Students will require to provide evidence in assignments of
integration of social work values
acquisition and application of knowledge
reflection upon and critical analysis of their practice
transferability of knowledge, skills and values in practice
Submission dates for assignment are decided by the routes to suit
their particular timetables and curriculum format, within certain boundaries
agreed by the Consortium. These are
2.1 Relevant assessable assignments must be submitted by the end
of Part 1 or Part 2 of the programme
2.2 In accordance with the following principles, specific submission
dates are fixed by each route in relation to its pattern of teaching:
(i) assignment related to academic modules - submission
date within six weeks of the end of the module teaching
(ii) integrative practice study - submission date within
six weeks of the end of the placement
(iii) direct practice modules - practice teacher's report and student's
report should not be required earlier than 2 weeks before the end of
the placement.
When making decisions about dates, routes will ensure that the assessment
pattern for each part of the programme is evenly distributed. Unavoidable
exceptions to these principles must be notified to the DipSW Management
Committee.
Extensions to submission dates on the grounds of illness/exceptional circumstances
must be requested in writing to the route nominee for this purpose. The maximum
period of extension will be four weeks. The extension should be requested,
at the latest, on the day before the submission is due.
Assignments, which are not submitted on time or within the agreed extended
period will be graded fail.
Students are required to submit each assignment in accordance with the word
limit, which is specified in the assignment outline. This word limit is given
in the form of a specific number of words, but variation within a 10% margin
above or below the given number is allowed.
Variation beyond this 10% margin will attract criticism from the markers and
this could be a critical factor in deciding the final grade for the submission.
In any instance where a student submits a script which is longer than the
specified word limit by a margin greater than 10%, markers will discontinue
their assessment at the point where that 10% margin is reached. (For example,
if a student were to submit 3600 words for a 3000 word assignment, only the
first 3300 words would be read by the marker and the remaining 300 words would
be disregarded. The grade would therefore be decided on the extent to which
these first 3300 words answered the whole question).
Any source material used within assignments should be carefully identified
with the author's name and referenced in footnotes and/or the bibliography
attached to the assignment. Failure to do so may be viewed as plagiarism,
a serious academic offence which falls within the route's disciplinary code.
(see Appendix 4).
Appendices will be considered as provided supplementary evidence only. The
substantive material must fall within the word limit set for the assignment.
Assignments should be typed, on one side of A4 paper. Pages must be clearly
numbered and the total number of words used noted at the end of the assignment.
Guidelines for the markers of assessable assignments are attached in Appendix
1.