Is it normal for teachers to cheat in SATs?

[MerryMarigold]

I don't personally give a stuff about SATs, but ds1 came home and told me that teachers have told him some of the answers - in all of the tests. Is this normal behaviour? I am shocked, mostly because it is teaching ds1 that cheating in exams is ok. In this case, it is the school cheating.

This just seems really off - and will obviously boost the school's results. On another occasion the HT told my ds1 to 'get a move on' with his paper, which I thought wasn't good either. Ds1 does have slow processing, but I'd rather he was careful and did the questions correctly than storm through the paper. Another time he missed a question as he didn't know the methodology so he moved on (I taught him to do this rather than waste time on something he doesn't know) and he told to go back and do it.

Oh well, it's all over now.

I remember being told the answers but not being told iykwim. The teachers would explain it using numerous answers/explanations until everyone understood. It's wrong and unfair.

"I don't take it to mean the marking was over inflated or to be a comment on that"why mention marking?

Ok, thanks.

To be fair, some of my colleagues seem to be under the impression that SATs are like controlled assessment and are marked at primary schools and then moderated. Some secondary teachers probably don't know much about primary testing and just know they inherit the levels.

I work in a second school and there are some students in yr 7 who's ability does not equal their sats result. Most of these are SEN and use a reader and/or scribe in the exam so do sometimes believe there may have been a bit more help then there should have been so it is probably a lot more widespread then you think

I've just spent the last four mornings being a reader for SATS.
The papers were not opened till the head was in the room.
None of us gave any help further than that which we were allowed to.
It's horribly hard watching the child you are reading for making a mistake, or having the right answer, then crossing it out.

Of course cheating is wrong.
There will be a lot of trouble if it's reported to the powers that be.
Do you want to be the person that sets that ball in motion?

When we did our o-levels we got called in the day before for an extra revision session for physics. We did a random physics experimnent in class for an hour....guess what the one practical question was in the actual exam the next day?!

Mrs - I was replying to your comment where you said it implied that the problem was in the marking - that secondary teachers were seeing a problem in the marking.
The marking itself of tampered with papers or those where kids have been guided to the right answers, clearly isn't wrong. The markers can only mark what is in front of them and no one has suggested they mark it incorrectly or secondary teachers think that. They simply see the work the kids produce and recognise it is well below the grades they received on their SATs, which makes them question how those higher levels were achieved.

A few years ago my head went to another local 'beaconesque' school where the children started with very low attainment but did amazingly well at SATs. She went so she could learn from the best in the area on how to improve results.

They were cheating and not even slightly. Not in a rubbing out answers way but not far off. The kicker was they were quite open about what they did and the dfe had told them what they were doing was fine.

The whole thing is a joke.

God - this is a depressing thread. Everyone - PLEASE report possible cheating at SATS to the Standards and Testing Agency (details here).

Cheating of this sort is absolutely unfair on pupils and on all the schools that don't cheat. It also skews the government's understanding of how children are doing - so, it makes it less likely that they will ensure SATs are pitched at the right level.

I just asked my son what his teacher did during the SATs and he said she walked around looking over their shoulder, but there was no help given at all. The only help they got was in the form of some sweets to keep their spirits up :)

Another teacher saying you must report this. There's right and wrong in the world sometimes & this is plain wrong. I can't believe you are seriously considering not reporting.

Our school had the best results in a huge radius last year. I felt quite proud. Not anymore. Listening to dh chat to ds, trying to get more info I think.

Agreed. Screenshot of details here:

I agree that people who are experiencing this now or have heard reports of it must be brave and report it.

Go to the anonymous reporting area mentioned upthread and mention what you have heard is happening. Ask for it to be investigated. What happens next is up to the authorities, not you. Your role is simply to ask for an investigation and say what you have heard. Obviously us as parents haven't seen it first hand, only heard about it. Teachers who have seen it should also report it. I can see how hard that is, but sometimes we need to be brave about these things that matter.

I'd just add, that good people turning a blind eye to wrong is what leads to bad escalating. Sorry if that sounds preachy, but it's true.

I wouldn't report, why would I void all the months of dds hard work?? Regardless, I know how great my dd teacher is, and how passionate she is about her students progress and learning.
If I thought my dd school wasn't teaching her and then cheating in sats I would consider reporting.
How do you feel about your children's school and their effort and ability to teach?

Perhaps teachers are panicking because they know the children have been taught and demonstrated that they can answer the questions, but get flummoxed during the test.

YY ChocolateWombat.

Cheating also masks poor teaching and means that mediocre schools can get away with not educating children well enough. If your child's school cheats at SATs then your child is being failed, both educationally and morally.

Interesting cat. Do you have kids? Would you report if:

• if it meant your child blamed himself for any fallout (he's v sensitive and suffers from anxiety which is common in SEN )
• it meant the whole school's hard work was voided
• teachers who have been so kind, helpful, encouraging and totally invested (overly invested clearly) got into serious trouble
• your other 2 kids were treated differently somehow
• it seems to happen quite frequently and is even accepted (see beacon school above)

I may get HT and governors involved though, but just don't want to mention names or create scapegoats. (Ds's teacher is v young, first year as y6. I v much doubt it came from her but can see her becoming a scapegoat).

"I wouldn't report, why would I void all the months of dds hard work??"

Reporting wouldn't void your DC's months of hard work! It's what they've learnt during those months that matters in the long term, not a fake result which doesn't actually reflect children's hard work at all but their teachers' malpractice. SATs aren't a public exam anyway, it's not like voiding GCSEs.

I wouldn't report it, I wouldn't want my child to have no SATs score. At my school, I had concerns about a year 11. Raised with the assistant head. His response: 'we have no yr6 data for her, so she doesn't count in our statistics. As long as she gets a C I'm happy'. This child is capable of an A if she had appropriate intervention early this year, but because of awful leadership / ofsted monitoring she doesn't count.

To be clear, if I was a teacher at the school I would report it (I hope). But not as a parent. The priorities are different.

I've been invigilating in SATS this week.

We would certainly not do this. It is plain cheating. You do not even point out that they should look at a question again, because it is telling them they have got it wrong and is therefore helping them. Any slight hint is cheating.

If a child asks for help answering a question in a test, we are only allowed to tell them to read it again carefully and think about it. I had to say this many times this week when called over by children during tests (even though how well they do partly reflects on me).

This sort of thing should be reported for the good of the school in the long run, but it is easier said than done to be a whistleblower.

I have children, one of whom has crippling anxiety coincidentally, I would want to teach her right from wrong & would support her through difficulties it caused for her.

I get I sound aggressive so sorry for my tone, but when something is absolutely wrong, not a little bit, but absolutely, I couldn't turn a blind eye to it even if it made my life difficult.

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