Eton caught cheating on Pre-U

[BossWitch]

Saw this on bbc's papers round up but can only find a full story link in the Fail, sorry.

www.google.co.uk/amp/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4824050/amp/Eton-deputy-head-quits-amid-claims-helped-pupils-cheat.html

Basically, a deputy head who was a senior examiner and involved in setting the exam leaked the exam materials to staff and students for one of the economics papers for the Cambridge Pre-U so all those marks have been disregarded. Deputy head has now left the school.

I'm quite shocked. What on earth was he thinking? And how much pressure must he have been under to ensure results that he thought this was a good idea?

Any Eton parents about on mumsnet today? What are your thoughts?

Is the awarding body responsible for the pre-qualification subject to ofqual fines?

And no wonder, this idiot had just joined Eton in 2015 from somewhere else.

The question would still arise why they employed an idiot, and what the supervision arrangements were.

Dumbledoor I agree with the return to a Linear A level I think the Pre U will evaporate especially as it's generally considered to be harder and more work in particular further math and physics although I know some teachers believe the Pre U is a more interesting curriculum and therefore will be sad to see it go.
Over the years my DS was at Winchester he heard gossip from other boys about some teachers hinting at exam contents but the year he sat his he didn't receive any hints/advise etc in his subjects neither did any of his friends in their subjects.
I think its like may exams a teacher or university lecture advises you to know X well because it frequently comes up in the exam and low and behold it does! A friend at uni spent hours pouring over past papers working our what regularly comes up and what comes up every year, every two years, every three years etc, she then spent hours practicing these questions getting them repeatedly critiqued by her lectures until they were of a certain level and then literally memorising word for ward the whole answers, 7 out 10 times she was right. If the questions significantly deviated off the answers she's memorised she was stuck. If the subject didn't come up she was also stuck. I used to say that what she was primarily demonstrating was an understanding of probability and an ability to memorise large chucks of writing!

I took a look at the schools that do Pre-U last night - mostly successful independent schools with high sucess rates for Cambridge. I just went through the London/borders list and there are very few state schools on the list. Not surprising when they barely have resources to teach the A level curriculum.

It should be ditched. It looks like it's used by the privileged to gain another advantage over others, by whatever means required.

You only have to spend a few minutes on google to find cheating in the state sector as well though:

650 students stripped of their biology grades at an outstanding sixth form college;
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/14/teachers-at-outstanding-college-accused-of-leading-pupils-through-exams_n_7362782.html

388 penalties issued to school and college staff in 2016;
www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/12/13/cheating-teachers-rise-number-staff-illicitly-helping-children/

Headteacher and senior staff suspended for exam cheating at outstanding academy;
www.theguardian.com/education/2017/feb/10/staff-at-outstanding-london-school-suspended-over-alleged-exam-cheating

Apparently names of schools investigated or found guilty of exam cheating are not routinely published;
www.naht.org.uk/welcome/news-and-media/blogs/warwick-mansell/exam-cheating-time-for-full-disclosure/

"It should be ditched. It looks like it's used by the privileged to gain another advantage over others, by whatever means required."
You could make the same comment about the IB which definitely requires more resources.
I'm not sure the Pre U does require more resources, I certainly didn't get that impression.
Generally the schools that do it are usually super selective and are therefore more likely to get more into Cambridge etc. and I also know some would also say that its disadvantaged their DC's from getting a place at Oxbridge.

Happens at private schools all the time
My boyfriends used to circulate all the English coursework until they all got at least b grades
Helps keep the school average up

Me going to the local school used to think it was so unfair
Hope it all comes crashing down

More state schools, at least selective ones, are using preUs for English and MFLs. The reason given for the MFLs is that there are more essays in English about MFL literature and culture than the A level and therefore less advantage to native speakers.
Generally question style of preUs are more similar to university exams.

Interesting about MFL Pre U we were a few years ago by an MFL teacher (who teaches A level in a state school) and who'd looked at the Pre U MFL that the Pre U MFL required a significantly better knowledge of vocabulary and in particular the all important grammar and a non native speaking pupils doing the Pre U would develop better fluency in the language. I also understand that there is more MFL literature/poetry/film and current affairs in the Pre U than A level although I don't know how true this is.
Its irrelevant anyway. The teacher was cheating he happened to be cheating in a Pre U I suspect he would have done the same thing if he'd been a chief examiner for an A level. IMO you've either got that kind of morality (or not ) or you haven't!

More recent posts only reinforce my feeling that this Eton teacher was the one that could be pinned down to the cheating. But I doubt he acted alone and without consent.

Or maybe I've watched too much Sir Humphrey.

Thanks for all those links, Clavinova - not that I've opened any one of them, I might add, but something tangible I thought, for those seemingly born yesterday to read, i.e. those who think Eton is the only school on earth that's been "caught cheating". They genuinely seem horrified that such activities do exist, their innocence awe-inspiring; and by gosh if they'd cared to trawl through the entire educational systems throughout the world, they'd probably be finished off long before they even started!

"The question would still arise why they employed an idiot, and what the supervision arrangements were."

I would have thought this is exactly what makes Eton the greatest school on earth. The School does not judge anyone with a preconceived idea. They take you at face value; you tell them who you are, what you are and what you can do for the School and yourself preferably with some evidence. But if you're a fraud, you'll quickly be found out as this case proves.

If you had cared to read my earlier posting on this thread, I demonstrated that Eton had never subscribed to CIE Pre-U for their boys' Economics university entrance exams. It had all the time been GCE A-Level and the results were always more than impressive. It is therefore, not a co-incidence that with the employment of the new head of department (Economics) who also happens to be a chief CIE Pre-U Economics examiner, Eton's traditional A-Level Economics from which the School had traditionally done very well been swapped over. Whatever for and by whose instigation?

It is therefore, to Eton's credit that within a few short weeks of their first-ever Pre-U Economics exam, the fraud has been quickly discovered and immediate positive action(s) taken with all interested parties promptly notified. One wonders now why a Cambridge-educated person leaves a presumably lucrative investment banking job for a teaching post?

If Eton were to be discovered carrying out human sacrifices on the first XV pitch Peteneras would still be defending them.

In those circumstances the sacrifices would doubtless be made in an especially fine way and the pitch would previously have been prepared to a point of perfection unavailable anywhere else in the world. And Eton of course has forty first XV pitches.....all infinitely superior to those at other schools/clubs/championship clubs

One wonders now why a Cambridge-educated person leaves a presumably lucrative investment banking job for a teaching post?

Maybe Eton made it lucrative enough for him? He got a deputy head position.

Someone messed it up indeed.

Meanwhile:

More top public schools dragged into exam cheating scandal

metro.co.uk/2017/08/28/more-top-public-schools-dragged-into-exam-cheating-scandal-6883761/

" this idiot had just joined Eton in 2015 from somewhere else" clearly he isn't an idiot as he had a career as a lecturer in the U.K. and Europe after graduating from Cambridge. Unless you mean he is an idiot for being caught?

If Eton were to be discovered carrying out human sacrifices on the first XV pitch Peteneras would still be defending them. biscuit

In those circumstances the sacrifices would doubtless be made in an especially fine way and the pitch would previously have been prepared to a point of perfection unavailable anywhere else in the world. And Eton of course has forty first XV pitches.....all infinitely superior to those at other schools/clubs/championship clubs grin

True , what a shame as it undermines any previous 'advice' given by him/her.

Teaching posts can be very lucratively paid, banking is not so much these days.
Our local public school head is on £280000 I think, plus free accommodation, reduces fees at local prep schools for dc etc.

It was £210000 in 2010 and had gone up £90k in four years previously.

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8768937/Private-school-heads-pay-doubles-as-parents-spend-more-on-fees.html

Quite old but gives an idea

Banking is fine for a while but I've heard at least one investment banker complain that it's a dull job. To be fair you hear that from many people who have been in the same work for ten years or so. I would wonder about potential insider trading by Mr Tanweer but then I think most bankers probably do it having been Eton educated

If you know your Eton history, dumbledore345, Eton DOES make human sacrifices so that the likes of you can be alive today to poke fun at it.

The human sacrifices, many thousands of them, were not made on the cricket or rugby pitches like you suggested, but instead on much more uncomfortable trenches and battle fields. . .

I would have thought this is exactly what makes Eton the greatest school on earth. The School does not judge anyone with a preconceived idea. They take you at face value; you tell them who you are, what you are and what you can do for the School and yourself preferably with some evidence.

Oh, right. So if I turn up at Eton and tell them I'm the greatest teacher ever known, they will take me at face value and instantly offer me a job? Pull the other one!

But if you're a fraud, you'll quickly be found out as this case proves.

Quickly? Two years later, and only after he's caused serious damage?

Yawn.

Hadn't realised that Eton won both world wars ..and every other conflict before or since .....single handed.

What makes you think you are entitled to an automatic position at Eton ahead of everyone else, Ceto?

Get real!

It certainly does its part, dumb. What has your school contributed?

peteneras, actually my daughter is at the greatest school on earth - for her - it happens to be a state maintained school which admits both boys and girls. Schooling is massively subjective. I'm afraid that Eton can't be the 'greatest school on earth' since 50% of the population are unable to access it, and therefore any quantification or qualification of its greatness can only be 50% relevant. Or are you saying that girls' experiences don't matter when it comes to education?

I doubt if parents are concerned about the suggestion that their children's teachers are cheating to get better results. Frankly, if I was paying nearly £40K a year for my child's education I'd expect them to ritually sacrifice random grandparents do whatever it takes to get the best possible results.

However, the 11th commandment has been broken - thou shall not be found out. And that's bad.