FAQs for participating teachers
Which subjects are you interested in collecting?
We’re interested in any subjects as long as they relate to GCSE, iGCSE, A Level or IB exams.
What kind of texts are you collecting?
We’re collecting coursework, mock exams, and official exams (returned to you by the exam board) from current and previous years.
How many texts would you like to collect?
There’s no minimum or maximum number of texts we’d like to collect. We’re keen to collect as many samples of student written work as possible. The bigger the sample of student writing, the more accurate our analysis and findings will be.
What are the criteria for the data collection?
The texts must be written in English and relate to GCSE, iGCSE, A Level or IB exams. The students must be over the age of 14 years old and must have the capacity to personally agree to voluntarily participate in the study.
Do all my students have to take part?
Only students who volunteer to take part and give us their consent to participate in the study will be included in the data collection. In practice this means that not all students in your class(es) might be participating in the project.
Is there a deadline for submitting texts to your research team?
We plan to be conducing data collection until the end of the academic year 2025/2026, so you can submit collected texts anytime between now and July 2026.
What support will be available?
We’ll do all we can to support you in collecting, anonymising and sharing the student texts accompanied with contextual information. We’ll provide clear guidelines. Additionally, members of the BAWESS research team will be available to go to your school to provide support with any tasks relating to data collection, so that schools do not feel unnecessarily overburdened with administration. Alternatively, we’re happy to pay for a supply teacher to free up participating teachers to enable them to carry out the required tasks.
How can I, as a teacher, benefit from getting involved?
We’ll give you access to the ‘Teacher Area’ on our website, where you’ll be able to explore useful materials on disciplinary literacy. We’ll also offer CPD sessions, SEND and EAL-specific training, and workshops to demonstrate how to use the BAWESS corpus to improve examination writing.
If I agree to take part and later change my mind, can I withdraw?
You can withdraw from the project without providing reasons for doing so and without consequence.
Who do I contact for general enquiries?
Please email bawess@bath.ac.uk for any BAWESS-related enquiries.
Who do I contact if I have a concern, or I would like to complain?
If you have a concern about any aspect of the project, please contact the main researcher, Gail Forey at the University of Bath (email: g.forey@bath.ac.uk), who will do her best to answer any questions. If Gail is unable to resolve your concern or you wish to make a complaint regarding the project, please contact the Research Governance and Compliance Team (research-ethics@bath.ac.uk).
Disciplinary Literacy 