PROFESSOR SIR STEVE SMITH AcSS
Northcote House
The Queen’s Drive
Exeter
UK EX4 4QJ
Telephone +44 (0)1392 263000
Fax +44 (0)1392 263008
Web www.exeter.ac.uk
SS/RB
1 July 2011
Dear Andrew
Professor Bryden’s External Examiner’s Report 2010-2011
College of Humanities: Modern Languages
BA French
The External Examiner notes the following areas of good practice:
Although it is sometimes stated that the presence of a 'live' external examiner at Oral examinations is desirable, I find that practice at Exeter is now so efficiently conducted that this is not necessary. The quality of the recordings is immeasurably improved, and sending them to externals via audio files saves time for all. Even if present in person, an external could only sample a number of performances, and there are arguments that this intermittent presence might be an unsettling and inequitable factor in the eyes of the candidates.
The External Examiner makes the following recommendations:
Essential
n/a
Advisable
In the light of continued debate about 'light-touch' moderation, it would be advisable to keep this under scrutiny. In particular, it should be stressed to internal moderators that, even if their principal function is to check marks against comments, they should also make a point of consulting a sample of scripts, even if there are no apparent grounds for concern. This should also be the case with external examiners. This implies that the script should, as happens at present, be supplied alongside the assessment sheets. (If work is increasingly to be sent to externals via email PDFs, this will create a great deal of extra work for administrative staff, and there may be a temptation to omit the scripts themselves).
Desirable
In the assessment criteria for the Essay in the Language of Study, it may be desirable to make a slight modification to the criteria for the 80+ band. These currently state that the essay should be 'error-free'. This is a very categorical criterion, and one which is extremely difficult to meet, even with native speakers. If this were modified to 'virtually error-free', there would be still be a number of the current descriptors which would provide differentiation between 70-79% and 80-89%. It should also result in less 'bunching' of marks, and a greater use of the full range of available marks.
It was the External Examiner’s final year of appointment and they leave the following comments:
Over the four years in which I have been associated with the Department, there have been a number of different Examination Officers. I have found that each one has been well-prepared, helpful, and professional. All my queries have been efficiently dealt with, and I am grateful for the hospitable and welcoming attitude I have encountered in the Department.
I should be grateful if the College would respond to me as required under the procedures contained in the TQA Manual. These look to a response normally within eight weeks after appropriate internal discussion within the College including an opportunity for input from the staff meeting and the College’s Teaching Committee.
Please note that the University’s statement of procedures also requires that the College’s next annual main meeting of the Boards of Examiners for the programmes in question, at which an External Examiner is present, should include early in its agenda a copy of the External Examiner’s report and of the College’s response.
Yours sincerely
Professor Sir Steve Smith
Vice-Chancellor
cc Jill Collins