Hi Claire,
This is the line of argument I am using at the moment - too early for me to say whether it is proving successful except that I haven't had a tutor able to disagree with me effectively........yet. (The time will come)
In my view, including literacy as a specified competence discriminates against most dyslexic and BSL-using deaf students (and others I know) and as such should not therefore be included as a competence in a blanket way. In the same way as we would argue that a requirement to hear something or speak something should not be included. What I am saying is, that the inclusion of this competence criteria needs to be justified rather than it's exclusion being justified on behalf of an individual student.
I simply ask the question: "Why is this an essential criteria?"
In what way is competence in literacy in itself a demonstration of ability in the subject area being studied? In most cases, is it not the means by which the student is demonstrating her/his ability, knowledge, understanding? So why penalise the student for not being able to do this very well, if there are ways in which the student can demonstrate it that do not include writing, or if you can still assess their abilities even where the written word is grammatically incorrect?
When faced with these questions, most tutors fall back on notions of what it means to be a graduate (academic standards) and employer expectations, but that kind of depends who the employer is, what the job is and how well employers set their person specifications and should not interfere with our responsibilities to be fair to the students at HE level.
Naturally, there will be subjects, modules etc that are justified in including these criteria and I have no problem with that.
There you go Claire - a starter for 10.....the more debate on this the better as it will help us all inform our ability to engage with academic staff on these issues. This is a very important area towards building a more inclusive HE assessment framework not just for disabled students but for all.
Cheers
Paddy
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Claire Shanks
Sent: 27 March 2009 12:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Deaf Student
We have a Deaf student who has requested that she is not marked on her
spelling, grammar and punctuation in all her assessed work. We are
currently trialling a sticker scheme for students with SpLD but this is
not to disregard lapses in spelling, etc it is to inform tutors that
they need to provide more formative feedback to those students who use
the stickers on their assessed work. This is likely to be rolled out
next academic year to include those who are Deaf or hearing impaired.
We have produced guidance for academic departments on 'Accessible
Assessments' to ensure that where appropriate, departments consider
making provisions for reasonable adjustment in curriculum design.
However, it is expected that literacy will remain a specified competence
for any assessed coursework but not, except in unusual circumstances,
for unseen exams. It is assumed that most students will have the time
for drafting and re-drafting work and utilising the range of support
mechanisms available to them, e.g. Language Support Tutor, proof reader.
I would be very interested to hear other people's views on this. Also,
it would be appreciated if anyone would be willing to share any policy
documents as an example of good practice.
Thank you for your help with this query.
With best wishes
Claire
--
***************************************************************************************************
Claire Shanks
Disability Coordinator
Disability & Dyslexia Support Service
The Hillsborough Centre
Alfred Denny Building
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
Tel: 0114 222 1371 (Internal: 21371)
Fax: 0114 222 1373
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.shef.ac.uk/disability/
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