Applicant pack
Referee guidance and pro-forma (D1)
CADENZA
Noun: “a virtuoso solo passage inserted
into a movement in a concerto”
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Recognising the talents and achievements of those teaching and
supporting learning at the University of Essex
CADENZA: Referee Guidance (D1)
D1 Applicants: please pass this guidance and the accompanying form to your chosen referee.
Thank you very much for agreeing to provide a reference in support of this application, made via the University
of Essex’s CADENZA process, for recognition at Descriptor 1 (D1) of the UK Professional Standards
Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education (UKPSF) and Associate Fellowship of the
Higher Education Academy (HEA).
Please do refer to this additional guidance for advice on preparing your reference (either on the attached form
or in conventional letter format). If you require further assistance, please do contact the CADENZA team in
Learning and Development (T x4584, E cadenza@essex.ac.uk).
What is CADENZA?
CADENZA is the University of Essex’s professional development framework for those teaching and supporting
learning in higher education. It has been designed to encourage all staff to recognize and record their talents,
strengths and achievements, and to apply for professional recognition. It is not a taught course or module and
does not carry credit.
CADENZA is mapped against the UKPSF and is accredited by the HEA. Professional recognition gained
through CADENZA is thus nationally recognized and portable.
What purpose will your reference serve and why is it important?
All new graduate teachers at the University are required to achieve D1 and Associate Fellowship by the end of
their first year of teaching. This achievement confirms their commitment to delivering excellence in education
and permits them to be re-employed at Essex in subsequent years. It also provides them with a valuable
recognition of their teaching experience, skills and ethos that they can carry with them right across the UK HE
sector. Your reference is an essential part of their application and will help them fulfil both their contractual
obligations to the University and establish a solid bedrock on which they can build their early-career
professional development.
You are therefore asked to provide an appraisal of the applicant’s experience, and to support and endorse the
accounts of their practice given in their Review of Professional Activities and their Log of Professional Activities.
Please do take some time to read the applicant’s account before composing your reference. It might also be
useful for you to set aside a few minutes to talk -- face-to-face or over the phone -- with the applicant about
their application and their reflections on teaching at Essex.
What is the UKPSF D1?
The UKPSF identifies three, interrelated dimensions of academic practice: Professional Activities, Core
Knowledge and Professional Values. In order for the framework to take account of different roles,
responsibilities and career stages, participants apply for recognition at one of four ‘descriptor levels’ –
Associate Fellow (D1), Fellow (D2), Senior Fellow (D3) and Principal Fellow (D4). Most graduate teachers will
be applying for recognition as Associate Fellows but, if an individual’s level of experience suggests they should
be applying for Fellowship (D2), we encourage them to do this.
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 successful engagement with at least two of the five Areas of Activity;
 successful engagement in related teaching and practices underpinned by appropriate Core Knowledge and
research and/or scholarship (subject specific and pedagogic),
 a commitment to appropriate Professional Values;
 engagement in professional development activity related to their teaching, learning and assessment
responsibilities.
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An individual working at D1 level is expected to demonstrate an understanding of a number of specific aspects
of effective teaching, learning support methods and student learning. Applicants should be able to provide
evidence of:
What information do you need to provide?
You may provide your reference either as a conventional letter of support or on the pro forma provided. We
would encourage you to adopt a tone that is appropriate to the affirmative and developmental character of the
CADENZA process.
When framing your reference, please use any knowledge that you have of the applicant’s professional practice
in teaching and supporting learning, and the context within which the applicant works, to build on and endorse
the material the applicant has provided in their account. Please provide practical examples to support your
comments wherever possible. If you have been involved in the observation of the applicant’s teaching or
support of learners, please draw on this. Please note, however, that it is not necessary for you to have directly
observed the applicant teaching in order to supply a CADENZA reference for them; it can be equally helpful for
us to read about applicants’ ways of working in other related activities, for example in their doctoral work or on
frontrunner placements, etc. If, however, you are asked to provide a reference by someone you do not feel
qualified to support, please ask them to re-consider their choice. Direct anyone finding it difficult to choose an
appropriate referee to their GTA Co-ordinator or to Learning and Development.
How should you submit your reference and who will see it?
Applicants are requested to collect their reference directly from you and to submit it to Learning and
Development together with their final applications. If this is not possible, for whatever reason, we are more than
happy to receive your reference directly. As noted above, you are welcome to contact the CADENZA team
whilst you are in the process of preparing your reference; likewise we may contact you for clarification on
particular points in your endorsement. Please do make sure that you supply a current email address to enable
us to do this.
As this is a different kind of reference to the sort normally required for any kind of competitive process, it is
deemed appropriate and, indeed, desirable for applicants to see their references before submission. They will
see them afterwards as their whole applications, plus assessor feedback, are provided to them following each
panel meeting. In addition to the applicants themselves, references are seen by the two assessors of the
applicant’s form and the entire CADENZA panel (chaired by the PVC Education) to which the application has
been submitted.
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Thank you once again for participating in this process and supporting your graduate teacher/student’s
continuing professional development.
CADENZA: Reference Form (D1)
Applicant Details
Title (Mr, Mrs, Dr, etc.)
Surname (family name)
Other Name(s)
Title (Mr, Mrs, Dr, etc.)
Surname (family name)
Other Name
Department/School/Section
Staff category (ASER, etc.)
Email
Referee Details
Referee’s Signature:
Date:
……………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………….
Feedback on Applicant’s Professional Activities
(If you prefer to provide your reference in letter format, please feel free to do so.)
1. In what capacity have you known the applicant and for how long?
2. Drawing on your knowledge of the applicant, and the evidence given in his/her Review and Log, how does
s/he meet the dimensions of the UKPSF in at least two of the following Areas of Activity (A1-5)?
(Please note, D1 applicants are only required to demonstrate the alignment of their practice with two out of the five Areas of Activity so
you should focus on the two that they have chosen. If you feel they also meet other dimensions in their work, do feel free to include this
information below. When composing your responses, please try to comment on how far the applicant’s engagement with their chosen
Areas of Activity is underpinned by the Core Knowledge and Professional Values of the UKPSF.)
A1. Design and plan learning activities/projects/consultations
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(This refers to all the things applicants do when preparing for engagement with learners. We tend to discourage GTAs for making a
claim against A1 unless they can demonstrate involvement in module design in some form.)
A2. Deliver and/or support learning/ understanding / implementation
(This area of activity is concerned with applicants’ direct engagement with learners whether in groups or individually.)
A3. Assess needs/progress and give feedback
(This area of activity is concerned with how applicants use assessment and feedback (formative/summative, formal/informal,
individual/group) to foster and encourage learning, assess progress and make judgements about their students’ learning during, and on
completion of, their period of study.)
A4. Develop effective environments and approaches to guidance using a range of available resources
(This area of activity is about how applicants make effective use of formal and informal, real and virtual learning environments to facilitate
learning, and how they seek to meet the needs of their learners for educational support and guidance.)
A5. Engage in continuing professional development in subjects/disciplines/professions incorporating research,
scholarship and the evaluation of professional practice
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(This area of activity is about how applicants maintain and develop their capacity to perform their teaching and learning support roles.)
3. Please describe the applicant’s engagement in professional development activity related to their teaching,
learning and assessment responsibilities.
(Applicants are encouraged to describe in their application how they gather and utilize information – from peers, students, and their own
observations and research (both subject specific and pedagogic) – in order to enhance their practice.)
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4. Other comments