SATS cheating - by the Head!

[Dilemmaramma]

In my DC’s final SATS exam yesterday, the headteacher was overseeing and they picked up DC’s paper, DURING the exam, flicked through it, then rubbed out one of the answers and told DC to try again. They also pointed out another wrong answer and indicated DC should re-do that question.

This is clear cut cheating, right?

YABU - don’t report it, the whole year group could get their SATS voided and they’ll be devastated
YANBU - this is appalling and the Head needs to be investigated

Most children are nervous about the tests, and many make errors they wouldn’t normally make. Special arrangements (that don’t involve cheating) are possible for children with known problems.

And what about the children with similar problems in other schools where the staff don't cheat? Is it right for them and their schools to be disadvantaged by an unfair comparison?

When, in your opinion, should the cheating stop? Should the neurodivergent or anxious child be encouraged to cheat in their GCSEs too?

Unfortunately, failing a test we "deserve" to pass is a common human experience and happens throughout life (e.g. a driving test). Cheating is not a good solution.

make yourself deeply unpopular locally

Because most people think cheating and a lack of integrity is OK?

I don't disagree with that for a second. What I disagreed with was the fact that having only one adult in a room is considered maladministration. That's simply not true.

If cheating is proved they certainly do care!

Shortage of adults is unlikely to be a convincing reason.

Are you joking?! For the SATs just gone, we used all TAs in the school who are not one-to-ones (which was 5 adults), all three Year 6 teachers, the assistant head, the deputy head, two teachers' mums and one teacher's wife. The deputy head was walking around constantly to peer through doors- every other one of the adults was in a room by themselves (with children, obviously!). We needed to use that number of rooms- and adults- because of the sheer number of children requiring a reader or a brain-break, both of which would be very distracting to any other children sharing a room with them.

Having two adults per room would have required another 12 adults! Where were we supposed to find them?

So the child will be damaged forever by the Head indicating two questions we're wrong in SATS but having their results nullified & being part of an investigation won't affect them at all?

Honestly, the drama on this thread is insane!
No wonder children are suffering from anxiety and lacking in resilience if a Head actually helping them in a test (yes, cheating, I know) is considered enough to damage them forever more!

We need to stop dramatising everything in children's lives & making them think tiny things like this are life changing.

You do know you’re allowed to stagger the timing of the tests, as long as the children taking them later are kept separate from the others (e.g. sent to "help" in an infants class for an hour or so), don’t you?

Schools use

Staggered testing.

Governors.

Governors from local secondary school.

WRAC staff.

Even the WI and parish council.

So do you think blatant cheating by the Head (and involving the child in the cheating, not to mention the other children and possibly adults who saw the cheating but who, presumably, the Head is relying on to be complicit and keep quiet) should just be ignored?

It's been going on for ages, happens everywhere.

What happens if a school gets poor results? (In a world where there isn't cheating)

Reporting isn’t what ruins someone’s life. Cheating is what does that. Apparently widespread cheating by teachers, given this thread. Teaching a whole generation that it’s fine to cheat. So no, not for kicks. For the good of society.

@Dilemmaramma

I'm a yr6 Teacher & regardless of my opinion on SATS, that is 100% cheating & against all of the very strict guidelines - I would report to the School Governors - they're who you need to go to in a Primary School if you have a complaint about the Head.

When they introduced SATS they were very clear that it was to measure standards at the school, not of the individual pupils. I have never understood why individual results are published. Spend an hour on the test and never think about it again. No need to stress the children at all.

This.

It will be better for everyone in the school if cheating is stopped.

There are arguments for not doing SATs, but the point of them isn't anything to do with secondary schools, so that isn't one of them.

There was teacher to four children this week at my DCs school. What I mean is it’s unlikely another teacher was not there to witness the cheating.

Maybe it wouldn't if people reported it. I don't cheat in the exams I conduct (GCSE and A Level MFL speaking exams), though I could almost certainly get away with doing so. Why on earth should primary teachers, TAs and headteachers get away with it? Arguing that they don't approve of the exam is a pathetic excuse for professional misconduct.

What a ridiculous comment!
I generally try not to look at the children's answers, because it is frustrating to see their mistakes when you know they can do it, but there's no way I would think it acceptable to point it out during a test.
In last week's arithmetic test I did happen to look down at a child's paper and see they were a digit out on an answer - this is a child who generally gets full or almost full marks, so it was possibly their only error. I hope when they checked over the answers it was corrected, but I don't know and would never have drawn their attention to it.

I remember my head teacher did exactly this when I sat the equivalent of SATS back in the 80s. He pointed to one question and said something like 'try again'. I checked and realised I'd made a simple mistake.

It also happened that a friend of mine (who had recently moved to the country so didn't sit the exams) helped with the marking (this was in the 80s!) and told me afterwards I'd gotten a perfect score.

Needless to say, I've always thought fondly of that head teacher!

I’m not saying the head did what the op is suggesting. I think in her case it was more to prove herself she was new to the school after the last head who’d been there for years got ill. This is an outstanding ofsted school as in a privileged area so it was already really good.

It is 100% true. I teach music and my pupils' targets are based on their English and maths SATs scores. It's mental.

Oh I’ve remembered in my French gcse oral , 1988 the nun who taught us said if we weren’t saying enough or got it wrong she’d kick us under the table. Presumably the slightly dodgy nature of doing that was in her mind outweighed by the opportunity to be slightly violent which (from my experience) was like catnip to the sisters. They loved a good child hitting , or if not possible a bit of verbal abuse.

I really wouldn't recommend that. You'd be looking at a selection from complete stonewalling, aggressive defence/denial/accusations of blackmail, malice and insanity, emotive pleas about 'but it's for the children', 'you'd destroy this school and the hardworking, dedicated teachers and TAs, as they'd lose their jobs' and 'you'd destroy me'. And, if you decide to ignore this and go to the Head, don't breathe a single word of the TA friend's comments - she'll be straight up for dismissal in retaliation/an attempt to get rid of a threat/accusations of being the one who actually cheated and therefore potentially not being able to ever get another job in a school.

When it comes down to it, cheating in SATs is for the benefit of the Head. It harms the children whether they have unmet SEND, a potential to attain highly at GCSE or absolutely normal, average ability, as they are not getting the mark that represents their true level. It hides inadequate management and teaching. It negatively affects their secondary schools. It also provides leverage for the Head to enjoy considerable financial advance from payrises and future job opportunities. If unreported, it furthers a position of entitlement and untouchability, which could also be replicated in how they deal with staff and pupils alike in terms of employment law, SEND law, financial regulations and health and safety. It breaches the Nolan principles for behaviour in Public Life. And, most importantly, it's wrong.

The PP who says it's nothing because they're an independent school Head would feel differently if it were their entrance tests being altered, whether so that children who didn't meet their requirements for entry obtained places or whether that cheating made a child eligible for a bursary/scholarship at the expense of another child whose assessment was completed fairly and honestly.

If this is in any way a real post - and there's no actual reason to suppose it isn't, as there are cases every year in every area and type of school from the leafiest suburb to the inner city - then the only appropriate and safe way to proceed is to report it externally. There would then be an investigation that doesn't put vulnerable, low paid staff at risk of repercussions (somebody on a temporary, year to year contract at less than NMW over the year due to being TTO and desperate to keep employment is in a very weak position compared to a confident Pillar of the Community who can decide unilaterally to not renew their contract for the next academic year, for example). It may be that any number of other parents have also been told this happened and will report it, maybe one of those vulnerable members of staff have decided that despite the risk to themselves, they will do the right thing and report the maladministration - additional reports from parents will protect them.

Not having KS2 results at all is less harmful to a kid than having falsified data. You will not harm a single child from reporting this. And it's the right thing to do.