Environmental Perspectives and Policy Development

This assignment asks students to submit an individual report on the development and effectiveness of a specific piece of legislation or public policy instrument within the environmental management sector in the UK or elsewhere. The report should critically appraise the historical background, factors influencing the development, and effectiveness of the policy instrument, as well as its contribution to wider sustainable development goals.

ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVES AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT
MAIN ASSIGNMENT
Description of Assignment
The assessment for this module comprises a single piece of coursework. You are required to submit
an individual report of 3000 words which covers the following areas:
A. Critically appraise the development of a specific piece of legislation or public
policy instrument within the environmental management sector in the UK or
elsewhere. (70% of final mark)
B. Evaluate the effectiveness of your selected instrument in contributing to wider
sustainable development goals. (30% of the final mark)
In order to prepare for this submission, you will be working in small groups of two of three people to
prepare a 15 minute presentation on the first part of the above question. This presentation will be
given to the whole class (dates to be confirmed). Questions and discussion following your
presentation will provide feedback to assist in the development of your final individual submission
(however the presentation itself will not be formally assessed).
The presentation should include:
 The historical background and development of your selected legislation or public policy
instrument;
 An evaluation of the factors which have influenced the development of the legislation or policy
(for example: lobbying groups or campaigns; environmental crises, perceived problems or
management conflicts; developing government or political agendas);
 An assessment of the effectiveness of the legislation or policy instrument and
recommendations for improvements in achieving its specific aims.
The final individual report should cover all of the above, plus the second question focusing on the
effectiveness of your chosen law or policy instrument in contributing to wider sustainable development
goals (such as broader environmental, social and economic goals within the theoretical context of
sustainable development). This evaluation should be underpinned by an exploration of the various
definitions of sustainable development; any inherent conflicts within the definition; and whether your
specific policy instrument helps to achieve sustainable development or not.
Your report should draw on academic research and extensive use should be made of references to
existing literature and policy statements. You should also use examples of good professional practice
in the UK and/or overseas (through evaluation of selected case studies or contact with practitioners).
All sources should be properly referenced using the Harvard conventions.
It is anticipated you will wish to make a full contribution to the presentation element of this
assignment, in order to benefit from the formative feedback from tutors and your colleagues.
However, anyone who does not make such a contribution will automatically lose 10% from their final
individual mark. We will also discuss with group members the particular circumstances of anyone who
makes a reasonable contribution to the group effort, but then cannot attend the presentation for good
reasons, or anyone who does not engage effectively with their group. We shall then share a decision
on the deduction of marks up this maximum of 10%. To assist in this process, it would be helpful if
group members keep a record of agreed meetings to discuss and prepare the presentation element of
the assessment.
Clearly, as you will have been working as a group in preparing this report, there will be some
similarities in terms of your research, your evidence base and final analysis, between group members.
However, it is essential that the final submission is your own individual work, and you must not copy
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Faculty of Development and Society
Department of Natural and Built Environment
text between different group members. Any suspected plagiarism will be subject to the usual
investigation and penalties.
Assessment Criteria
The following criteria will be used to assess whether you have met the learning outcomes of this
module:
 Use of extensive research within relevant academic literature and professional sources. All
references should be cited using the required Harvard conventions.
 Discussion of relevant environmental concepts, policies and perspectives applied to a specific
context.
 Ability to critically analyse and evaluate relevant material within a specific context, and
produce appropriate conclusions or recommendations.
 Communicate findings logically and professionally, with clear and accurate use of English.
Presentation of your Assignment
 All typed work should be Arial (11pts) or Calibri (12pts)
 You should use the APA style of Harvard referencing
 Please state the number of words used at the end of the assignment
 Word counts include all of your work with the exception of references and appendices
 Work up to the word limit will be marked. Any work in excess of the word limit will not be marked
Cheating and Plagiarism
 The University Regulations on academic conduct apply to all assessments. You are reminded that
to represent as your own work the work of another person without acknowledgement is defined as
plagiarism and is a breach of these regulations.
 By submitting your work, you certify that it is your own work, and that the work of other people is
duly referenced and acknowledged in accordance with the University's Academic Misconduct
Policy. For more information refer to https://students.shu.ac.uk/regulations/index.html
Online Submission
 You need to submit your assignment electronically via the module site by the date and time
specified in your assessment diary.
 Filenames should use only letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores, and should be less than
72 characters in length.
 Do not password protect your file(s).
 Please make sure you have referred to the Best practice for managing (and reducing the size
of) large or media files document below before you submit your work to ensure large files
(250MB or more) are successfully submitted.
Your mark is based on the following criteria:
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Faculty of Development and Society
Department of Natural and Built Environment
Use of extensive research within relevant
academic literature and professional
sources. All references should be cited
using the required conventions.
Discussion of relevant environmental
concepts, policies and perspectives.
Ability to critically analyse and evaluate
relevant material within a specific context,
and produce appropriate conclusions or
recommendations.
Communicate findings logically and
professionally, with clear and accurate
use of English.
Additional comments (what worked well and what can be improved for the future):
PLEASE ALSO SEE MY ANNOTATIONS ON YOUR ESSAY
Overall mark: % for Part A (70%) and % for Part B (30%) = %
Tutor: Date:
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