RECENT ON-LINE DISCUSSIONS about experiences of homoeopathic education have prompted me to propose, for the education column of Homeopathy Online, that we run a forum to discuss the criteria we use to grade students' work.

It seems to me that this medium offers tremendous potential for helping the profession - particularly those involved with education - to come to terms with the difficult task of moderating students' work. That is, to address such questions as:

• What standards are we applying to various levels of attainment achieved by students as they move through courses?

• What criteria define a competent graduate?

• What evidence do we require from students to make an accurate assessment that criteria have been met?

As an emerging profession, we have, I believe, two great advantages over more established practices. First, our relative youth, as far as development of standards goes, gives us a tremendous opportunity to innovate, to learn lessons from other professions, to avoid traps they've made for themselves. In the U.K. we are currently working in an arena which is regulated on a purely voluntary basis. We do not have external pressures which enforce uniformity and conformity. Secondly, we can use the tremendous potential offered by modern communications to help us in our task.

Proposal

A student or practitioner submits a piece of work. He or she also submits the grade and tutor's comments the work received, as well as the guidance provided by the institution for the student in addressing that particular assignment.

The work (not the comments) is posted to a variety of tutors who are told to grade and comment on the work. They are asked to react to it as if the work were handed in at an appropriate point in their own courses.

Finally, the essay (or other piece of work) is submitted to Homeopathy Online, along with the comments of the markers, the grades they awarded, and the original marks achieved by the piece of work. As an editor working on the Education column, I will attempt to present the issues which arise from this. For example, markers might well disagree on the standard achieved. Actually, it's hard to believe they won't! To explore this, I might be saying things like, "Marker A seems to weight breadth of knowledge from many different sources highly. Marker B is more interested in the writer exploring his or her own ideas, looking for originality." In this way we will begin to see how teachers approach the task of grading assessments, see what kind of criteria they employ, and so on.

Confidentiality

We would need to establish clear guidelines to maintain the confidentiality of the student and the institution concerned. I am suggesting that a piece of work be forwarded to Homeopathy Online Editor Chris Kurz. He will remove any identifying names from the piece and forward it to me. I will then forward the work to two or three markers and compile the final article. If I need to edit the comments of markers, for reasons of space, I will post the edited version back to markers to ensure that, in so doing, I do not misrepresent their ideas.

Currently, my opinion is that those "marking" the piece be identified. As educators working in the field, we should be comfortable that our work is open to scrutiny. My sense is that through this transparency we can help to provide an element of public accountability. However, potential markers: Please feel free to disagree with me here. If confidentiality for all will result in a more honest and open discussion, we can adjust the ground rules I propose.

I suggest that one graded piece of work be submitted to each issue of Homeopathy Online. We will eventually attempt to represent the whole range of the homoeopathic curriculum: from first to final year; from basic materia medica to advanced case analysis.

A growing body of evidence about the realities of our educational practice will help to create a clearer sense of standards around the world. It will provide a valuable resource for educators and administrators working towards the moderation of standards of education and training in homoeopathy. As such we would be providing the European Council for Classical Homoeopathy (ECCH) and the International Council for Classical Homoeopathy (ICCH) with information to inform their work on the core curriculum, assessment, and the definition of appropriate standards for graduate professional homoeopaths.

To Participate

1. Tutors willing to participate, please contact me directly.
   
   
2. You are invited to suggest the subjects you would most like to see discussed in this way.
   
   
3. Students willing to submit pieces of work, please contact Homeopathy Online Editor Chris Kurz. Please do not submit any work at the outset, but do note the subjects and levels for which you have material available. We will contact you once a subject has been chosen.