Advice on Academic Appeal process

[anotherglass]

Hello, my son needs to make an Academic Appeal for 3 failed modules in his final year of University, which have put his degree in peril. He had an undiagnosed condition which caused his performance to deteriorate significantly this year under the added pressures of final year studies. We have a medical report from highly respected NHS physician, and a supporting letter from a therapist in the area. We need to convince the Uni board why he didn't claim Extenuating Circumstances for his condition throughout the year. It was undiagnosed so he was unaware of it. It was only when he got home from Uni 2 weeks ago that I swung into action and fast tracked an assessment for him, after seeing the state he was in. Any guidance would be appreciated on how to navigate the appeals process, including using an education lawyer. Thank you

You should be able to get support from the Student's Union at the institution. Also check how many days you have to lodge an appeal after the publication of results, it’s usually not a big time frame.

Hello, we have 15 working days after the publication of the results which is July 11. I want to help son prepare the best possible case, but I know the student union is very busy at this time of year. Can anyone recommend a legal firm that could assist?

A complete waste of money - a lawyer will slow things down and piss people off. Your son needs to fill out the form himself.

Honestly...do not get a lawyer. It will not help. The students union is absolutely where you need to be as this type of case work is there bread and butter. Your son can probably book an appointment on line, now. You can help by getting things in order. That will be documentation about appointments, diagnosis etc. you mention a letter but does the letter make it clear that your son is likely to have been impacted before the diagnosis and that he wouldn't have been aware of what was going on at the time.

I am honestly amazed that you have managed to obtain a diagnosis and documentation in a two week window that proves your son has been impacted all academic year but was unaware. He must have had a couple of attempts at all the failed modules? Did he engage with his tutors etc? Did his condition mean he wasn't able to do so? Make sure you know every part of the story as it will all come out in the investigation, so best to have all the details up front to build a clear appeal case

Good luck to your son. I hope his diagnosis is something that can be managed and he had a good outcome here

Hello, to answer your questions:

1. documentation in a two week window that proves your son has been impacted all academic year but was unaware. We had a fast-tracked private diagnosis with a respected clinician. I had to borrow money to do this.
3. He must have had a couple of attempts at all the failed modules? No he has not had any resits. On all occasions he was asked about extenuating circumstances he said he did not have any as he believed he needed medical grounds and he was not unwell.
5. Did he engage with his tutors etc? He did not reveal the extent of his struggles to his tutors because he was ashamed and felt that he was just not good enough.
7. Did his condition mean he wasn't able to do so? He was embarrassed.
9. Make sure you know every part of the story as it will all come out in the investigation, so best to have all the details up front to build a clear appeal case. I have asked him to share emails

Ok so I think it's really important to take a breath here. Do you even know that he has actually failed the modules if grade release I hasn't yet happened? Maybe things aren't as bad as he anticipated, unless he's failed to submit anything?

He is very likely to be given further attempts at his failed modules; I can't see why he would re required to withdraw after having only had one attempt. At worst he should get a further, grade capped attempt.

He will have a person tutor; has he reached out to them since diagnosis? They will absolutely be able to guide him with the specifics of his circumstances. I hear what you say about embarrassment but please assure him, the staff will have heard it all before and want to help. I'd support him to make an appointment with them tomorrow. I'd also be looking to speak to the disability service quickly too, in light of a new diagnosis. All these things will be really important not just for unpicking what has gone wrong to this point, but also ensuring that next semester is more successful.

As an academic with pastoral responsibility I always stress to my students that I will advocate and support and guide them when I know what's going on but I can't do any of those things if I'm in the dark about problems.

You really don't need a lawyer, you need to engage him with the support, guidance and systems that the university will have in place for circumstances like these.

Get him to bite the bullet tomorrow and book

1. urgent appointment with personal tutor
2. appointment with disability service quickly
3. appointment with student union

You will be in a much better position and know where you stand if you engage all of the above

Definitely no to a lawyer, it will look like you are trying to buy him a degree and put everyone’s backs up.

Thank you very much for your help.

He has reached out to his personal tutor but he has been very poor in communicating. He advised his tutor this morning of the medical diagnosis and has not had a reply.

He has advised the disability service of his condition and they are activating a plan for him.

The student union don't do appointments.

For further context, my son started to really struggle with concentration, low mood and poor time keeping in 2022, when he started University. I suspected ADHD but wanted to examine all options for why he was struggling, including blood tests etc as there is cancer history in the family. In 2022, the University disability service was advised that he was suspected to have ADHD and we asked for support, but were told this could not be activated without a formal diagnosis. This was not pursued for various reasons, least being the wait lists in the area for assessment were 3-5 years. My son did not reach out for help with his tutors because he was ashamed of his poor performance and did not want to be seen as not coping. He has failed three exams in his final year and is now facing only capped resits. We are fighting for a chacne for him to graduate with an honours degree. It is all very stressful at the moment. He has now been assessed and is receiving treatment and medication.
Thanks for your help.

I was on the appeal committee of my university for many years. Read through the appeal procedure carefully, particularly the list of acceptable grounds for appeal.In my university this appeal would only succeed if you can show that there is a good reason for not applying for extenuating circumstances to be taken into account at the appropriate time, ie before the assessments. In our regulations embarrassment is specifically excluded as a reason for not declaring problems so avoid mentioning that. Cases like this are tricky because while this condition was undiagnosed it could be argued that its symptoms were evident and should have been brought to the attention of the board (I don’t know what condition it is). You need to demonstrate that you are presenting substantial new information AND good reason why this could not be presented in good time. It seems you can do this.

Think carefully about what you want the appeal to achieve, we could not change marks, or degree classifications or overrule the assessment regulations. Generally successful appeals, which were not very numerous but by no means unknown, were sent back to the board of examiners to consider what they would have done had they had the new information at the time they made their decision. So this might include offering resits as a first attempt, for us this would be in August if the appeal and the reconvened exam board took place in time, or the following May if not.

Finally, a lawyer will not be an advantage, it will just slow the process. The student union is best placed to advise. You should get the appeal into the system as soon as possible, we had huge numbers of appeals every summer, you don’t want to be at the end of the queue. You just need a clear, concise account of your son’s situation with all relevant evidence provided.

Thank you this is very helpful, but is feels incredibly unfair to exclude embarrassment as a reason for not considering an appeal. Part of the reason for late diagnosis of my son's condition is the shame of feeling inadequate. Too much responsibility is being placed on the student, vulnerable and suffering mental health challenges, to step up and advocate for themselves. This is brutal. Any other tips please for making sure we don't screw up the appeal?

OP, each institution will be different in their approach and their regs. The people who will know them inside out at your son's uni will be the SU case workers. If you can't book online, head down there in person or via the telephone tomorrow. They are honestly the very best placed to guide you

Excellent advice from @Chemengerwith the key thing being to read the specific university appeal process and complete the forms with their criteria in mind. My institution does not mention embarrassment and you do not need to mention it in the appeal documentation.
Be clever about the way your son, with your advice, words the appeal. Lawyers are a waste of time, universities will need to comply with their own policies which will be legal but not necessarily make use of legal arguments etc.
Do not miss the deadline for appeal.
Be clear what it is you are asking for (in line with the policy). Sounds like further resits due to late diagnosed extenuating circumstances, but it could be a repeat year or some other option in line with university protocols.
If the student union do not take appointments they must provide access to support somehow - suggest you find this out
Since he now also has the disability service engaged, make sure they also provide evidence
to support the appeal as best they feel able.

Just to add further info, the grade release is on July 11, so results are still provisional. We appealed today for extenuating circumstances but were told we had missed the deadline, and would have to make a full blown academic appeal. I suspect the June 16 deadline was soft but did not want to push it with the department as we need their support

The embarrassment exclusion is there because a lot of appeals are, frankly, spurious and relate to minor ailments with no evidence that a student claims they were too embarrassed to bring up at the time. Clearly this is not the case here. If you can emphasise that your son was unable to bring his problems to the extenuating circumstances process this is different from deciding not to because of embarrassment. Do not at any point state or imply that he knew he could apply for extenuating circumstances but decided not to.

As a PP says every set of appeal regulations will be subtly different, try to state your case using the words of the regulations. You will give yourself an advantage by setting out the case clearly and concisely. Nothing made my heart sink more than opening an appeal case to find 10 pages of text rambling on. Dredging out the relevant facts from endless tangential detail is difficult and there was a real risk that they would be missed. Lawyer written appeals are very difficult for mere academics to interpret, they write for other lawyers and appear to be paid by the word, given their length. Lucky I only dealt with a couple of those. If there is additional information that you think might be useful just add an appendix but leave the main statement concise.

A few things based on our experience of academic appeals:

Submit an appeal and be clear on how his condition affected his access to education, that the reason he did not seek further support is due to his condition, and that the extent of the issue was only clear when he got home and others noticed how badly affected he was.

Appeals can take ages - is his plan to do resits (usually august) or repeat the year? If so, it is unlikely that the appeal will be resolved by September so he should plan to take a year out and return the following year.

The office of the independent adjudicator for higher education has a good practice framework for universities which contains some useful case studies that may be helpful

Good Practice Framework - OIAHE https://share.google/xFWKamBF3ZFvSQPUD

I note that you notified the university of your concerns early on but nothing was put in place. This advice note following the Bristol case is clear that universities have a duty of care if they are aware someone is struggling - this could be relevant if they did not put support in place.

www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/advice-note-higher-education-sector-legal-case-university-bristol-vs-abrahart

Hello. I am an academic and chair appeals panels from time to time. You have loads of advice up thread which is exactly what I would say. My only addition is that you need to make it clear it wasn't "embarrassment" that prevented disclosure, it was something more substantial. Look at the ADHD report to see if you can see a reason why your son hasn't proactively sought help, inability to act even with deadlines and support can be a common feature of ADHD reports. If this is the case the disability has also impacted disclosure. This would make your appeal quite secure.

Alternatively speak to your son properly about his mental health. It is very common a new diagnosis and therefore identity can cause a real period of acute distress which again often may worsen the ADHD diagnosis. Also read around presentations of young male mental health issues. Embarrassment and hiding things is often a sign of distress, not disengagement.

I actually think you have a very strong case if you really think about how you frame the lack of disclosure. Any further evidence to support your son's lack of disclosure will really help.

be very clear on what you want from the appeal- just returning to point zero to sit the assessments uncapped as first sit but with the appropriate reasonable adjustments for the new diagnosis. Good luck.

Thank you so much. This is super helpful. This is a huge ask but would anyone be willing to look at the appeal I have drafted? How long and detailed does it have to be?

I’m sorry but I don’t think I want to commit to looking through your case. To be honest since I retired I have really enjoyed not spending July on appeals and I don’t want the responsibility. The student union advisors are your best bet, they know your university’s quirks. Best of luck.

Make sure the appeal reads as though your son has written it. You can give a separate supporting statement with your account, this has some weight as long as there is an independent professional statement as well. Keep if factual but mention how shocked you have been at the extent of his difficulties.

All great advice, thank you. Would you be kind enough to share any other tips around the appeal, such as optimal length and how much evidence should be submitted? The case is an academic appeal for extenuating circs based on late diagnosis of ADHD. I was unaware of the struggles my son was facing at Uni as he did not want to worry me. He told his teachers he was having troubles with focus during exams but did not submit an EC at the time because he did not understand the source to be a neurodivergent issue, and blamed his inadequacy. We have medical evidence that ADHD impairs the ability to seek help, which delays diagnosis and thus the ability to report EC in a timely fashion. How long should my supporting statement be and what should I avoid?

I think this is quite a straightforward case, which I would have upheld. Having a medical statement that says he was unable to seek help is a huge positive and is the basis for your “good reason” for not applying for special circumstances at the time. Your “new information” is the diagnosis. The independent medical evidence is the most important part of the case. I don’t know the format of your Appeal submission but most need no more than a page or two in the main statement. Your own statement should also be as concise as possible and clearly set out the timeline of key events from your point of view. It was always hard to work out when things happened and who knew what when.

Thank you very much. This is great advice. As soon as I discovered the extent of son's struggles when he came home from Uni, I got involved in his case, speaking to Uni, with his permission. At this stage we were 11 days outside the deadline to report EC but 12 days out of the results being published, so they were still provision. I made an urgent request for EC to be considered this week, but this was rejected as being out of the deadline. Are Universities that strict while results are provisional? Request was made on Monday with results published this Friday. I believed we had valid grounds for the late submission of EC.

We were strict as a board of examiners about not considering special circumstances after provisional results came out because we had to follow the assessment regulations, simple as that. We couldn’t run an informal appeal system alongside the actual system because there would be no way to ensure fairness across the university if departments did that. Without a strict deadline on when special circumstances can be submitted they would simply never stop.

Not accepting appeals before results are finalised stops anxious students putting in preemptive appeals. Often outcomes are not as bad as students think (even my very numerate engineering students couldn’t always replicate final aggregated marks because of various arcane rules) and things can happen in exam boards that produce unexpected outcomes.

There is huge strain on departmental resources at this time of year in universities, we had multiple boards of examiners meetings through the whole of June. I also used to spend an entire working week on special circumstances, reading cases and attending meetings. There just isn’t time or people to keep doing that. Having the separate appeals process keeps things consistent and allows focused central resources to be used to do the admin.

That makes sense thank you. We have kept the appeal very clear and concise, to avoid strain on the examiners. I am hopeful of a good outcome. If we he is granted uncapped resits, the consideration now is whether to do in August or next year as an external student, when he is fully recovered from the year and has his medication fully maximised. I am swaying towards the latter but it is up to son to decide.

Thank you for feedback. I'm sorry to hear about your experience at a RG Uni. My son is also RG. It is absolutely heartbreaking, but no surprising, to hear that some Unis will push kids out, if they don't like them. Universities can be filled with egos and people who have little patience for neurodiversity. You are dealing with the mental health of vulnerable young adults so more responsibility, should be taken and accountability needed.

In terms of your good advice on opening up struggles, would it be better to include this in my personal statement in support of my son, rather than his? I am concerned about how this might be perceived coming from him, given I don't know his tutors.