SATS cheating - by the Head!

I think this probably happens in a lot of schools to some level.

My DD can be very anxious and hates maths with a passion, although always tries her best and is well behaved. I knew she was going to sit her SATs in the classroom setting rather than the hall so she wouldn’t find it so daunting.

However she said she had a teaching assistant sat with her throughout the tests to help read the questions. She said she knew when she’d got one wrong because they told her to look at it again. They also gave her a thumbs up if she had it right.

Do I think it’s cheating? Yes.
Will I be reporting it? No because I don’t believe they make any difference at this age.

I asked her secondary school if they use the results to set groups and they said no because they don’t find them a true representation of children’s abilities. They instead use the first term in year 7 to do assessments before deciding which groups they go in to.

I personally would make an appointment to see the Head and discuss this.
Yes it seems to be cheating on the face of it but you need to investigate it further within the school.

I mean it’s highly unlikely a head teacher would risk their job to help a child cheat. Were there any other teachers in the room? Is there a chance your child is lying? They would need to proof it and unless there were other witnesses or CCTV then ultimately it’s their word against the teacher. If the teacher did do this they are not going to admit it are they?

Yep. I was just going to post the same.

This was apparently common knowledge between staff and parents, and known to happen at one local primary. Working at the high school, I can tell you it didn't do those poor kids any good. They were told they were constantly under target throughout their 5 years of high school. As staff we often rolled our eyes at the targets of students from that primary. All started off in set 1 when they came in and set based on their SATs. By mid way through yr7, we had moved many down.

That primary still has the same head. Their results are still higher than other local primaries. So much so that the head has 'taken over' or rather formed alliances with other primaries nearby to pull their results up. Of course the local parents love it. Amazing results.

It's so 'known' that I don't understand how it hasn't been in the media etc. The kids used to talk about it openly. To be fair, I haven't heard them saying this in the last few years. Probably because COVID stopped the SATs 🙄 for a while.

I don't understand why SATs aren't as regulated in terms of how they are carried out, like other public exams. As a student teacher, 25 years ago, I sat in the SATs exam. I appreciate we are talking about young kids. But I remember being shocked at how relaxed it was. My own daughter didn't finish her SATs paper because there was no visible clock in the room and they didn't give time call outs 🙄. No way would that be allowed in a GCSE exam hall! My DDS school is also local to the one I mention. Her school has much lower results. Students from there often go the other way in terms of sets. I decided early on I'd rather my DC underperformed in SATs and were told they are always above target in their secondary years. So much better for self esteem!

SATs are a waste of everyone's time. Especially if some schools are taking the piss. Scrap them or do them properly with external invigilators. I can't believe teachers and the head are allowed into exam rooms for external public exams when it is their jobs and pay rises on the line. It's obvious it's open to abuse.

This happens regularly at primary level testing…it’s not at all unusual.

Why wouldn't you report it? It's completely unethical behaviour by the head and there should be zero tolerance for this behaviour. If this was a young person cheating in their GCSEs they'd be reported, why on earth should it be ignored when it's a person in a position of responsibility and authority? Appalling behaviour from an education professional.

Ok for Gods sake, they helped your kid with a couple of questions, so what

I don’t know why they risked doing that as they could get in trouble but I would definitely ignore

I had a student who came with a Level 5c for English but he could not read. When we contacted the primary school the head’s response was ‘I wonder how we let that one through.’

Honestly, I think I would maybe wait until year is nearly out then ask to speak to the head directly in private to raise your concern and have a discussion with them.
Getting an otherwise good head sacked and the school investigated over what was probable act of compassion seems too higher price to pay when you can acheive your result of not wanting it to happen again by speaking to the head. I am sure they will not risk it again if you raise it.
Also, they didnt give the answer, just said to try again.
I think someone losing their career over this is too higher price to pay when we are screaming out for teachers.

This.

It’s the difference between what is the child predicted vs quality of education as measured by progress.

I know a primary head who did this and got suspended. The deputy reported them. They then left that school, let the dust settle then managed to get another headship in another school where they knew a governor.

Yes there is!

Apart from the moral reason you should report it, the head hasn't "helped" your child. They have belittled them, shamed them in front of peers and tainted the results. You child won't be able to be proud of the result because they will always wonder if they only got that score because of the head's behaviour. This can be very emotionally damaging.

It's also going to influence the way they think about cheating and could lead to them thinking it's okay to do it in GCSEs or A levels. Especially so if they see a person in authority "get away with it".

The SAT results were used to decide which set our kids were put in and the targets for the GCSEs. Our daughter was targeted for a 7 in one subject and they couldn't change it in later years even when she was regularly attaining a higher level for two years before she sat the GCSE. So they aren't going to be able to "downgrade" an incorrect target that has been influenced by the headteacher cheating.

You are 100% right and I am shocked by the number of people who apparently think otherwise.

Some people have good morals and don’t cheat in public exams, or want their children to think that cheating is a good or acceptable thing to do.

Well, on the one hand what the Head did is wrong. But they've not exactly swung the result to be radically different for your child.

I do not think it will dictate the sets a child is in for GCSE's. I think saying look again at one or two questions won't change much at all for your child.

I hate to think of the pressure the poor Head must be under to be doing this. I always told my children that any of those tests were not really about them, but were a check on the school to make sure that they were teaching everyone properly, so they just needed to do their best.

Only you know if you want to escalate it, but I'd say let it sit with you for the weekend and then see how you feel.

Now, if I could just find an invigilator happy to give my daughter the answers for GCSE chemistry on Monday, I can assure you I'd be keeping my mouth very tightly closed 😂

They don’t disregard them. They will retest to set more appropriately. But they will still be held to account for progress students make according to those sats results.

It’s not a choice secondaries make about whether to use sats grades to predict gcse grades or not. One of the things ofsted use to determine progress is progress and value added compared to primary school scores. These absolutely use sats data and are what schools are judged on. We can individually change results we think students will achieve but that does not alter the original predicted grade from the government that the school is judged by on results day.

Fgs. Teachers shouldn't cheat or encourage their students to cheat. Whether we approve of the exam or not is irrelevant.

I used to teach in a secondary school. Certain schools seemed to do better that others in SATS. Something was going wonky… probably some cheating to inflate their scores. A lot of those kids really struggled when they were placed in sets that were beyond their ability. It was damaging to their confidence. That is why this nonsense has to stop.

Most secondaries I know of disregard SATs and retest all the kids in Year 7 anyway.