Do Occupational Therapy Graduates Benefit from Grade Inflation on Practice Placements?

Abstract

Introduction: Graduate records from Brunel University (United Kingdom) occupational therapy student cohorts from 1995–2005 were examined to discover the impact of practice placement marking on overall academic performance. Numeric grades for practice placements were introduced in 2000; prior to that, practice placement marks were recorded as either pass or fail. Method: 1057 records were examined to compare whether overall academic averages differed between pre-practice marking and post-practice marking. Findings: Significant differences were discovered in the academic averages for 1995–99 (pass/fail) cohorts and 2000–04 (placement marking) cohorts. Further evaluation of the 2000–04 cohorts' marks (n = 593) revealed that practice placement marks contributed to that increase, and showed a significant rising trend when considered separately from marks from academic modules. Conclusion: An upward trend in practice placement marking can be seen, year on year, which indicates that grade inflation is present in practice placement marking.