, ‘a large, mainly rural local authority in the North of England’ rather than ‘North Yorkshire’. Again the ethical issue here is making sure that your research does not cause foreseeable harm to other people involved – as it might if you report findings or conclusions that are not wholly positive, or which reveal views that others might take exception to, or be dismayed by.

Truthfulness

An ethical approach to research requires that you report faithfully and truthfully on what you find. Making up or modifying data is a serious breach of trust, and is never acceptable – you must report your data honestly. It is also not ethically acceptable to suppress parts of your data that do not agree with the points you want to make. Research is about trying to add to knowledge. A reader cannot check everything in a research report, but has to take much of it on trust (for example, that interview quotations really were said by a respondent). It is important that researchers act in ways which justify this trust.

Turnitin

All students have access to Turnitin, a text matching software to help with the integration of source material into your assignments. You will be required to complete an online tutorial.

Departmental procedures (students involved in research studies)

The Department of Education (and the University of York) requires that research carried out by staff and students is conducted within clear ethical guidelines. Failure to follow these ethical guidelines, i.e. unethical research behaviour, is an example of Academic Misconduct and may lead to a marks cap for the affected work or more serious penalty (see Section 4.7). Your programme will involve carrying out a research study for your assignment/dissertation/thesis. It is therefore essential that you are familiar with the Departmental procedures and discuss your plans with the member of staff who is supervising your project.

An ethical issues audit form should be completed for each research study that you carry out as part of your degree. You should discuss this fully with the member of staff who is supervising your project. The form is available to download from the department’s intranet. Students on taught programmes will have a deadline to submit the form; the programme administrator will confirm what that deadline is. Once submitted, your supervisor will then inform you whether or not they have approved your project. If your supervisor does not think your study meets the Department’s ethical requirements you will need to review your plans and submit a revised audit form. If your supervisor is unsure about whether your study meets the Department’s ethical requirements, they will refer the proposal to the Departmental Ethics Committee, who will decide if the study can go ahead as planned or needs some modification. You must not begin data collection until your supervisor informs you that your proposal has met the Department’s ethical requirements. Satisfactory completion and approval of an ethical issues audit form is part of the assessment criteria. Failure to complete the ethics audit form could result in you failing your assignment/dissertation/thesis. Failure to carry out your research as indicated in your ethics audit form, e.g. failure to obtain consent or maintain the anonymity of your participants, could also result in you failing your assignment/dissertation/thesis.



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If your plans change as you carry out the research study, you should discuss any changes you make with your supervisor. If they think these are minor, there is no need to further action. But if the changes are larger, then your supervisor may advise you to complete a new ‘Ethical issues audit’ form.

Further reading

For more extended discussion of ethical issues in educational research, you should consult:

British Educational Research Association (BERA) (2004). Revised Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research.

Oliver, P. (2003). The Student’s Guide to Research Ethics. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) (2005). Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research.

British Psychology Society (BPS) (2010) Code of Human Research Ethics.

Information on Data Protection, Storage and Management

When completing your Ethical Issues Audit Form, you have to confirm that you have read the Department Guidance on Data Protection, Storage and Management, found on the intranet. This describes important issues relating to the "what, how, where and when" of collecting, storing and sharing data. The guidance is based on the University's policies, complying with the Data Protection Act and good research practice. The Department operates with three principles of good practice which you should aim to follow for storing data from human participants:

1. All staff and students aim to collect and store anonymised data (electronic and paper). Anonymous data should be backed up as soon as possible and stored safely e.g. in a locked room.

2. If paper or analogue (e.g. audio or video recordings) data is identifiable i.e. linked to the participant in any way, it must be stored in a locked storage facility. A locked office is not sufficient. The researcher must know who, if anyone has access to this data at all times. The researcher (i.e. the student collecting the data) should aim to remove the identifying features as soon as possible.

3. If electronic data is identifiable i.e. linked to the participant in any way, it must be either encrypted, or in a password protected file, or on access-restricted drives. If access-restricted drives are used, the researcher or administrator who set up the access is responsible for knowing who has access to this data at all times. The researcher should aim to remove the identifying features as soon as possible.

Exceptional Circumstances Affecting Assessment

If circumstances in your life significantly affect you undertaking any assignments then you can submit a claim of Exceptional Circumstances Affecting Assessment to the department. To find out how to submit an application for exceptional circumstances, or to see what kinds of circumstances would normally be accepted or not accepted, visit: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/studying/progress/exceptional-circumstances/

If your claim is successful, and the committee accepts that your assignment was significantly affected by your circumstances you will usually be given an opportunity to resubmit the assignment as if for the first time or you may be given an extension. Grades will never be altered without a further attempt at the assignment, and work will not be ‘re-marked’, although you may be allowed to re-submit it following revisions.

http://www.bera.ac.uk/publications/ethical-guidelines

http://www.bera.ac.uk/publications/ethical-guidelines

http://www.sera.ac.uk/

http://www.sera.ac.uk/

http://www.bps.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/code_of_human_research_ethics.pdf

https://www.york.ac.uk/students/studying/progress/exceptional-circumstances/


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Please note: it is very important that you submit your case for Exceptional Circumstances Affecting Assessment as soon as possible, preferably BEFORE the assignment which you believe may have been affected. For a full list of documents and policy information visit: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/studying/progress/exceptional-circumstances/

Making an Appeal

You can appeal against a procedural error in arriving at an academic decision or on the basis of Exceptional Circumstances Affecting Assessment that, for good reason, the examiners didn’t know about (see above) or a procedural irregularity in the assessment. However, you cannot appeal against an academic judgement of your work (this is, the marker’s opinion). For further details on both terms and how to appeal, visit: www.york.ac.uk/students/help/appeals/ Assistance with appeals and representation at hearings is also available through the Students’ Union Advice and Support Centre. All communication is confidential and free. For further information, visit: www.yusu.org/advice-and-support

External Examiners

Each Curriculum Area of the PGCE has its own external examiner and there is an overall chief external examiner for PGCE. External examiners are usually in post for 3 or 4 years and their role is to be a critical friend, providing support and challenge, as well as contributing to quality assurance procedures. Trainees will be advised who the relevant external examiner is at the start of their programme and there are formal opportunities, especially at the end of the programme for trainees to meet with and engage with external examiners directly and via trainee representatives. External examiners read a representative sample of PGCE assignments and contribute to the quality assurance procedures as a result. It is inappropriate to make direct contact with external examiners, in particular regarding your performance in assignments. If you have any issues or concerns you can register these through appeal (see above) or complaint (further details are available from the Director of Initial Teacher Training).

https://www.york.ac.uk/students/studying/progress/exceptional-circumstances/

http://www.york.ac.uk/students/help/appeals/

http://www.yusu.org/advice-and-support

Documents

PGCE and School Direct Trainees’ Assignments Handbook 2017… · PGCE and School Direct Trainees’ Assignments Handbook 2017/18 11-16 PGCE (With Post-16 Enhancement)