Page 75 - Judicial Diversity Update report

IV. FOLLOW UP ON 2017 RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1. As noted in paragraph 1.5, the key structural recommendations of our original
report, aimed at addressing accountability and fundamental concerns about the
pipeline for appointments, have not been adopted. We are pleased however,
with progress in respect of a number of our secondary recommendations.
Specifically:

Feedback and ‘near miss’ candidates

4.2. We have been encouraged by markedly improved feedback for ‘near miss’
candidates. Such bespoke feedback gives candidates a clear sense of where their
application is strong, which examples worked/did not work, and how their
performance could be improved. It is not just that the feedback is objectively
helpful, but the fact of the feedback itself provides encouragement for
reapplication. That said, while the JAC has shared with us that enhanced
feedback is offered to ‘near miss’ candidates, the candidates receiving the
feedback are not actually told that they came close to appointment. This seems
like a lost opportunity. Such additional information would provide a much-
needed boost for candidates and would likely increase the chances of
reapplication. This, we hope, would encourage reapplication from those
underrepresented groups who may be especially deterred by failure, and who
may be relying on non-standard evidence of competencies.

4.3. Though recognising the resource implications, we recommend that feedback is
further strengthened by sharing the following greater detail with failed
candidates.

For failure to progress through the qualifying test:
• Showing candidates their marked qualifying test, rather than simply
giving them access to the (much more generic, and therefore less useful)
Feedback Report. The fact that the Feedback Reports are published
several months after test scripts are submitted, and with no copies
permitted to be retained by the candidates, compounds the difficulty for
candidates to derive worthwhile guidance as to how their test script could
have been improved;
• Telling them their actual score, and/or
• Showing them a model answer for that qualifying test, rather than the
generic Feedback Report.

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