Royal Holloway
University of London
Graduate School Forum
Guidelines for Assessment of PhD Students with Specific Learning Difficulties
1.
The attached guidelines have been developed through consultation
between the College’s Educational Support Office, Phil McGeevor, and
Susan Johnson and Valerie Soar from Senate House. They are intended to
develop examiners awareness of the difficulties experienced by students
with Specific Learning Difficulties within their thesis and viva, the support
available to these students and to provide practical advice on what they
can do to support students who have Specific Learning Difficulties.
2.
The proposal is for the Staff section to be distributed to every PhD supervisor
and the Student section to be sent to all prospective PhD students who have
disclosed they have a Specific Learning Difficulty.
3.
The Graduate School is asked to approve the attached guidelines. They
need to go to the College’s Learning and Teaching Quality Committee on
10th March 2005 and then on to the University of London Research Degrees
Committee on 3rd May 2005.
Staff Guidelines – PhD students with specific learning difficulties
Background
Many people know that students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD), such
as dyslexia or dyspraxia, often have difficulties with reading and writing. Royal
Holloway has a document to advise markers of written work by students with
SpLD (‘Assessment and Marking Guidelines; Specific Learning Difficulties’ 1).
However, the lesser-known difficulties for such students are their oral fluency,
word retrieval and memory; all of which are exacerbated by stress. They may
not perform to the best of their abilities or express the depth and breadth of
their knowledge when ‘put on the spot’ during an oral examination, such as a
PhD viva voce.
The guidelines below aim to increase the supervisor’s awareness of the
difficulties and support available and give supervisors recommendations on
how to alleviate the students’ difficulties by providing an environment for them
to fulfil their potential.
Awareness
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Students will have registered with Educational Support Office (ESO)
Disability-related funding is available to students with SpLD via their PhD
funding body and College (e.g. Disabled Students’ Allowance for specialist
SpLD software and equipment and specialist SpLD tutorials)
Bedford Library has specialist SpLD software for students without their own
Training and advice on supporting PhD students with SpLD can be sought
from the ESO
If an extension to deadline is required, the College Registrar will notify the
student’s funding body; to ensure the College does not get financially
penalised for extension and to ensure continuation of Disabled Students’
Allowance funding
Supervisors and external/internal examiners need to appreciate that even
though there should be no spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes,
there could nonetheless be evidence of 'awkwardness in phrasing' within the
PhD thesis. They are requested to approach this situation sympathetically.
Good Practice (beneficial for all PhD students, but in particular, those with SpLD)
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Careful guidance to be given when choosing and initially planning research
area
Regular supervision
Larger work goals broken down into smaller targets
Realistic deadlines agreed in advance
Recording points discussed during supervisory sessions
Mock viva in dept
http://www.rhul.ac.uk/educational-development/centre/all_staff/docs/spld_marking_guidelines.pdf
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Recommendations for Viva
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Supervisor to alert external marker of student’s SpLD and associated possible
difficulties
Adopt an especially supportive and sensitive approach to viva
Sufficient table space to be able to organise materials
Open-ended time limit for viva; allowing plenty of time to find a section,
understand the question, reread the text and formulate a considered
response
Clear & concise phrasing of questions and instructions and extra clarification
of questions if needed
Examiners remain silent whilst the student finds information or composes a
response
Allow use of a range of presentation formats (e.g. bullet points, graphics)
Allow the student to make brief notes on questions to avoid memory
overload
Allowance for poor fluency (e.g. word finding, rambling, speed, coherence
of response)
Rest breaks for fatigue or attention issues
Allow use of laptop for easy access to sections
Allow use of coloured overlays to read text
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Student Guidelines – PhD students with specific learning difficulties
Background
The guidelines below aim to increase your awareness of the support available
and offer recommendations on how to alleviate the possible difficulties in your
thesis and viva voce.
Awareness

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Disability-related funding is available via your PhD funding body and
College (e.g. Disabled Students’ Allowance for specialist SpLD software and
equipment and specialist SpLD tutorials)
Bedford Library has specialist SpLD software for students without their own
Training and advice is available for staff supporting PhD students with SpLD
via Educational Support Office and your supervisor should have awareness
of SpLD difficulties
If an extension to thesis deadline is required, your funding body will be
notified via the College Registrar; to ensure the College does not get
financially penalised for extension and to ensure continuation of your
Disabled Students’ Allowance funding
Your supervisor should ’flag’ your work to alert the external marker to your
SpLD
Recommendations for Thesis
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Larger work goals broken down into smaller targets
Realistic deadlines agreed in advance
Recording points discussed during supervisory sessions
Recommendations for Viva
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Colour-coding of sections in thesis for ease of referencing during viva
Sufficient table space to be able to organise materials
Examiners try to remain silent whilst you find information or compose a
response
Make brief notes on questions to avoid memory overload
Mock viva in dept
Possible rest breaks for fatigue or attention issues
Use laptop for easy access to sections
Use coloured overlays to read text
Possible use of a range of presentation formats (e.g. bullet points, graphics)
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