Contents of Internal Quality Assurance Policy

This policy includes the following sections:

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Daniel, Cathy, Ana
1.    An overview of L&P’s quality assurance system;
2.    The responsibilities of L&P’s organisational units, leaders, educators and students with respect to quality assurance;
3.    Procedures for ensuring academic integritay and freedom;
4.    Procedures for the ongoing monitoring and review of study programmemes;
5.    Procedures for ensuring against academic fraud
6.    Procedures for ensuring the integrity, reliability, suitability and continuous
availability of the technological infrastructure;
7.    Procedures for course applications, induction and successful completion;
8.    Data Management
9.    Procedures intended to prevent and address any kind of discrimination against
students or staff;
10.    The involvement of external stakeholders in quality assurance;

 

1. L&P’s quality assurance system

L&P is firmly committed to provide high quality education on a part-time basis and continuous professional development opportunities within the social wellbeing field. Students' progress is continuously monitored by L&P educators, review boards as well as internal and external examiners. L&P educators receive training in methodology and assessment techniques. 
At L&P quality assurance is perceived and managed as a shared responsibility of all staff and students.
 

2. The responsibilities of L&P’s organisational units, leaders, educators and students with respect to quality assurance;
The main accountability and responsibilities within L&P’s internal quality management systems are currently:

 

Board of Governors (BoG)

The BoG is composed of 5 members: Head of Institute, the treasurer of the LYNC Co-operative and three L&P shareholders nominated and elected from amongst L&P’s shareholders. The overall role of the BoG is to oversee operations and ensure that L&P Institute of Studies fulfills its mission statement and effectively attains its aims whilst upholding the L&P standards of behaviour. It is responsible for setting up L&P’s annual financial auditing and for officially appointing external quality assurance moderators for all L&P’s programmemes. Its main responsibilities related to assuring quality include:

• Approving all curricula and syllabi submitted by the Board of Studies (BoS);

• Issuing calls for application for all educators’ posts at L&P in line with the job descriptions and selection criteria proposed by the Head of Institute;

• Overseeing the recruitment and appointment of all L&P educators proposed by the Head of Institute;

• Overseeing and ensuring the appointment of external quality assurance moderators for L&P’s study programmes;

• Ensuring that minimum selection criteria for L&P educators are appropriate for the level-rating of the courses that the staff will be teaching;

• Approving internal quality assurance schemes established and proposed by the BoS; and

• Approving the results of all students’ final assessments after they are reviewed by the Head of Institute.

 

It also oversees disciplinary actions related to any form of discrimination, academic fraud, cheating and any form of oppressive behaviour allegedly attribued to educatoring staff and students. The BoG delegates its authority regarding disciplinary actions to L&P’s Head of Institute. The Head of Institute will report and actively liaise with the BoG in view of any significant disciplinary actions which may be required.

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Board of Studies (BoS)

The BoS is composed of 5 members: the Head of Institute who chairs the BoS; the President of the LYNC Co-operative; two representatives nominated by LYNC’s educators from L&P’s staff complement; and a student representative nominated by the students’ body from amongst students actively participating in any of LYNC’s programmes.

The BoS is responsible for:

• Establishing internal quality assurance schemes related to each L&P programmeme of studies and proposing them for the BoG’s approval. Such schemes ensure there is full transparency and a structure of clear operational accountability;

• Proposing new study programmes and courses to the BoG;

• Overseeing the accreditation of new study programmes by the NCFHE;

• Discussing changes in the current curricula;

• Publishing information about L&P’s study programmes after the BoG’s approval;

• Ensuring that public information about L&P’s study programmes is up-to-date and accurate;

• Overseeing the assessment process related to each programme of studies;

• Issuing an annual report about L&P’s adherence to its IQA policy; and

• Delegating to the Head of Institute its responsibility related to the overseeing of all assessment processes.

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Head of Institute

The Head of Institute contributes to the L&P’s quality assurance system by:

• Overseeing the day-to-day management of all study programmes;

• Acting as a key contact person with the BoG and the BoS;

• Acting as a key contact for all educators engaged at L&P and all students;

• Overseeing and organising the training of L&P educators in Quality Assurance procedures;

• Promoting quality culture within L&P;

• Coordinating the implementation of recommendations from external quality assurance audits;

• Formulating job descriptions and selection criteria for all educator posts at L&P and proposing them for the BoG’s approval;

• Overseeing and facilitating the induction and onboarding process of all new educators;

• Overseeing new applications from prospective students by liaising with L&P’s Admissions Board;

• Overseeing aspects of the delivery of each study programme including:

  • the induction of students;

  • the setting up of students’ placements’;

  • requests for extensions to submission of coursework in collaboration with the designated educator;

  • implementation of reasonable adjustments for students with learning difficulties and diabilities;

  • feedback to students;

  • course documentation (handbook and course specifications);

  • dealing with examination and assessment offences;

  • student representation, participation and feedback;

  • the monitoring and review of all L&P’s programme of studies;

  • preparation of accreditation documentation;

  • preparation for external quality assurance auditing;

  • liaison with all external quality assurance moderators appointed in relation to the assessment of students’ work on L&P’s study programmes; and

  • proposing amendments to any progamme of studies to the BoS.
     

Directors of Studies will hold office for three years and are eligible for re-appointment. The Board of Governors may terminate the appointment of a Head of Institute. A Head of Institute may resign the appointment by writing to the Board of Governors.

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Admissions Board

The Admissions Board (AB) is composed of 3 members: the Institute’s Head of Institute  and two representatives from non-student members on the BoS. The function of the AB is to oversee the admission of students into the Institute’s educational programmes and to ensure that its procedures are respectful, inclusive and free from all forms of discrimination, and that all admission processes and criteria are implemented consistently and in a transparent manner. The admission process encompasses the following:

• Receiving initial applications of prospective students;

• Verfying the identity of each applicant and their relevant documentation;

• Liaising with the applicants regarding their application;

• Holding interviews with applicants accordingly;

• Deciding whether or not the applicants fulfill the admission criteria;

• Informing the applicants of the outcome of their application and providing the next steps; and

• Ensuring that each successful applicant is registered internally for the induction process.

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Educators

Educators contribute to the L&P’s quality assurance system by:

• Establishing quality standards for each component within a study programme and monitoring these standards;

• Communicating quality standards to students;

• Engaging in critical reflexive practice related to their work as educators and their contact and communication with students;

• Adhering and implementing the learning outcomes related to each component within a study programme;

• Developing, communicating and regularly reviewing success criteria for each assessment task related to study programmes;

• Assessing students’ work in line with clearly established and communicated success criteria; and

• Taking responsibility for their continuous professional development as educators and communicating such responsibility through a CPD plan which is made available for the Head of Institute’s review. 

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Students

Students contribute to the L&P’s quality assurance system by acting as collaborators in the teaching and learning process. Students contribute to such a collaborative stance by:

• Familiarising themselves and adhering to L&P’s IQA policy, especially in relation to upholding the values of honesty, trust and responsibility; and

• Communicating feedback regarding both the process and content of their educational journey within L&P.

Student’s feedback at L&P is considered to be an integral and intrinsic component of the quality assurance system. This feedback is provided through each module’s feedback survey and the end of programme survey. The module’s feedback survey is conducted twice a year through a questionnaire which consists of a number of close-ended questions and a free text section. Students submit their feedback anonymously either before or after taking the assessments. Student feedback is then evaluated by the BoS and integrated into the quality assurance process. Evaluation results are communicated to the BoG and the educators. Areas for appropriate follow-up action are identified.

The end-of-programme survey is a quality assurance tool that provides information about the students learning experience throughout the programme of studies. The data gathered through this survey enables L&P to assess the quality of its programme and the students’ learning experience. The data collected through this survey is analysed by the BoS and communicated to the BoG.

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3. Procedures for ensuring academic integrity and freedom

L&P defines academic integrity as a commitment to five fundamental values; honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. In ensuring academic integrity and freedom L&P seeks to enable and rely on the courage to act on such values even in the face of adversity.

L&P ensures academic integrity and freedom by:

• Supporting educators and students to design and engage in original research projects, through timely, quality consultation and supervision;

• Cultivating the culture of peer review amongst its educators and students, where an individual submits their work for the critical review of peers;

• Develop dissemination activities where educators and students can share the outcomes of their work and research;

• Encourages its students and educators to actively respectfully and ethically contribute to ongoing debates about issues of national and international importance, whilst communicating that such views do not necessarily reflect the position of L&P and/or LYNC Cooperative;

• Communicating the results of all assessment activities to students in a manner which is confidential and which clearly refers to the learning outcomes set for each assessment task;

• Developing complaint procedures through which students can address their grievances if they think their work has not been fairly assessed;

• Actively cultivating and promoting a learning culture where educators and students engaged in teaching and learning, seek to acknowledge the origin of any research activity and/or academic output in a systematic manner which is open for scrutiny;

• Training students to use systematic referencing systems;

• Investigating any allegation of plagiarism by students at L&P; and

• Refer any allegation of plagiarism by an educator at L&P to the respective professional association which regulates the conduct of the said educator.

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4. Procedures for the ongoing monitoring and review of study programmes

L&P recognizes 3 steps involved in ensuring quality through the ongoing monitoring and review of study programmes:


 

Evaluation

L&P engages in regular structured internal reviews of its study programmemes. The Head of Institute is directly responsible for ensuring the facilitation of such evaluation in close liaison with the BoS. Regular evaluation is conducted through:

• Structured discussions and reflections with students;

• Structured discussions and reflections with educators;

• Design, implementation and analysis of structured student feedback questionnaires (module feedback survey and the end of programmeme survey); and/or

• Structured feedback by external quality assurance moderators who are responsible for overseeing the assessment process within every study programmemes.

L&P’s programme of studies will be reviewed every three years. This comprehensive review will include an evaluation in terms of the academic content of the course, the demands of the latest trends of the industry and to ensure that the delivery of the programme makes use of the most efficient and effective virtual learning tools.

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Planning

The planning of changes to L&P’s study programmes and teaching methodology is based on:

• The outcomes of structured evaluation;

• The recommendations from external auditing activities; and

• The changing needs in the social wellbeing professions.

L&P commits itself to identify changing needs in the social wellbeing professions by:

• Consulting with external stakeholders;

• Listening to professionals’, students’ and clients’ experiences within the field; and

• Staying abreast with research and academic developments in the field of social wellbeing.

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Implementation

The implementation of changes to the study programmes needs to be coordinated the Head of Institute and approved by the BoS. The Head of Institute is entrusted with coordinating the development of action plans ensuring the implementation of such changes. Such action plans, which require approval from the BoS, need to clearly define and identify the role of students and educators in implementing the desired changes. The Head of Institute is entrusted with the task of communicating such action plans to educators and students and other staff with any changes.

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5. Procedures for ensuring against academic fraud

L&P highly upholds values of honesty, trust and responsibility. Therefore, any allegation of academic fraud will be investigated and any misconduct will be taken very seriously in order to ensure fairness in L&P’s practice and the academic integrity of the institute.

L&P is committed to actively promote academic integrity by:

• Ensuring students are supported and monitored throughout their course work;

• Fostering a learning environment that encourages students to reflect on their own practice and apply their learning process to their professional practice;

• Motivating students to keep abreast with latest research in the respective areas, reflect and form ideas accordingly;

• Asking students’ to sign a declaration stating that their work is authentic upon submission of assessment tasks;

• Ensuring that educators and/or assessors consider the academic integrity of the students and the institution as a high priority and report any suspected academic misconduct;

• Using a plagiarism software where academic fraud is suspected.

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Actions that constitute academic fraud

L&P will consider any of the following actions as academic fraud:

• Plagiarism;

• Submission of work that was not completed by the student, unless otherwise referenced;

• Present information that was falsified or made up in any way, including research data, statements or references; and

• Collusion between students in sharing their work for the purpose of copying.

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Procedures for allegations of academic misconduct

Allegations of academic fraud must be submitted in writing, including supporting documentation, to the Head of Institute. The Head of Institute will then inform the student regarding the allegations made in writing and take up the matter to the BoS who will appoint a professional within L&P to conduct an investigation.  The Head of Institute will communicate the result in writing.

Students who would have been found to commit academic fraud will be sanctioned in one of the following ways:

• Given a verbal warning;

• Given a warning in writing;

• Zero marks for the sections of plagiarized material;

• Zero marks for the assessment task; and / or

• Suspension from the training course.

Students have the right to appeal by submitting a request in writing to the Head of Institute, within two weeks of the date the student was informed of the decision. The appeal will be addressed by the BoG.

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6. Procedures for ensuring the integrity, reliability, suitability and continuous availability of the technological infrastructure

L&P has discerned the validity of adopting teaching and learning methods which are both traditional and virtual. The option for blended learning or online learning has been an important measure in ensuring that training courses are better suited for the needs of today’s learners, especially professionals working within the social wellbeing field.  Furthermore, such methods ensure that training programmes are designed in a way that upholds student-centred learning.

L&P has adopted two virtual platforms that give the opportunity for both synchrnous and asychronous learning methods. Google classroom will be used for asynchronous teaching and learning, allowing the students and educators to engage in tasks in their own time. Zoom will be the platform used for sychronous teaching and learning, where the students and the educators are engaged in live classrooms.

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Integrity of online learning methods

Virtual classes are synchronous methods of learning that are managed by the educators, fully qualified to deliver the learning material according to the course requirements.

Training programmemes may also include asynchronous learning through tasks to be performed online that are assigned by the educators. Educators will assign the task through a feature on the platform, and receive the work from each participant. The educators will monitor and give feedback in these discussions to ensure they are in line with the learning outcomes. Educators assigning the task will be persons lecturing the particular module.

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Suitability of online learning methods

Zoom™:

The virtual live classrooms will allow for direct instruction, which aims at imparting subject specific knowledge through lectures. The technological infrastructure will allow various teaching methods to be included in the training programme, these include:

• Workshop tasks held both in smaller groups;

• Reflective discussions held in small groups and/or as a whole class;

• The opportunity for students to work in groups;

• Didactic learning experiences through the practice of skills and competencies taught.

• The opportunity for all participants to contribute verbally, in writing, by sharing content (files); and

• Presentations made by individual students or groups.

These features satisfy the pedagogical needs of the learning programme.

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Google Classroom™:

Students will be offered the opportunity to cover course work through tasks that are assigned online, using asynchronous learning through Google Classroom™, giving the students the chance to reflect on the material and reproduce their learning back in the group. L&P embrace reflective practice as a core principle in learning in the social wellbeing field. The technological tool allows for participants to engage in critical discussions whereby their peers review their work. This is a unique opportunity that helps the participants build critical skills as well as build on knowledge presented by their peers.

The technological infrastructure has features that allow for sharing of resources between members of the classroom, and allows for access to a shared Drive, where learning material can be accessible to all the classroom’s students and educators.

Google Classroom™ gives the educators the option of:

• Setting tasks where students would be able to contribute to each others’ submitted work;

• Monitor and facilitate discussions according to the learning outcomes;

• Using deadlines for online tasks;

• Monitoring students’ progress;

• Marking and giving feedback on students’ work.

Furthermore, since tasks are asynchronous, students are better able to find the space and time convenient to them to meet the learning outcomes of the tasks, in terms of knowledge, skills and competencies.

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Reliability of online learning methods

Virtual learning classrooms using Zoom™ will follow standard procedures whereby:

• The Course Administrator will set up the virtual lectures and workshops and send a link to the students, allowing them access to the class.

• The students would be instructed to use their name as they request to enter the virtual platform.

• Access into the classroom will be granted by the educator according to the list of students.

• Students will be asked to attend sessions with their camera switched on.

• Should there be a participant not enlisted in the course, the educator would be able to remove the profile from the online class.

In order to ensure that the application used works effectively a stress test will be conducted. This will be done by connecting a small cohort, of about five persons and run several features of the application to ensure the efficacy of the platform used.

Asynchronous learning through Google Classroom™ will follow standard procedures whereby:

• The Course Administrator will grant students access to the classroom, through the email address provided by the students at the start of the course;

• The Course Administrator will grant educators access to the classroom, through the email address provided by the students at the start of the course;

• The students and educators will have their individual profile linked to their email account;

• Educators, supported by the Course Administrator would publish the tasks within the time frames of the calendar of the particular training programme.

Submission of course work and any comments made in discussions will be made through the students’ individual profile, and cannot be made anonymously.

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Technical support

Students and educators will be provided with a session of training on how to use and access both platforms used for learning. They will be especially given guidance on accessing and managing Google Classroom™ at the start of the course. For technical difficulties throughout the course they will have access to the emails of the Course Administrator who would be able to support them through the technical difficulties. Furthermore, the students would be able to discuss academic difficulties with their respective Educator by means of email. Google Classroom™ allows the students to email their educators directly. 

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Continuous availability of online learning methods

L&P will make use of a paid yearly subscription to access Zoom. This would ensure that the features necessary for online learning will be available for live virtual learning. Chat discussions or files are not automatically saved, but would need to be saved manually. 

Files submitted on Google Classroom™ are saved in the ‘Teachers’ Google Classroom Google drive. Files uploaded on the stream are saved on the Class Google Drive. Google Drive has an automated back-up system.

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7. Procedures for course applications, induction and successful completion

 

Course Application

Students are required to apply for any of L&P’s courses by filling in a registration form, collecting all the requested documentation and sending an email attaching all relevant documentation to the Admissions Board.

All applications are subsequently processed by the Admissions Board by initially verifying the identity of the applicants and the documentation submitted and communicating with applicants according to need. For those courses where an interview is required, the applicants will be contacted directly.  

All applicants will be informed by email regarding the outcome of their application as follows:

• Successful applicants will be congratulated and offered a place on the study programmeme. L&P’s standards of behaviours will also be communicated at this stage indicating that a student’s acceptance of the offer includes a commitment to honour the standards of behaviour of L&P Institute of Studies. The next steps will be clearly outlined.

• Applicants that have not been successful in their application will be respectfully notified and the reason given together with any further actions needed for a successful application.

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Induction Process

Each course provided by the Institute will have an induction process, overseen by the Head of Institute and is initiated by an introduction to the Head of Institute and/or Course Administrator and encompasses information about:

• The mission and values of L&P together and how the course is connected to these

• The course educator/s

• The overall course, modules included and how the course will be run

• The rights, roles and responsibilities of being a student of L&P

• The rights, roles and responsibilities of L&P educators

• L&P standards of behaviour

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Successful Completion

On successful completion of the course, students will receive documentation outlining the context, MQF level, amount of learning credit, content and status of the qualification earned and the achieved learning outcomes.

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8. Data Management

Data is gathered during the various phases of the student’s life-cycle. The nature of the data gathered and stored will be either related to the course itself and/or to the students.

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Student Data

Data related to the students will be stored in the ‘Students Records’ section. This will include the following:

• Students’ admission form;

• Students’ curriculum vitae and copies of students’ certificates, especially those relevant to the admission criteria of the course;

• Signed forms indicating that students have read and are in agreement with our policies, especially those in relation to data management and GDPR;

• A copy of the front sheet of their assessment tasks;

• A copy of the certificate awarded on completion of the programme;

• Any official correspondence required by the particular individual.

 

Student records will be kept in two formats. A hard copy of the students’ application form will be kept in a filing cabinet, at the L&P’s Premises. A cloud storage will be used to store soft copies of the participants’ personal details. The cloud drive will be password protected and accessible to the Head of Institute and the Course Administrator. Hard copies will be disposed of after 3 years from the end of the students’ course. Soft copies will be archived and disposed of after 40 years. Participants will be informed of the data policy of the institute and provide confirmation of having read it upon application. Data protection will be upheld according to the GDPR regulations.

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Data related to the training course

Further to the data related to individual students, data related to the running of the course will be gathered and stored separately. This is to include:

• Students’ attendance records for workshops;

• Records of students’ engagement in the online tasks;

• Evaluation and feedback forms gathered during and after the course;

• Students’ payment terms and information related to the students’ payment status.

 

The data related to the running of the course will be stored in soft copy. A cloud storage will be used to store this information. The cloud drive will be password protected and accessible to the Head of Institute and the Course Administrator. Soft copies will be archived and disposed of after 40 years. Participants will be informed of the data policy of the Institute and provide confirmation of having read it upon application. Data protection will be upheld according to the GDPR regulations.

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Students’ Work

During the students’ life cycle, educators and Course Administrators would have access to students’ work through the online platform ‘Google Classroom’ and through assignments handed in for assessment purposes.

Assignments are to be handed in as a soft copy to the educators. These will be returned to the participants with feedback. The assignments will be deleted once the programme is completed. The virtual classroom will be closed and deleted within 1 year from the official completion of the course.

The Course Administrator will be responsible for the collection, monitoring and the management of the information.

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9. Procedures intended to prevent and address any kind of discrimination against students or staff

 

L&P is committed to providing a respectful and inclusive environment for all its educators, students and staff and does not tolerate any form of discrimination. Preventative measures include clear communication of this during all educator and student application and induction processes both verbally and through the L&P standards of behaviour. 

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Procedures for filing a discrimination complaint

Complaints of discrimination must be submitted in writing, including supporting evidence if available, to the Head of Institute within 15 days of the incident. A complaint can be registered by the person being discriminated against or by someone who has observed discrimination towards another person. The Head of Institute will investigate the claims put forward and set up a meeting with the student who has allegedly discriminated against another student, educator or staff member The Course Administrator will also be present at the meeting together with any other person deemed necessary by the DoS. Students found to have discriminated against others will be given a verbal and written warning informing them that a second discrimination offence would result in termination of  the student’s participation in the study programmeme. Should a second offence occur termination will be immediate. 

Students have the right to appeal by submitting a request in writing to the Head of Institute, within two weeks of the date the student was informed of the decision. The appeal will be addressed by the BoG.

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10. The involvement of external stakeholders in quality assurance

 

L&P recognizes external stakeholders as key collaborators in monitoring and ensuring quality in the development and teaching of its study programmes. External stakeholders are involved through ongoing consultations with professional bodies, NGOs and governmental agencies responsible for service delivery in the social wellbeing field. The BoS is responsible for organising activities which ensures and nurture such an ongoing dialogue with external staekholders.

 

L&P also recognizes the critical input of the external quality assurance moderators. L&P commits itself to appoint an external quality assurance moderator for each study programmeme. The BoG is responsible for the appointment of external quality assurance moderators. External quality assurance moderators need to be respected academics/professionals in the social wellbeing field with experience of overseeing the assessment of study programmemes in this field. The role of external quality assurance moderators includes:

• Becoming familiar with the course description of a specific study programmeme especially regarding the assessment tasks and respective success criteria;

• Reviewing L&P’s educators’ assessment of students’ submitted tasks by reviewing the assessment of a representative sample of such submissions within a study programmeme;

• Confirming L&P’s educators’ assessment of submitted works or otherwise inform the Head of Institute that they are not in agreement with the educators’ assessments. In such situations the Head of Institute will facilitate a dialogue between the L&P educator and the external quality assurance moderator. If no compromise is reached, a third assessor is appointed by the Head of Institute; and

• Communicating written recommendations regarding changes to specific L&P study programmes.

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End of IQA policy