Dd has been accused of cheating in an exam where she didn’t

[Mumsknot]

Dd (adult) is taking a professional qualification which comprises of a number of exams. She is near the top of her class and has been working v hard to get this (and paying for it herself). She’s always been a v diligent student.

The first exam she wrote (in an exam centre), she sat right at the front in front of the invigilator. She finished the exam and apparently left a lot of gaps. Only 1 in 20 pass this specific exam (it’s not needed to pass the whole course but she was still hoping to get it as it looks good if you do).

48 hours later she received a letter from the exam markers to say that her script was suspicious and they were going to investigate. The invigilator and dd had to give a statement (which they both did). The invigilator said dd was right in front of her and there was absolutely no cheating. DD’s gaps are enough for her to fail but apparently look suspicious (whatever that means).

dd was distraught as the sanction can be that she is kicked off the course and not allowed to write any of the exams and the thousands she has spent are wasted. I told her not to worry (which I regret now!) because I was sure the process just needed to be followed and she would be fine. In the meantime she’s having to sit all the other exams and not doing as well as she should as she’s been totally thrown by this.

Then yesterday she received another email saying that she now has to go to a face to face interview. Investigations only go to interview if they need to take them further. Apparently there are 2 in the whole hall they have pulled up. She is allowed to take someone with her but annoyingly it’s at a time I’m giving a big presentation that I can’t get out of so I can’t go.

She absolutely did not cheat. What is odd is they haven’t even said what the accusation is so she doesn’t even know what to answer to. It was a live translation and everyone in the same room heard the same thing and there were boards between candidates so they couldn’t copy each other anyway so I can’t see how she could have cheated anyway!

does anyone have any experience of this? I’m just wondering now whether we need to be more on our front foot. They sent their policy on ‘malpractice’ and at the end it mentioned they won’t cover the student’s legal fees which is making me wonder if we need to be more aggressive on this?

She’s got her interview on the 3rd Feb - thanks for asking! I’ll let you know how it goes afterwards.

@Mumsknot How did the interview go? Been thinks about your DD all week.

How did it go? It all seems very odd.

She said it was very strange and stressful. The other person went before her. When she went in, they went through her exam and through her paper in great detail - went through every section word for word. Luckily she could remember it well and the investigator at one point said ‘actually I can see you do have a good memory’ so I’m hoping that will make them realise that she wasn’t cheating and has just got a very good recall.

The other person didn’t fare as well as she did apparently.

my daughter gets bad rosacea and as she was getting more nervous, she started going v red so had to ask them to pause while they got her some water! I wasn’t there but her tutor went with her.

She gets the outcome at the end of next week. The best she can hope for is they just null and void that exam (which she can retake) and leave the rest of her course alone.

Thanks for asking by the way - her tutor thinks there is no evidence she cheated and she presented herself well but who knows what the outcome will be!

*The best she can hope for is they just null and void that exam
What! That's outrageous! Purely because they warranted that an investigation was needed?

Yes it’s ludicrous isn’t it! We find out next week. She will retake the exam before she finds out. She knows she failed the first one anyway (which makes the fuss made by them seem even more pointless !)

Oh, your poor DD. What a rigmarole to be put through.

I suppose whether she failed the original exam or not, they needed to investigate if they suspected something - if she HAD been cheating then they would need to address that differently.

Optimistically, it sounds like they are leaning towards believing her , so hopefully they can confirm this soon and she can move on from it.

How are things now, been wondering how your DD is.... really hoping the outcome was positive 🤞

Terrible outcome. She is banned from writing the exams again for 3 months which I think is ridiculous. Essentially they are saying they still think she cheated but can’t prove it. She’s paid £5k for this course and was meant to finish in Feb and then get a job but now she needs to wait till end of May to retake the exam.

I suppose at least they didn’t ban her from the course. We can appeal but I can’t see the point because what will it do. Theyve already proved they aren’t fair

Bloody hell! That's incredible.

By what mechanism are they suggesting she cheated? I don't get it. I would want them to be very explicitly clear about what they claim has happened. Not just "we think she did something but not sure what so she has to be penalised".

I’m sorry that it’s such an awful outcome. Can she get through the course and then give a terrible review somewhere or a complaint? I’m not sure how it works in higher education.

Have they given any indication as to how they think she has cheated? It seems ridiculous that they can just say that she has, without anything to back that up!

Is this at a UK uni? Could she speak to the student union for advice?
I would appeal - they surely have to have some proof!

How about raising it with her MP? There has to be some sort of body which would govern the establishment?

If appeal that, that’s shocking.

Dear lord. That's so shocking. I'm speechless. Your poor daughter. She must be beside herself

It’s a professional body that governs the qualification that has accused her.

Then she paid a course place to do the course. The course absolutely knows she didn’t cheat - they invigilated the course and they are totally supporting her.

It’s the professional body who marks it who has accused her of cheating.

Agree, appeal as there seems little to lose. Assume these are some professional or accredited exams rather than uni based. Is it the organisation rather than exam centre who have banned her? Is she currently working alongside and does delay/failure affect her prospects?

Her concern is that she appeals and it makes it worse because there is no higher body than the professional body that ‘owns’ the qualification.

Definately appeal especially if you have nothing left to lose. Good luck to your daughter as well when she does finally get to take the exam.

Posts crossed. It shouldn’t affect the decision. Does she only get a specific number of opportunities to pass?

Yes I believe she has a limited number of chances. We haven’t got the rest of her results but I suspect she did badly in one exam (the one on the day she found out about the cheating accusation) and hopefully ok on the rest. Fingers crossed.

There are courts and tribunals. You might not want to take it that far but the threat might be enough. Due process has to be followed and they have to prove wrongdoing. If they have no evidence, they have no evidence,

For example, with lawyers, you have the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

The way she works seems pretty sensible to me. I used to leave gaps in exams and go back if I had time. Bizarre behaviour. It might really be worth sending a letter before (legal) action especially if she has the support of the tutor. I'd be really insulted if I were the tutor/educational facility as well as they would effectively be accusing me of lying too.

Don't they have to prove she cheated rather than just go with a hunch e.g. you and another student spelt Edinburgh as Edinborough?

While I think it was nice and supportive that her tutor went with her, she really should have had legal representation. I mean from what you describe in an administrative law context there was probably a great deal wrong with their decision making process but it's probably rather late to raise these matters now while a solicitor could have been pointing them out at the time and perhaps averting this decision. The idea that professional bodies are fair and will listen to a reasonable explanation or even be compelled to come up with some method by which gaps in her script could be tied to cheating despite the evidence of the invigilator was perhaps understandable if misguided. I tend to agree with her view that appealing is not helpful now as she probably doesn't want to be on the cutting edge of administrative law and paying for the privilege. She should just concentrate on doing as well as she can when she resits. I have sat in on a disciplinary hearing of a colleague to support them and they had no hesitation in getting me to be there as a fellow solicitor even though they were themselves a solicitor. You can never be overprepared. If it was my child I probably would instruct another solicitor rather going myself.

I'd suggest a Data Protection Act request for all the exam board's records, including all accusations made against your daughter and evidence gathered, and the deliberations of whoever interviewed her. On the face of it, this sounds a seriously flawed process and it might be worth your daughter's while getting legal advice from someone with expertise in the law on higher education.