Cheating in exams

[TwoTribes]

My dd had a spanish controlled assessment exam last Monday. They had to prepare the assessment the week before, then during the exam they had to write it.

So, she came out and said she thinks she did really well, remembered everything she had prepared and she thinks she wrote most of it correctly and is hoping to get good marks, probably an A.

But, she said several other children came out saying how they had copied their prepared assessments by having it on their lap under the table. Also, one boy said to the teacher during the assessment that he couldn't remember what he had written and the teacher said 'just transfer it', (whatever that means).

Dd doesn't want me to report the suspected cheating because she says they will invalidate all the papers and have to do it again. And they will have to do a different subject which they have not covered very well yet. Because she thinks she's done well, she doesn't want to lose that potential good grade.

More of a WWYD really.

Damn posted too soon, silly keyboard.
I mean, I don't suppose that every child exposed to the spectacle of a teacher endorsing cheating is going to grow up dishonest, it's more that it encourages a mind-set of what is right being what one can get away with than what is morally correct end-of-story.

Sorry to disappear, shopping trip took longer than thought. I tend to lean towards what squeakytoy said. She is not in competition with her peers, so it matters not a jot to her what grade everyone else gets . . . unless . . . all or most children do exceptionally well due to cheating, in which case the grades could be changed after the assessments are moderated. I'm not sure if controlled assessments are moderated and, if so, whether this is done externally.

If I thought it would bring her grade down, it would affect her personally so I would be more inclined to report it. I'm still really not sure. I realise, obviously, that morally speaking, cheating should be reported. But if it's rife anyway, there is a chance that the only people who 'lose out' are the ones who worked hard, prepared well, and didn't cheat .

In MFL CA is marked normally by the teacher. The marks awarded should be stabdardised, if there is more than one set, and then a sample is externally moderated.

I would leave it, your dd didn't cheat and worked hard and hopefully will get an excellent mark. It's also good that she can talk to you about it, sounds like you have brought her up well.

I guess it's very difficult if you don't have evidence, and no, it won't affect your daughter's grade as A standard work is A standard work. With the exam board we use, the written work is sent off to the exam board for marking.

I hope posters on this board realise though that controlled assessment is hated by MFL teachers as much as it is by students and parents - look at the MFL board on the TES website for opinions on that. You're quite right, it's a memory test, designed to see how well you can regurgiate set phrases copied out of a textbook, not a test of linguistic ability. In addition to this, the number of lessons that are wasted preparing for these assessments, conducting them, chasing up those who were absent is astonishing.

But that's the nature of teaching these days - spoon feeding, constant assessment, levelling. I like to think that I do teach my students the grammar so they can actually use the language, but given that we are up against schools that cheat (and we all know it goes on, even if we can't prove it) you wonder why you bother sometimes.

Lots do this in French GCSE at my DSs school as well.However given that the fair way is that somebody they prepare the essay at home, memorise and regurgitate it in the exam room, I can't see either is really a test of theri language ability.

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'll leave it. It all sounds like a bit of a farce anyway .

Dd is thinking of doing languages at A level. Presumably, they will have much more stringent controls and teach the language in a way that it can be used for a career? Lots to think about. Thanks everyone.

Just a quick update.

I did not report the cheating. Dd got her result today, A*

Some of the children who cheated got As and Bs but they have the oral exam to do yet.

Dd earned hers fair and square and we're more than happy with that.

Really stunned at what constitutes a language exam these days .

Isn't it basically being told what your question will be in advance?

It's not much different from when I did French O-level back in 1975! We had 100 questions, to which we had to prepare answers. In the oral exam, the examiner (i.e. our teacher) would select a certain number of these questions at random and we would parrot out our answers. We spent hours and hours in class learning these blasted questions. I can still remember some of them today!

It definately seems more of a memory test, but maybe that's a big part of learning a new language? They can't really just 'absorb' a lot of it because they would have to live abroad to do that, I suppose.

In fact other subject rely heavily on memory too, such as science and maths. If you can remember something, then you've learned it.