Mary Seacole programme – assignment guidance
The assignment is in two parts and you are required to pass each section with no compensation given between sections i.e. you must attain at least 25% for part 1 and 25% for part 2 in order to pass.
The pass mark is 50%. The total word count is 2000 words. Do not exceed the word count as additional
words will not be considered. Part 1 requires you to write a critically reflective account of your development as a leader and manager over the course of this programme. You should include how
you have developed an understanding of yourself and your impact as a leader through engaging with the content, what your strengths are and where your areas for growth lie. You should provide specific examples of how you gained your personal insights, how you acted on them, and the impact of this action. Part 2 requires you to demonstrate how you have applied your leadership learning in
practice to develop one of the following: Increasing the engagement/motivation/climate of your team or wider staff group Improving patient experience Improving services within your area of work The critical factor is demonstrating the application of learning in practice. Your interventions may or may not have proceeded as you planned or indeed been successful, but it what you learned from the process that is important. Your answer should draw on some or all aspects of the programme learning, both online and the face-to-face days. You should demonstrate how you have worked with the concepts, frameworks or theories from the programme to guide your leadership practice and management actions, and the difference/impact your actions have made. Guidance Although the assessor for this assignment has an in-depth knowledge of leadership development, they are independent of the programme delivery team. It is therefore essential to provide an assignment that clearly sets out the requirements of the two
sections. Make sure you tackle both parts of the assignment with equal thought, as both parts must be passed in order to achieve a pass mark overall Section 1 is an opportunity to select and write about how you have engaged in improving yourself and your performance as a leader and manager as a result of
undertaking the Mary Seacole programme. You are not expected to provide a totally comprehensive analysis of your strengths and development areas; rather, this is a chance to go into some depth by providing a reflective and reflexive account of how you feel you have progressed. If you find it difficult to get started, you may want to talk to colleagues or review some of the activities which relate to self-awareness as you have worked through the units and the face to face days. You should include
how you have engaged with the learning content, explaining which aspects have been the most influential on your personal leadership development and why. Section 2 requires you to give a critical account of how you have applied the learning in practice in relation to one of the three areas of practice given above. Please do not attempt to cover more than one area as no extra marks will be given
and it will inhibit your ability to cover one area in any depth. You should draw on both the leadership development units and the management units as appropriate. You should provide a concise but rich account of how you have taken the learning and applied it to make change. Your actions may not have gone as you planned, but don’t worry, this is about demonstrating how you have applied learning and then reflected on the outcome. You might find it useful to outline the context in which you work, the rationale for how you identified the area to concentrate on, and which parts of the learning have been
most influential. You can refer to learning for yourself, your team or your wider organisation, the choice is up to you, but whatever you choose, please include any specific theories, concepts or models from the programme and how you went about applying them. Assignment Structure
Use a clear structure and headings throughout.
Put your word count at the end, and remember this does not need to include references or any appendices you wish to add.
You can include diagrams, figures or tables to explain your thinking where you find it helpful and it adds to your argument. Words used in these will be taken into account as part of the overall word count.
If you submit a response that exceeds the specified word count by 10% or more, no marks will be given for the part that is over length, which may adversely affect your overall mark if your critical argument is in this section.
When using appendices, please ensure they are relevant and relate to what you have written about in the main text. Do not use them purely as a source of extra words as they will not be considered. All appendices should be there for a specific purpose in relation to your written argument. Appendices should be limited to a maximum of six pages.
Referencing should use the Harvard system only.
Please submit all the parts of this final assessment, including appendices and reference list, as a single file. You must complete the information on page 1 of the submission template.
