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

They all do loads more tests in year 7 to determine their sets so sats don't really matter. They do lots of tests all the time in secondary to check they are in the right sets ect. I don't agree with the head doing this though.

This is really awful and does affect students as some schools do ‘help’/cheat in this way and some resolutely don’t. This means some children are artificially set higher than they should be and have predicted frades they have absolutely no hope of achieving at GCSE. And some have really low predicted grades meaning they think they aren’t clever enough to get highter grades. You absolutely should report the headteacher. Or at least meet them and see if they are in the remotest bit remorseful. I’m a secondary teacher and I both like sats (done un pressured and untutored they do give a rough indicator of potential grade range) and hate them (for the reasons outlined above).

Definitely report it. Clear breach of exam practices, protocols and rules.

I would report too. Unfair advantage. Headteacher is very well aware of the rules.

Part of my role is to monitor the administration of SATs, unannounced visits, checking against the strict guidance.

I also have a role in investigating maladministration.

@Dilemmaramma report here.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-report-maladministration-at-key-stage-1-and-key-stage-2

There have been multiple cases where this has happened before, and I would assume many more that were never reported especially judging by the answers to this thread. It's a bit sickening to hear so many people are happy with cheating when I know how hard most schools work to make sure they do things properly.

This is awful. Head is cheating to raise the overall school level which is skewing the image of the school. I would totally report it

Unfortunately this is a direct result of 'high stakes' testing. I can well believe the Head did this. Our local head did jail time for this, albeit twenty years ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/mar/08/schools.education

I believe my DC. I can believe the head did this. I know the TA who was in the room (parent of child in the year group) and she recommended I write to the school.

Do you always believe everything your child says op?

Oh, as an aside, a Head who can show the Governors that they have 'improved' the school as demonstrated by a larger number of children reaching the expected level/progress at KS2 assessment than in previous years is more likely to receive an larger salary or be able to negotiate one from a new employer. So it could also be seen as being done for personal financial gain.

Ah, it’s all bollocks though really isn’t it. I don’t think I could bother myself about it.

No but I believe them about this.

So the TA admitted to you this happened? In that case I would report, at least she can back you up.

It is used for Progress 8 which measures school performance against predictions based on KS2 data.

It’s a year 6 child though; they are quite perceptive..

I would think that,.if this I true, the head must be under immense pressure. I'd keep my trap firmly shut. Do you really want to fuck up someone's life?

👋 Secondary teacher and SLT here. I can promise you that primary SATS are not used to predict GCSE grades. Even if they were, your child’s results are not dependent on a prediction, so it makes FA difference.

You’d be surprised at what does happen!

As I said up thread, part of my role is to visit schools, unannounced, to monitor the administration of SATS.

We always have one school reported back to the Standards and Testing Agency and quite a few with actions to improve.

Saying that the administration guidance docs are huge. So much detail. So much to follow.

It would be very hard for a TA to report their head.

Did she give him the answer? From what I just read she has basically asked him to look again at the question.

It’s morally wrong. I’d be appalled too, OP.

A teacher got struck off for this a few years ago. He was the new head of a recently converted academy. Absolutely ridiculous thing to do
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/former-headteacher-manchester-primary-school-21166881

I had a German teacher once who made sure in the room where oral exams were conducted, she had a bin and a hat stand, if you were struggling with which verb to use in the perfect tense, she'd glance at one or the other haben/hat (stand) sein/bin. This will probably only make sense to people who have studied German.

A lot of Education results are bullshit.

Ive worked in language schools. Ive seen the teachers do the exams for students.

My acquaintance works on an adult education program. He told me that he writes the coursework for them.