Module Analysis of 2019/20 Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics Modules by Grade Band

The request was refused by University of St Andrews.

Dear University of St Andrews,

Please provide information available on the Module Analysis section of the Academic Monitoring Dashboard for all Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics modules in the 2019/20 academic year.

Only the information from the first graph, titled “number of students achieving assessment results” (i.e the number of students achieving a specific grade) is being requested.

Please present this information in the form of a spreadsheet, and group the grades by classification (ie show the number of students achieving a grade less than a 6, between 7 and 10, between 11 and 13, between 14 and 16 and 17+). Please do not include results where numbers of students are too low to guarantee anonymity.

Yours faithfully,

Adam Johnston

Freedom of Information, University of St Andrews

Dear Adam,

Thank you for your information request dated 3 December 2020 asking to be supplied with information available on the Module Analysis section of the Academic Monitoring Dashboard for all Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics modules in 2019/20 academic year.

You will receive a response as soon as possible and within the timeframe prescribed in section 10 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 i.e. no later than 6 January 2020.

Should any clarification be needed to assist in the processing of your enquiry I will be back in touch at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, should you have any queries about your information request please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

June

June Weir
Information Assurance and Governance Officer
Office of the Principal

University of St Andrews
Butts Wynd Building
Butts Wynd
St Andrews KY16 9AJ
Fife, Scotland

Tel: +44 (0)1334 462776

www.st-andrews.ac.uk

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Freedom of Information, University of St Andrews

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Johnston,

 

Please find attached the University’s response to your request below for
information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

June

 

 

 

 

June Weir

Information Assurance and Governance Officer

Office of the Principal

 

University of St Andrews

Butts Wynd Building

Butts Wynd

St Andrews KY16 9AJ

Fife, Scotland

 

Tel: +44 (0)1334 462776

 

www.st-andrews.ac.uk

 

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Dear University of St Andrews,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of University of St Andrews's handling of my FOI request 'Module Analysis of 2019/20 Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics Modules by Grade Band'.

In their response to my request the University cite Decision 098/2019 of the Scottish Information Commissioner. Decision 098/2019 finds that the release of personal information linking a student to their own grade can have a harmful effect on the individual. The request is specifically for information that preserves anonymity, i.e. that does not link a student to their own grade. Therefore, the University cannot claim that decision 098/2019 assists their case.

The University claims that the mental health of students will be negatively impacted by the decision to release the information but fails to consider how the mental health of students will be impacted by the decision not to release the information. The mental health of students is affected negatively by the failure of the University to release the information. For example, a student may have incorrectly assumed (in the absence of the dataset) that a number of others in their cohort had performed very well, whereas they have performed less well. Depending on the individual circumstances of the student concerned, their self-esteem and belief of self-worth can be damaged, which in turn has an adverse effect on their mental health and wellbeing.

This is a similar scenario to the one outlined by the University but is much more common. We know it is more common for multiple reasons. The University almost never releases grade distributions for exams, or for coursework not submitted via one specific system (MMS), so students have many opportunities to be mistaken about grade distributions. Additionally, the scenario described above is one frequently encountered by sufferers of Imposter Syndrome, which is prevalent enough among students that the University has hosted talks by experts and has a dedicated advice webpage on how to handle it.

The University must consider the public interest in not releasing the information versus releasing the information. To assist with this decision, I conducted an informal poll of 258 students of the University. 250 of those surveyed said they “would prefer ability to check distribution of grades in a module (provided anonymity is preserved)” while 6 of those surveyed said they “would prefer no ability to check distribution of grades in a module”. A link to these results can be provided upon request.

In view that there is no legal basis for assuming that releasing the information can have a harmful effect on the individual, the mental health of students is more negatively impacted by the decision not to release the information than to release it and the public interest clearly lies in favour of releasing the information, I kindly request that the University reconsider their response.

Regards,
Mr Johnston

Freedom of Information, University of St Andrews

Dear Adam,

I acknowledge receipt of your request for a review under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and confirm that this has been passed to the Head of Information Assurance and Governance who will carry this out.

Having received your request on 23 January 2021, you can expect to hear back from the University with a response no later than 19 February 2021.

Yours sincerely,

June

June Weir
Information Assurance and Governance Officer
Office of the Principal

University of St Andrews
Butts Wynd Building
Butts Wynd
St Andrews KY16 9AJ
Fife, Scotland

Tel: +44 (0)1334 462776

www.st-andrews.ac.uk

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Freedom of Information, University of St Andrews

1 Attachment

Dear Adam,

Please find attached response to your request for review which I am sending to you on behalf of Christopher Milne, Head of Information Assurance and Governance.

Yours sincerely,

June

June Weir
Information Assurance and Governance Officer
Office of the Principal

University of St Andrews
Butts Wynd Building
Butts Wynd
St Andrews KY16 9AJ
Fife, Scotland

Tel: +44 (0)1334 462776

www.st-andrews.ac.uk

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