Students taking the P!

[T4Opal]

I teach on an undergraduate programme and run a specialist module where students will have that specialism named on their degree.
1 particular student chose my module and has not attended a single workshop, nor have they bothered responding any of my emails. Despite academic regulations stating 3 missed sessions can lead to disciplinary action nothing has been done regardless of the fact I have raised this many times.
I said if they submit the assessment I refuse to mark it but have been told by the programme leader and HoD that I must.
What are your thoughts on this? I know they are our paying customers, but to be declared a specialist in an area they have neglected to attend at all just seems wrong to me.
Allegedly said student has mental health issues but has managed to complete their placement for this academic year. I think them passing this assessment makes a mockery of the whole system.

and what's interesting is they often undermark the really good essays, and overmark the mediocre essays ...

How depressing.

@RampantIvy I think it's because most of them rarely see really excellent essays, and most of them write mediocre (ie middling) essays. So they're familiar with mediocre essays and unfamiliar with excellent essays.

There was some research done a few years ago about A Level predictions, which showed that teachers at low or underperforming schools tended to give lower predictions for their students at A Level, than teachers at high performing, and fee paying schools. Of course, this is teachers 'gaming' the system yo advantage already advantaged pupils, but it was also surmised that teachers who routinely saw really high level work recognised it more easily, and teachers who rarely saw high level work didn't recognise it so easily - it showed that teachers needed an element of familiarity to recognise work at both ends of the spectrum.

@GoodThinkingMax I think you're right about being exposed to high quality vs low quality work

Realistically I think in HE when marking essays we mark ( and moderate) using a bell curve approach for each batch of work. The best in the pile to the worst in the pile and everything is ordered in between. I'm in a high volume low tariff subject so my bell curve is in a different place to other subjects.