FoE Assessment Penalties


In line with the University’s Assessment and Results policy, the Faculty of Education imposes assessment penalties where assignments are submitted after the due date, or where they exceed the task word limit.

Late submission of an Assessment Task

Assessment tasks submitted after the original due date without an extension, or after the new due date if an extension has been granted, will be subject to a penalty of 10% of the total possible marks available for the assessment task for each period of up to one working day the assignment is late, per the schedule below:

  • Up to 1 working day late: 10% deduction
  • Between 1 and 2 working days late: 20% deduction
  • Between 2 and 3 working days late: 30% deduction
  • Between 3 and 4 working days late: 40% deduction
  • Between 4 and 5 working days late: 50% deduction
  • After 5 days late: 100% deduction

Please note that ‘working day’ refers to any weekday on which the University is open and excludes weekends and University/public holidays.

Assessment tasks submitted after five working days from the due date without an approved extension will not be marked and will result in a fail score of zero.

Exceeding An Assessment Task Word Limit

Students are required to indicate the word count (inclusive of in-text citations, but not the reference list) at the beginning of their assessment submission. For tasks not in written form, students must adhere to the equivalent word count or length specified in the Handbook.

For every 10% that the submission exceeds the word limit a penalty of 10% of the total available marks for the assessment task will be incurred.

For example, an assessment task that is 0-9% over the word limit attracts no penalty; 10-19% over the word limit attracts a penalty of 10% of the total available marks; 20-29% over the limit attracts a penalty of 20% of the total available marks; until a limit of 60% over the word limit is reached.

Any submission with a word count exceeding the word limit by more than 60% will not be marked and will result in a fail score of zero.

No word count penalties apply for assessment tasks that fall below the word count.