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.

Can anyone clarify the extra time issue? He should have had it so I don't understand this 10 per cent thing.

If cheating is as rife as suggested by this thread what are all the moderators doing?

Merry it's all here. It's 25% and spelling is untimed. Schools need to apply for extra time unless your child has a statement in which case they get it automatically. You can look through all the guidance on this page too if you're interested.

www.gov.uk/guidance/key-stage-2-tests-how-to-use-access-arrangements#additional-time

I heard today at my sons school the teacher was telling children if they got the answers wrong and one boy was given an answer, also same at another local school what is that teaching the children !!

This sounds like it is something that really needs clearing up, these posts seem to show that while it probably happens in only a minority of schools it has the potential to cause harm in one way or another to all the children.

I'm not sure what the answer is though, maybe there should be some kind of allocation that means each school sends a teacher to another school in the local area drawn at random to observe and help facilitate the testing for the week. Or maybe if secondary schools note that children from any one or more feeder schools have KS2 results that are significantly above what would match their CATS then that school is investigated.

Thanks.looks like they didn't apply properly.I deliberately had a meeting in September about this!

Have you been in to double check yet what support the school says he had?

Have you been in to double check yet what support the school says he had?

Yes he had 10 per cent extra time. Hardly worth it!

What a waste of time this system is. Manipulated results with an impact on a child's whole education. In my locality, pupils in my school will really struggle to reach national standard as they start school so far behind. This is due to lack of home support. Of course these same children get no support from home throughout their education and no matter how hard we work or how great teaching and learning is some children will just not be able to catch up. . The school nearest to mine, higher baseline on entry (parental support) support throughout and then privately tutored for SATs. My school stands no chance, that school is outstanding. Eventually my school will fail to meet Ofsted standards, is too small for an academy trust to be interested and will be closed. A broad education, around the whole child just isn't valued.

I will say however, we certainly wouldn't even think of cheating at SATs, even though the success of the school depends on it. We have also had an unannounced SATs monitoring visit this time to check all was in place following the guidance.

Well he had help with his exam apparently, most didn't. So...

I mentioned this thread to my teacher and another TA at work today, their jaws dropped in disbelief at all the cheating going on. Report to the authorities.

This has also happened at my daughter's school and I was really stunned when she told me. During the maths reasoning paper the teacher was telling some of the children if they had the wrong or right answer. I have lost all respect for the school.

The thing is on monitoring visit the teachers will just shut up won't they. It would only show gross misconduct. Anyway, still fuming about the whole thing. 25 per cent extra time would likely have given him more than 1 extra correct answer. Apparently he didn't finish 3 of the papers, let alone time to check.

My students asked me whether I get to see their exam papers first and they were shocked when I said no, never. They asked why. I said because I love you all so much, I would tell you the questions!

But actual cheating is clearly unacceptable. I'm not sure what I would do.

merry, yes perhaps staff don't talk, children clearly do, as the information shared with parents show. Monitoring visits include checking papers are locked away, systems followed, timings in place. You are right though, it wouldn't necessarily uncover a teacher helping pupils, they would simply stop as the monitoring officer comes in.

I am shocked at the widespread information on here. Shows though a system that doesn't work. It takes so much organising, if you could see the amount of rules and guidance, pages and pages to read, digest, administer, it is mind boggling. If it takes this much to try and ensure a fair system, surely it isn't working.

Social media also moves the goalposts with questions posted, papers shared; not something that had to be considered a few years ago. Tutoring makes outcomes unfair.

I know of small schools, where, to meet individual needs, whilst ensuring this doesn't compromise fairness for all, there are more adults needed to invigilate and support than children taking the tests! Unmanageable, expensive and pressure on what maybe a lone child sitting with two adults.

What a mess.

I worked in a school where the head insisted on invigilating the year 6 SATS, despite normally rarely entering a classroom. One TA walked out in disgust at the blatant cheating. But the head had the cooperation of the year 6 teacher. He's a head at another school now.

She also pressured teachers to falsify tracking data. We were desperate for OFSTED to pick it up but they didn't, school got a 'good'. No one wanted to spill as they had seen others be bullied out of their jobs. Head of governors informed but did nothing. Wrote to head of OFSTED but no reply. Didn't know where else to turn at the time. It was a few years ago but that head is still in post.
Tbh more of a worry was her appalling conduct over child protection. It was so hard to find anyone who would listen. Local authority ignored all flagging.

Yes I think I'm also upset that this is an outstanding school apparently. I was surprised as it didn't seem a good as our last 'good' school. Clearly good at data manipulation. I had my kids in another school for half a term after we arrived and moved them because I disliked the drive and this school had outstanding plus walkable. Dh pressured me to move them mostly because of the outstanding status. Arghhh hindsight is a wonderful thing. Their senco was great. He'd have had his 25 per cent there and hopefully no cheating.

CATs, not SATs, in the first week of secondary school for all pupils? Would that work instead for government statisticians? That was in response to an earlier poster about how else do you measure Progress8

SATs are an abysmal way of the government setting targets for GCSE. And I certainly would report anonymously if my child's grade were even more over-inflated (they're already drilled to the test) by cheating. It's pretty damn dispiriting to be off target in most subjects throughout secondary due to over-performance in a Maths test.

The quicker the SATs are ditched the happier our children and teachers would be.

I agree doom we use CAT data anyway.

AuntyElle, this sounds very much like the Head at our school. The SATs cheating is just the tip of the iceberg for her. Many members of staff have reported her to higher bodies during the 10 years I've worked there and nothing has ever come of these complaints. I reported her to the governors for repeatedly taking term time holidays (whilst trying to get fines for parents who did the same thing) and lying about her whereabouts and the governors assured me that they would investigate her thoroughly. But it seems she has them in her pockets and it all got brushed under the carpet with a mild warning. She was also reported by another member of staff for not taking child protection issues seriously and it all got hushed up and no action taken. I know of many parents who have put complaints in about her but the governors, under guidance from the Head, have been assured that these parents have vendettas against the Head and their complaints are in retaliation to not getting their own way. It's a shambles. I can't wait to leave the school now and have no plans to get another job in education.

Namechanged for this because I'm too identifiable from this story.

My son's TA cheated in the Maths SAT this week - he pointed to a question and made a thumbs down gesture. My ds was shocked but said he felt pressured into changing the answer (he now thinks he just made it even more wrong). I am a teacher and therefore knew exactly how far past the boundaries this TA went.

I emailed the maladministration address, and the reply completely shocked me. I gave my name, the school's name and the TA's name and said I wanted my dc kept out of it. In their reply, they've basically said they need details of the exact question and paper and that if I wish to proceed they won't be able to keep his name out of it because they will deduct marks, which will make him instantly identifiable.

My ds is borderline in Maths. What they're telling me is that his mark will be compromised if I want to proceed and that I personally might have jeopardised it. I now feel pressurised into withdrawing my complaint, and probably will, presumably leaving the TA to get off scot free.

Scandalised. Had no idea how punitive this process would be for my dc.

Seven teaching staff left last year and I was a bit . One was a Y6 teacher.

That's helpful to know namechange. I think you should address out with Head our governors or both. It won't help this year but they probably won't do it again. That's my plan. I won't be able to do anonymously unless I write to governors anonymously, but I don't care. I hope they know someone is keeping an eye on them.

Name changed - I am shocked by the reply you received when reporting malpractice.
I can see why you would now question proceeding.

Can I suggest that you simply reply to the reply they sent you and point out that their reply strongly discourages parents from raising malpractice because there is a clear repercussion for your individual child and inability to remain anonymous. I would ask how they can make the system robust and root out malpractice if this is the case. Ask for a response.

Incidentally, another poster upthread said she reported malpractice this week and was able to do so anonymously. I wonder whether she was filling in a different form for this to be possible.

Goodness, I hope the Daily Mail or someone get hold of this thread and publish and create a scandal about the whole thing. Thoroughly depressing thread on so many levels.