Please help advice needed - Failed resubmission in final year

I’m really hoping somebody can help. This is not a question for myself but I wanted to reach out in the hopes somebody can give my advice.

My superhero Mum decided to retrain as a nurse at the age of 48. She has recently been in her final year and was one of the nurses in Scotland asked to head out into the workplace early due to the pandemic.

She failed her final essay and was given a resubmission which she was expected to do whilst also working 12 hour shifts at the hospital.

Whilst this was going on she secured a job I a different part of the county and today packs up the moving van to relocate to the new house they have bought.

She also found out today she has failed her resubmission. She was as you can imagine the most upset I have ever heard her. she had worked so so so hard for this and now she is unable to contact anybody at the uni until next week.

As you can imagine I am lost for words and don’t really know what to say to make her feel better. She has achieved the highest grades in a practical elements of the course but has struggled a little academically.

II just wanted to post here in the desperate hope of hearing from somebody with any experience of something like this and if she has outright failed because of it if she would likely be able to appeal due to the current unusual circumstances and the fact she joined the amazing NHS workforce in a time of need and was unable to write a good enough essay.

Any advice would be fantastic.

Thanks

Reply 1

paub

the only thing she can do is argue the situation was unique. would she pass if shewasgiven a last chance. what was the topic was this her dissertation

Reply 2

Emily_B

Does she not get a 3rd attempt? That's normal for the academic side (even with nursing) so check that one out.

Reply 3

Nefarious

It's quite common for 2 attempts only to be permitted in Nursing unfortunately.

One thing I would recommend is putting in an academic appeal no matter how weak or strong you feel the case is it is always worth doing.

Your mother would be well served by creating a detailed timeline of all the events leading up to this second submission fail. Even if her extenuating circumstances wouldn't normally be sufficiant for an appeal to be upheld, there may be a technciallity that might make a difference, for example if she can demonstrate that she was disadvantaged due action by the university or if there was a way the university could have been reasonably expected to provide better support, then the university might be willing to invalidate her second attempt and allow a resubmission. During a successful academic appeal I made, I demonstrated that the university had disadvanaged me in an assignment by severly delaying informing me of a significant but non-obvious problem with my work, delaying telling me in fact until after my second submission deadline! I had no particular extenuating circumstances otherwise.

Creating a timeline this way might also help to frame and set out genuinely extenuating circumstances and order her thinking in such a way that she will be able to make a more compelling case.

Important things to consider include:

•

The date and gist of every communication she had from the university about both the work itself, and her first and second submission fails. Did she ask for support, if so was it delivered in a timely manner.

•

Whether resources that might reasonably be expected to be available were not available to her e.g. due to the COVID pandemic.

•

Were any changes to the assignment made? if so were they clearly and effectively communicated?

•

Should changes have been made to the assignment on the basis of the extrodinary circumstances of the global pandemic? (this seems a pretty weak point in general, everyone had to deal with the pandemic (did they? was there anything that specifically effected your mother) but the specifics of the situation may make it a factor)

•

When marking the work for the second time were new issues highlighted that should have been brought to your mother's attention when the first submission was marked?

Not a comprehensive list but these are the kind of places where grounds for appeal that may have been missed at first glance over the situation might exist.

It goes without saying your mother should seek support from the student's union ASAP. They'll have people who have helped with lots of academic appeals before.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 4

LaurenWF1

Hi, do you have an update on this as I’m in the same situation now

Reply 5

clairei

Original post by LaurenWF1

Hi, do you have an update on this as I’m in the same situation now

Hi Lauren,
Did you manage to resubmit. The reason i ask os my daughter in similar situation as this thread. She has failed her final yyear resubmission and took on a job and is now going to have to ask if they will hold job open. Any help appreciated. Thabks

Reply 6

paub

Original post by clairei

what caused he to fail, unless she has some very good grounds for an appeal she will not get her pin. the options ae for her to appeal, try to redo the year if they will let her or accept the lower qualification if they offer one. its sad that students get to the end of the course and ae failed for academic reasons. but i guess they have to draw a line somewhere. but your daughter should not have reached the point of a double failed submission. she should have either asked fo support or the tutors should have offered it. . its waste of he time a teaching space the time of her mentors and the cost, its a real shame. that job is gone