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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Can any teachers tell me if this is allowed?

128 replies

bryheresse · 08/04/2018 16:51

Dd finished school last year and did very well in her essay subject A levels.

Over Easter, she has met up with a friend in the year below, at the same school, taking two of the same subjects that she did. This friend says that all the students in the year have been given photocopies of Dd's A level papers as examples of what the examiners are looking for.

I was rather surprised to hear that the school could just access a student's public exam papers and distribute them, without asking the permission of the student concerned. Does anyone know if this is allowed?

OP posts:

spiderlight · 08/04/2018 18:20

Yep - we were given model answers at school and uni.

cardibach · 08/04/2018 18:20

Gasp I’m an English teacher. It took me a while at A level to work out how to write an essay. I found out some years later (as I got a job at the school I’d studied at) that my teacher was using my early ones as how not to guides! I was amused and it as a fair cop...
OP it’s perfectly normal, but they should have been anonymised. Were they not, or did someone recognise her handwriting?

sadeyedladyofthelowlands63 · 08/04/2018 18:25

The exam boards themselves publish (online) real examples from the previous year's papers. I use them all the time with students, both the top grade ones ("this is how to do it") and the lower grade ones ("how could you improve this?"). They are all anonymous.

I have also used good class essays from current year 13 students , with their permission, to show year 12.

Some of our students gained the top marks in last year's GCSEs and we requested their papers to use as exemplars - we did ask them though.

nostaples · 08/04/2018 18:29

Actually, it's not allowed. You have to have the student's permission before requesting their paper from the exam board.

PotteringAlong · 08/04/2018 18:35

They probably do have permission. We send out blanket permission forms about getting papers back before Gcse and a-levels.

Pinkvoid · 08/04/2018 18:39

Yes it is allowed. My GCSE English paper was used as an example of A* grade years ago.

I am now an English teacher in a college and my GCSE classes are given examples of different graded pieces to see what is expected of them. They are all anonymous though so I am surprised they have been informed whose paper it was.

bettyboo40 · 08/04/2018 18:40

When I've done this, I've always contacted the students for their written consent (which is our school policy), and if they say yes, I ask if they want them to be anonymous.

bettyboo40 · 08/04/2018 18:41

I also thought it wasn't allowed without the consent of the student.

EvilTwins · 08/04/2018 18:45

When students pick up exam results in the school I used to work in, they sign a generic form giving permission to get exam papers back - most sign it without really reading it. Obviously if they, their parents or a teacher feels the need to recall papers to see if a remark is worthwhile, they're pleased they did it.

The subject I teach still uses coursework, and the students have to sign a form before we send off a sample to say that their work can be used as exemplar work by either their school or the exam board.

Rainuntilseptember15 · 08/04/2018 19:31

If I had to take time to get written permission from a student (away at uni? Having a gap year?) I simply wouldn't use work as exemplars, so it would be the next class that suffers.

andypandy55 · 08/04/2018 20:01

Where I work, the students have to sign to say they give their permission for the scripts to be used. They generally are happy to do this.

barcodescanner · 08/04/2018 20:29

My son is approaching his GCSE's. A form was sent home to be signed. He ticked and signed that the school could use his exams but that he wanted to remain anonymous

bettyboo40 · 08/04/2018 20:47

That seems a more sensible option. I have found it tricky to get hold of students once they have left school to give me their permission and come in to sign a form.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 09/04/2018 09:16

As for the signing and giving permission, at A level it tends to be done by the Exams Officer, when they confirm where they want the results sending. You'd be surprised how many students who never use their college email complain that they never knew anything that went on in college and didn't get their results first thing... at their Gmail account.

It's all standard practice and has been for decades.

Viviennemary · 09/04/2018 09:21

I've never heard of this being done. That is named students work being photocopied and distributed amongst pupils. Doesn't seem quite right to me.

MaisyPops · 09/04/2018 09:27

Perfectly ok to do (and very common).

For some reason my students are like a previous poster's in that I write loads of answers and we go through them but they like seeing 'real' ones more.

It should have been anonymised though. We blank out the name and candidate number.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 09/04/2018 09:29

Students gave to give permission for scripts to be used in teaching, and whether they wish the script to be anonymous when used in that way.

Check with your DD what she signed last year.

MrsDesireeCarthorse · 09/04/2018 09:30

We ask our former students uf they are ok with this, out of courtesy.

Tippexy · 09/04/2018 09:39

So many misinformed people on this thread!

Consent of the pupil must be obtained first!

CuriousaboutSamphire · 09/04/2018 09:50

Tippexy almost every teacher has said that! A couple of lecturers have said differently, and that is a different case entirely.

But, as far as I can see, all school and college teachers have said they would anonymise the work and are puzzled as to why OPs DDs work was not, and, whether they know it or not, their Exam Officer probably includes such permission in the usual round of paperwork. That is standard practice.

The only time most A level students are asked for separate and specific permission is when a re-mark is being considered. That takes more than a generic permission slip.

MinnieMousse · 09/04/2018 09:53

A teacher at DH's school was recently disciplined for doing this with coursework.

Buxbaum · 09/04/2018 10:06

That point has been made multiple times, Tippexy. Most schools issue blanket consent forms either around the time that students check their statements of entry or when they collect results.

Esker · 09/04/2018 10:15

Our exam board requires a request form on which the student has to sign their consent for the paper to be requested. When I ask students to sign this, I always tell them that we would like to be able to use their - anonymised - responses to help other students. They typically agree, but I find it weird that a school would do this without asking.

On second thoughts, I don't know if the form we use is insisted on by the exam board or whether it's just something our exams officer has designed for accountability purposes... Either way I think it is a good idea!

MaisyPops · 09/04/2018 10:25

Seriously minnie.
Every school I've worked in has shared examples of what a good folder looks like.

If it's anonymous and the school knows which folder has been shared then it's not like students can copy.

Sometimes I think it's a bit of people looking for things to be offended by. I remember getting a snotty complaint because I'd typed up sections of student answers after mock exams and we discussed why they were good. Some parent called up kicking off saying her DC said I'd told the class her work was shit. Her friend apparently backed them up. SLT spoke to a couple from the class who confirmed it was fabricated. Some people love to find ways to be offended or annoyed

CuriousaboutSamphire · 09/04/2018 10:31

A teacher at DH's school was recently disciplined for doing this with coursework. Oooh! That means he did something very wrong with it, then!

Simply sharing completed, graded, anonymised coursework, as a good/poor example wouldn't get a disciplinary. It is very hard to be that stupid with coursework. There are so many urban myths and scare stories about it most teachers, ime, err well on the side of caution with it!

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