The purpose of feedback is to provide an unsuccessful applicant with a clear sense of what they would need to do in order to raise the level of their achievement to the standard required to obtain promotion in a future exercise. Every attempt should be made to provide feedback that is helpful and constructive. See the Timetable for the provision of feedback and the lodging of Appeals.
After the General Board (GB) has met and agreed the outcome of each application, the Chairs of the School Committee, having discussed these cases with the relevant Heads of School, are encouraged to meet with the relevant Heads of Institution, individually or together, to give feedback on the unsuccessful applicants.
Heads of institutions may also find it useful to invite the Chair of the relevant FC to attend. This feedback will be collated by the Secretaries of the SCs and provided to their Chairs in advance of the meeting with the relevant Head of Institutions and as soon as possible after applicants have been informed of the outcome of their application.
Each applicant’s feedback is provided in two forms:
- specific comments relating to their application and
- a statement in generic terms on the overall standard of applications in relation to each of the academic offices applied to together with relevant statistical data to help convey a sense of the standard that must be reached if applicants are to be successful in future exercises.
The applicant’s overall score should be communicated to them as part of the wider feedback conversation and the applicant should be reminded that each ACP round, and therefore, the associated score, is an in-year process only.
Heads of Institutions are responsible for communicating written feedback to unsuccessful applicants and must also provide an opportunity for feedback in person (either by them or by the senior colleague who previously provided mentoring or other support to the applicant), if this is requested by an applicant. At the feedback meeting, the Head of Institution should provide a copy of the feedback statement prepared by the relevant SC, and the Committees' assessment records (minutes) for the individual. They may wish to discuss with their Head of School the feedback to be provided to unsuccessful applicants before holding individual meetings.
The feedback statement set out in the SC minutes, together with the individual's assessment record, must be disclosed to the applicant as part of the feedback process after the meeting of the GB if requested by the applicant, along with copies of References where referees have agreed to the release in line with data protection legislation.
All parties are asked to be mindful of the sensitivities involved in providing feedback and to allow reasonable time for the feedback process to enable the individuals concerned to fully consider the information provided.