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Degree outcomes and national calibration: Debating academic standards in UK Geography

Wyse, Stephanie; Page, Ben; Walkington, Helen; Hill, Jennifer

Authors

Stephanie Wyse

Ben Page

Helen Walkington

Jenny Hill Jennifer.Hill@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Teaching and Learning



Abstract

The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). © 2019 Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). In this short intervention we report on work in progress by Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) in collaboration with professional bodies such as the RGS-IBG, which seeks to respond to public concerns about “grade inflation” in relation to degree outcomes. We present an updated analysis of degree outcomes in UK geography for 2010–2016 showing a strong correlation between average A-level points score on entry and the proportion of good degrees awarded by UK geography departments. We then go on to report on the results of pilot training activities within the discipline to increase the use of social calibration techniques as a means of providing transparent assurance about the high quality of assessment practices. We conclude that there is good reason to engage positively and actively with the public debate about academic standards and we make the case for regular social calibration exercises to share marking practices across multiple institutions as a potential means of ensuring consistency, reliability and clarity in academic standards.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 29, 2019
Online Publication Date Aug 24, 2019
Publication Date 2020-06
Deposit Date Jul 2, 2019
Publicly Available Date Aug 25, 2021
Journal Area
Print ISSN 0004-0894
Electronic ISSN 1475-4762
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 52
Issue 2
Pages 376-385
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12571
Keywords calibration, degree outcomes, assessment, academic standards, grade inflation
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1492256
Publisher URL https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14754762
Contract Date Jul 2, 2019

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Copyright Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Wyse, S, Page, B, Walkington, H, Hill, JL. Degree outcomes and national calibration: Debating academic standards in UK Geography. Area. 2019; 00: 1– 9., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12571. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.


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http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved

Copyright Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Wyse, S, Page, B, Walkington, H, Hill, JL. Degree outcomes and national calibration: Debating academic standards in UK Geography. Area. 2019; 00: 1– 9., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12571. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.





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