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12.3 School-based training for postgraduate tutors

The University’s Policy for Supervisors and Students in Research Postgraduate Programmes states that research students who teach should receive formal training from CAPOD (unless they have appropriate prior accreditation), and that in addition “the School should offer appropriate training, and support through the period of teaching”.  This policy outlines what constitutes the minimum additional “appropriate training” that all Schools should provide for their postgraduate tutors and demonstrators.

The CAPOD training consists of two workshops covering general skills that apply regardless of subject area.  The first workshop provides an introduction to small group facilitation skills/demonstrating, gives practical advice on managing tutorial groups, and includes presentations by Student Services on confidentiality and duty of care, as well as support for students with disabilities.  The second workshop covers principles of assessment and feedback, an introduction to the University’s 20 point reporting scale and an overview of the Academic Misconduct policy, including discussions on plagiarism.

The purpose of the CAPOD workshops is to ensure that all postgraduate tutors and demonstrators have a reasonable grounding in the skills they will need to manage groups of students and to mark student work effectively.  However, given that different Schools have different approaches to assessment and administration, it is not possible for the CAPOD workshops to go into any great detail on School-specific procedures and therefore postgraduates require further support within their Schools.

All Schools should provide, at a minimum, the training and support outlined below for all new tutors/demonstrators.  Where Schools are already making provision they should expand or formalise this training.  Schools need to provide training beyond what is proposed below and should supplement the policy with any such essential School specific training.

Brief introduction to academic policy and administrative procedures: eg conducting Disclosure (Scotland) checks, the School policy on reporting marks and managing deadlines and extensions, and guidance on effective record keeping.  In addition, a brief introduction to key policies such as the Academic Misconduct policy and how it is applied within the School.

Assessment and marking practical:  All new tutors/demonstrators who will be marking written work should be given a clear explanation of how any marking scale used within the School maps onto the 20 point reporting scale.  They should also be provided with clear grade descriptors for each type of work.  Students should also be reminded of how to provide effective formative feedback.

Prior to marking student work, all new tutors/demonstrators should complete a marking practical where they blind mark anonymous pieces of student work from previous years.  This marking practical should include at least three sample pieces of work of different quality.  The tutors, with an experienced marker, should compare the marks they awarded in the context of grades actually awarded and discuss how the grade descriptors had been applied. If multiple tutors are used on the same module, they should all participate in the same marking practical (as far as possible).

Moderation of postgraduate marking:  The distribution of marks awarded by each tutor/demonstrator should be reviewed to ensure consistency (especially if multiple tutors mark on the same module), and a sample of coursework should be double-marked.

Peer Observation of Teaching:  Postgraduate tutors/demonstrators should be involved in peer observation of teaching, both as observers and observed during at least one postgraduate teaching session.  New tutors/demonstrators should always be paired with an experienced postgraduate tutor/demonstrator.  The observer could be another postgraduate tutor/demonstrator however, the Module Co-ordinator should always take responsibility for monitoring the quality of the tutor/demonstrator's performance and for taking any means required for improvement.  If the observor is another postgraduate tutor/demonstrator then they must be given a briefing on how to provide good feedback to their peers.