SATS cheating - by the Head!

Not read the full thread but genuinely very shocked by some of the responses questioning whether it is cheating, why report it if it is helping your child etc.

It is cheating and above all sets a terrible terrible example to all the children who KNOW the head teacher (the head teacher, FFS) helped a pupil cheat on an exam. This is someone who is meant to model leadership, good morals etc to the children and generally be a role model.

It also put the OP’s child in an awful position and, in turn, the OP - no doubt some of the other children will tell their parents who in turn may ask the OP about it, feel the OP’s child had an unfair advantage (they wouldn’t be wrong).

Geez, what was the HT thinking?!

🙄 Delay in posting the image. I’ll paste directly. It’s not difficult to understand.

You must ensure that nothing you say or do during the tests could be interpreted as giving pupils an advantage – for example, indicating that an answer is correct or incorrect, or suggesting the pupil look at an answer again.

Surely nobody can be so stupid as to think this instruction does not apply here?

A scaled score of 100 is the child meeting age related expectations; below that is ‘working towards’. So no, this isn’t strictly a pass or fail, but the inference is there.

When it happened at the school.i worked at it was part of a chain of events that included a bad ofsted report and the head losing their job. It wasn't the only contributory factor but it was a major one. Bad results can be pretty devastating for a school.

Doesn’t matter what your (ridiculous) ‘book’ says. It’s maladministration. Categorically. No shades of meaning. Not allowed.

Jesus. 🙄

And if the head saw a child writing the correct answer in the wrong place …. Like writing the answer to a math problem in the working area or after the equation … but not in the answer box.

Saying “erase that … look again” … (put answer where indicated). Which in my book isn’t cheating.

Look again at the instructions.

sure there is cheating and there is also a child’s impression of what happens in situation where they are not privy to detail. In child world, It can only be cheating but very likely it’s something else entirely & OP child thinks they know it all.

With apologies to the author of the original (and my secondary school English teacher !), I think it's time we re wrote the SATs poem that gets circulated on social media, especially for teachers:

SATS don't measure sports
SATS don't measure art
SATS don't measure music
or the kindness in your heart.

SATS don't see your beauty
SATS don't know your work
SATS don't see the reasons
you were put upon this earth

SATS don't see your magic
how you make pupils smile
SATS don't see you cheer them on
as they run the morning mile

SATS don't hear their laughter
how you helped them come so far
SATS are just a tiny glimpse
of who you really are

So, wandering the test room
if the urge to cheat comes calling
remember they look up to you
dont let them see you falling

I taught in several primary schools for a loooong time and never once saw SATs cheating. Everything to the letter. Multiple staff members in the room, no communication with pupils other than that allowed by the STA, guidance checked dozens of times to ensure absolute adherence, monitoring visits by the LA, monitoring visits by school governors, SLT supervising Y6 staff, training run for TAs supporting from other year groups etc.

I think the OP should report it as it just puts doubt on how many schools cheat. Thankfully I think it's a tiny, tiny percentage of rogue staff/heads but they should never be allowed to get away with it.

Maybe. I'm a bit shocked tbh. Not shocked that people cheat - there are always people who are willing to do this kind of thing. Shocked that people are so blasé about it and defend it.

He hasn't given her the answer. It's isn't a GCSE. It's just to determine what set she goes into next year realistically. He moved she's made an error asked her to look again. Yes it's technically cheating but he didn't give her the answer he knew she has just made an error and knew the correct answer

Not getting that at all, I think you are wrong. I recognise some fellow teachers on this thread and they are dead against cheating and appalled. It’s parents that are minimising it through lack of understanding.

Don't be ridiculous

People do things that are against ‘the rules’ all the time, it’s not your job to correct this. Feels on the same level to me as people who reported next door’s lonely Grandma coming round during Covid coz it wasn’t allowed.

People generally fall into two categories: rule keepers and rule breakers. In my experience, neither group can understand the others at all.

I'm afraid I think it's mainly teachers who are trying to minimise the cheating. Perhaps because they know they do it themselves?

I can't believe people's bar is this low. MN is full of people slating teachers for the most trivial and spurious of reasons. But full-on cheating in a public exam? Absolutely no problem at all, apparently.

Of course it's a moral quandary for the OP.

I can't believe you think that's a moral equivalent!

Lots of us are under immense pressure at work. It still never justifies cheating
It's an absolutely awful example to set children, for starters.

I didn't realise so many teachers had so little integrity

It's seems like the Standards and Testing Agency don't really give a shit anyway:

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/exclusive-dfe-refused-act-sats-cheating-findings

Loads of schools cheat with SATS. The pressure they are under is unbelievable. I have heard lots and lots of stories like this from kids eg saying the teachers actively spelt out words during spelling tests; kids were told - you might want to check that again - about a specific question during a test. It's not fair because the results are all over the place. It happens all the time. But it won't stop until the government stops making sats the be all and end all and using then as a stick to beat headteachers with. I feel sorry for teachers and headteachers. So, no, I wouldn't report it.

I don’t think the Head will admit to this, why would they admit it? If you write to them and complain, they will just say they were rubbing out what was an unclear answer so that your child didn’t get penalised for lack of clarity. You’ll never be able to prove it. Even if your child is telling the truth, I doubt the Teaching Assistant will risk their own job and go against their boss/Head if you do complain. I just don’t think it’s worth the fallout for what is a couple of marks on a Y6 sats paper! Don’t think you will get what you want out of it eg an apology from Head / resignation from head as they will just deny it

No, people who have no integrity and prefer the easier option of turning a blind eye to cheats are quite mad. Of course there are bad consequences - other schools, who don’t cheat, are made to look worse in comparison, and at least one child is given the message that cheating in an exam is acceptable.

Lonely granny is not a good comparison at all - in this case the person cheating, and involving a child in cheating, was the person in charge of the school's values and ethos.

You were not in the room, your child saw something and is certain it was cheating and changing answers.

You can do what you like in terms of “reporting” it but it is your child who will be asked to explain what they saw happen, what they heard. What child concludes, which could be incorrect.

There could be another explanation.

In any event, it’s your child who will be in the middle of it all. Is your child ready for the anxiety, pressure ? If you child is correct -(then what, satisfaction??) vs if your child is incorrect or didn’t fully understand the situation, how will they cope with being wrong & upset over false assumption. How will you cope.
What if Theres a closing of ranks, & you both feeling more aggrieved…because you think/know that everyone is lying.

looks like lose-lose situation for your child.

is it worth it?