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

I'm not particularly surprised. A large cohort of posters have little regard for honesty.

Ask your Data Manager what the significance of KS2 data is for Progress 8 measurement and come back to me once they've very patiently explained the significance of the Reading and Maths scores to you.

No, they’ve cheated. The guidance issued is very clear what assistance a child can have - and it certainly doesn’t include telling them when they’ve got an answer wrong.

I don’t understand. Did the TA tell you they’d done this? I’m assuming not, they wouldn’t have known how you’d react?
But it can’t have been your son, or he wouldn’t have been thrilled when he passed?

And presumably undermining the capability of the subsequent secondary school, when children with inflated marks don’t do as well as they’d be expected to.

I’m fairly sure I know which question you’re referring to, and honestly, if I’m right (which I think I am), your child is a borderline and that extra mark may have made all the difference between them passing or failing. I can’t really understand why you’d report the school for allegedly cheating when it was your own child. Honestly chill out. Don’t be that parent

That’s not what happens. For those of you interested, it is possible to report Maladministration to STA. After they receive a report, they may investigate further and as part of that investigation may contact the LA to ask them to also investigate.
At no point are children interviewed, nor are they asked to resit any of the tests. The outcome could be that the results are nulled and the school does not receive scores for that test; the Headteacher could be dismissed for gross misconduct; the school will receive monitoring visits next year or no further action could be taken. I have known schools where all 4 of those actions have happened.

There is no ‘pass or fail’ in SATs.

I think “that parent” is a parent being difficult for the sake of it, or thinking rules don’t apply to their precious baby. I don’t think being unhappy about cheating is being “that parent”. Unless you’d basically class any complaint from a parent as being unreasonable.

who cares?

most secondaries immediately do CAT tests anyway so it’s all a monumental waste of efforts and time.

can’t believe you’d care all that much and as for reporting it WOW. they probably knew it was an error your child made in haste and gave them a steer.

wait til you find out how many primary schools fudge the phonics testing ;)

Why? They are totally pointless anyway.

Most secondaries I know of disregard SATs and retest all the kids in Year 7 anyway.

Because a head teaching pupils that cheating is ok, is, in my opinion, pretty shit.

I used to teach in a secondary school. Certain schools seemed to do better that others in SATS. Something was going wonky… probably some cheating to inflate their scores. A lot of those kids really struggled when they were placed in sets that were beyond their ability. It was damaging to their confidence. That is why this nonsense has to stop.

Fgs. Teachers shouldn't cheat or encourage their students to cheat. Whether we approve of the exam or not is irrelevant.

It’s not a choice secondaries make about whether to use sats grades to predict gcse grades or not. One of the things ofsted use to determine progress is progress and value added compared to primary school scores. These absolutely use sats data and are what schools are judged on. We can individually change results we think students will achieve but that does not alter the original predicted grade from the government that the school is judged by on results day.

They don’t disregard them. They will retest to set more appropriately. But they will still be held to account for progress students make according to those sats results.

Well, on the one hand what the Head did is wrong. But they've not exactly swung the result to be radically different for your child.

I do not think it will dictate the sets a child is in for GCSE's. I think saying look again at one or two questions won't change much at all for your child.

I hate to think of the pressure the poor Head must be under to be doing this. I always told my children that any of those tests were not really about them, but were a check on the school to make sure that they were teaching everyone properly, so they just needed to do their best.

Only you know if you want to escalate it, but I'd say let it sit with you for the weekend and then see how you feel.

Now, if I could just find an invigilator happy to give my daughter the answers for GCSE chemistry on Monday, I can assure you I'd be keeping my mouth very tightly closed 😂

Some people have good morals and don’t cheat in public exams, or want their children to think that cheating is a good or acceptable thing to do.

You are 100% right and I am shocked by the number of people who apparently think otherwise.

Apart from the moral reason you should report it, the head hasn't "helped" your child. They have belittled them, shamed them in front of peers and tainted the results. You child won't be able to be proud of the result because they will always wonder if they only got that score because of the head's behaviour. This can be very emotionally damaging.

It's also going to influence the way they think about cheating and could lead to them thinking it's okay to do it in GCSEs or A levels. Especially so if they see a person in authority "get away with it".

The SAT results were used to decide which set our kids were put in and the targets for the GCSEs. Our daughter was targeted for a 7 in one subject and they couldn't change it in later years even when she was regularly attaining a higher level for two years before she sat the GCSE. So they aren't going to be able to "downgrade" an incorrect target that has been influenced by the headteacher cheating.

Yes there is!

I know a primary head who did this and got suspended. The deputy reported them. They then left that school, let the dust settle then managed to get another headship in another school where they knew a governor.

This.

It’s the difference between what is the child predicted vs quality of education as measured by progress.

Honestly, I think I would maybe wait until year is nearly out then ask to speak to the head directly in private to raise your concern and have a discussion with them.
Getting an otherwise good head sacked and the school investigated over what was probable act of compassion seems too higher price to pay when you can acheive your result of not wanting it to happen again by speaking to the head. I am sure they will not risk it again if you raise it.
Also, they didnt give the answer, just said to try again.
I think someone losing their career over this is too higher price to pay when we are screaming out for teachers.