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

Judging schools on their exam results is why so many schools are jumping kids through exam techniques hoops rather than educating them. All SATs show is that some kids can pass SATs, not a skill you're going to use outsdie of school. The teacher didn't give your son the right answer, he just spotted a wrong one and suggest he try again. Silly fuss about nothing.

You misunderstand me. NHS staff do things wrong all the time. But they should be challenged and I would not support them getting away with it. If a fellow colleague broke some guidelines, I would absolutely think they should be reported and it managed appropriately. My issue is that I do not support unethical behaviours in my colleagues.

Teachers maybe. But as a kid. Like genuinely I don't see why they'd care as they have no impact in further life.

I'm sure that as HOD I was always in the Hall for the GCSE mainly in case there's a problem that others couldn't deal with and also to dole out all the equipment, ie pen. pencil, ruler etc., that the pupils couldn't be bothered to bring! The biggest problem was the Head of Special Needs who was far too helpful in the area where the children allowed extra time and a reader sat.

Indeed so!

But as a kid. Like genuinely I don't see why they'd care as they have no impact in further life.

But sadly the children do finish up caring/getting anxious in those schools who make a big thing of it. And the parents start to worry and convey that to their children. This is what is so pernicious about it all. All that worry and upset over something that is total nonsense.

I run an arts festival and 2 of the boys who always take part on the Saturday did not because SATs were the following week and their parents were worried about it. How ridiculous - to miss out on an annual weekend activity that they love because of SATs!

I am a TA and have been involved in year 6 SATs for many years. In our school we stagger the tests so that all children who need a reader or scribe, have one. We also have at least two adults in every room. It requires some juggling of the timetable, especially on Wednesday when there are two maths papers, but it can be, and was, done. Because ours is an old school, it was fairly easy to keep the two main groups apart until the tests were completion each day.
Everyone involved with the tests had training and we were all given a copy of the rules regarding administering them. It was very clearly stated in the rules and reiterated verbally by the HT, that adults were NOT to give the children any clues as to whether there answers were correct or otherwise. IMO, the HT in the OPs school breached that rule. It doesn't matter what we think individually about SATs and their importance, or how serious this HTs actions were, or what impact reporting it could have, their actions were in breach of the rules and therefore should be reported. I would report and I would expect to be reported if I had done this. SATs maynor may net be important, integrity is.

If this happened relax. Secondary schools do not use sat results to set children. Secondary schools hate sats. They know kids have had a year of intense coaching to pass these tests designed solely for the benefit of the school and not for the pupils. What usually happens is staff enjoy scoffing at the results, bin them and either make the kids sit cat tests in the first couple of weeks or end of term.

Sats really ought to be abolished. They serve no purpose other than to make the school look good on paper. The kids spend a year being spoon fed on how to pass a test & getting stressed out rather than actually learning.

Do your kid a favour. Chill. Let her know she’s gonna have to sit a test at secondary school without being coached for a year so they can assess her real level.

Rubbish - I can name three locally who do. Depends on the school.

Okay, I am happy to change my comment to:

"As well as understanding the difficulties of finding enough willing, available adults to have more than one person per room in a school with 96 Year 6 children and a fairly high proportion of children with SEN, which necessitates using a large number of rooms."

I'm not convinced that makes the task significantly easier to achieve.

A local primary school posted on social media about the Saturday revision classes they ran for SATs! I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Why on earth are they doing this? What purpose does it serve? It just makes lots of children stressed and upset about tests when they don’t need to be. Absolutely absurd. No SATS happened during Covid. Funnily enough everyone seems to have managed to function just fine without them.

Totally agree. My daughter's (cheaty) head wanted them all to come into school several days a week at 7.30 for pre school revision sessions. I was not the only mum who refused!

But the learning around SATS isn't pointless, they will go on to do Maths & English at secondary school and the learning feeds into this.

The exams themselves are daft but the learning isn't so I actually think schools offering extra sessions to help children like this isn't that bad is it?

Presumably they weren't compulsory given they were at weekends? So parents had a choice?
Cheaper than a private tutor which many parents get for their children

I think revision sessions at 7.30 are overkill at any stage, but lots of people seem to think it’s fair enough when it’s GCSEs/A-levels 🤷‍♀️

Unfortunately the education system we have, certainly with GCSEs and A levels, is very demanding for children so the more support they can get the better, 7.30 or not.

Around here lots of parents pay for several tutoring sessions a week. I never did because we couldn't afford it but both my two went to any interventions run by the school.

@Dilemmaramma Any update? What did you finally decide to do?

That is appalling!

When my DS was in primary too many of the young boys were more interested in playing COD/GTA and being on the PlayStation/Xbox than studying.

I think, given that SATs are used to measure how well the school are teaching children, that what the Head did was outrageous! He obviously didn't want your DS getting questions wrong as that would reflect badly on his school

Not sure who you'd need to write to, but @Dilemmaramma I would definitely complain to someone!

I wrote a letter of concern/complaint to the head. For now, I can’t bring myself to take it further and trigger a formal investigation. My hope is that the letter will make the head realise he’s had a near miss and do things by the book in future. The children are openly talking about the head pointing out wrong answers, it wasn’t just my DC he did it to - unsurprisingly, I suppose.

That feels more unfair than reporting formally to STA.

He now knows you know. He can't do anything with that information except worry about who else knows and await the call from STA/LA.

How long does he wait for that before he knows he is in the clear?

I say that as an ex HT and with a role carrying out training for the LA on behalf of STA, carrying out unannounced monitoring visits and carrying out investigations into reported maladministration.

He shouldn't have cheated, but it is horrible that he is left hanging.

Balls - if he does that repeatedly and openly, and without his staff whistleblowing, then it’s clearly a culture of cheating rather than a one off.

So you think I should report? To STA or Governors? My DC wouldn’t want to have to speak out formally - wants me to let it go - do investigations involve interviewing children?

I just rang the STA. They said I could remain anonymous. I explained my child was still at the school so that was important to me.

They said it they got reports then they undertook their own investigations