Supervision reports should be thought of primarily as feeding back to the College (DoS and Tutor) on a student’s work during the term. They are, of course, also visible to the student and thus can be used to reinforce feedback that has been given in writing or in supervisions. Reports are discussed at end of term meetings and help us properly to support and advise students. The College values an effective assessment, even a brief one, of a student’s strengths and weaknesses; aptitude, attitude and progress, their work rate and their participation. Reports are particularly useful when things go wrong for a student. All supervision reports must be submitted as part of any case made to the Examination Access and Mitigation Committee (EAMC). That body cannot help but see blank reports or those that are laconic in the extreme as unhelpful to a student’s case compared to one that speaks to effort, engagement and aptitude.
A report is thus used in several ways:
- It informs DoS and Tutorial conversations with students regarding their attendance, commitment, participation, and achievements in supervisions. It assists in steering students on how to work efficiently rather than too hard, too little or with the wrong focus.
- It helps students to see an assessment of their work and locate their progress in the wider context of their whole course.
- It assists in planning revision, consolidating work or honing study skills.
- It helps us to manage students’ expectations.
- Where a student may be struggling personally or academically reports provide invaluable detail. Discussions of capability to study are enhanced by reports that give an early clear and balanced account of how a student has been doing. The underconfident can be boosted, the overconfident given a timely reminder of the need to improve some aspect(s) of their studies.
- Tutors and Directors of Studies may also feed in material based upon supervision reports when they write references. These are greatly enhanced by the ability to refer to supervisors’ views. References are sometimes requested years after graduation and being able to feed in material from reports is then especially helpful.
- Please note that supervisors are not required to provide personal or academic references for students. Occasionally a supervisor may be happy to provide a reference, perhaps especially if it relates to dissertation work. That is fine and may be very much in the student’s interest. However, please do not feel obliged to do this and do feel free to liaise with the student’s DoS or Tutor if approached.
Multiple supervision reports from one supervisor are not necessarily better than single ones. Even if you use draft reports as an aide-memoire with detailed accounts of supervisions, please do not feel obliged to submit separate reports on every supervision. In some ways it can be preferable to have a single, shorter report that summarises the student’s strengths and weaknesses and makes suggestions on how best to consolidate and improve their work. The heart of what we are looking for is as follows:
- An account of what has gone well and areas for improvement.
- Brief commentary on work rate and participation.
- Advice for the DoS and Tutor to pass on to the student.
- Comments looking forward to revision and preparing for the Tripos examinations.
If you feel there is a need to write at greater length, please email the Director of Studies and/or Tutor via the links provided on the report form.