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Secondary education

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Original poster

My son accused of cheating in GCSE maths exam...urgent advice needed please

127 replies

supersare · 12/06/2011 07:58

Hi, my son has been accused of cheating in his GCSE maths exam and I have been informed by the school that there is a possibility all his exam results may be consequently voided. I am close to breaking point and am furiously trying to find some information on how to sort this out. The examining board is EDEXL and their website has no details relating to their policy on cheating.
The only thing my son is guilty of is absent mindedness as he claims that in the exam, he took his calculator out of its case he had forgotten to remove a piece of paper with some revision notes on - when he found the paper he panicked and stuffed it back in the calculator case and carried on with the exam. Another pupil spotted him do this and reported him to the invigulator who approached my son while the exam was still going on and asked him why he was cheating.
The school say they have to report it now and I'm at my wits end as to what is going to happen, surely he can't loose all his other GCSE's because of this?

OP posts:
stillfeel18inside · 12/06/2011 11:50

supersare - good luck with this, I really hope it only affects his maths exam and he's able to re-take and put it behind it (having learned a very difficult lesson). Best ignore some of the judgier comments on this thread - have people's children really never made a stupid mistake? (or have none of the adults, come to that) - I really don't think it should mean his life and future prospects should be in ruins. I'm sure he'll never do it again!!

TheMonster · 12/06/2011 11:51

I doubt if the school will want to lose all his exam results over it.

Goblinchild · 12/06/2011 11:58

Stillfeel, this thread is not really about other people's opinions, it's what the rules of the examination are, and what the possible consequences might be for the OP's son.
Everyone has made a careless mistake at some point, but this one happened in a very tricky place.

PotteringAlong · 12/06/2011 12:09

Of course school won't want to loose his exam results! They won't have wanted any if this to happen at all and would do anything in their power to make sure he achieves - all any school wants is for the pupils in their school to do the very best they can do. But you're missing the point-it's nit about what the school wants. Schools don't run external exams, exam boards do, and it's not a case of pleading with the school because at this point it's simply not the school's decision to make.

Lots of adults have made stupid mistakes. We deal with the consequences. That's all people are saying will have to happen here

TheMonster · 12/06/2011 12:20

It is the decision of the school to report it or now.

Chandon · 12/06/2011 12:21

Oh....I cheated at GCSE with notes in my calculator case Blush , I was also absent minded, but mine were there not by accident.

Have you seen the "note"? Is the writing extra small (so as to fit in much info in small space) or normal handwriting? That should give a clue.

MigratingCoconuts · 12/06/2011 12:22

I'm also a teacher and potteringalong and others are absolutely spot on. Its the way it has to be to ensure rigor in the exam results. The voiding of other exams taken is used as a precaution where the exam board cannot be sure if the candidate has cheated in other exams. They will always err on the side of caution to safe guard their standards.

Bodyofeyore is also right, which is why the scholl will absolutely fllow this one by the letter. If they don't, thee exam baord could call into question their competancy as a centre, withdraw that status and call into question the exams of the rest of the year group.

I wish you luck but your best bet is to go in, admit that your son has committed an offence (for whatever reason) and throw yourself at their mercy and support.

MigratingCoconuts · 12/06/2011 12:22

sorry, terrible spelling errors crept in there!

MmeBlueberry · 12/06/2011 12:36

The school has to report it or they are guilty of malpractice too.

MigratingCoconuts · 12/06/2011 12:52

exactly so Mme and the consequences of being found guilty of malpractise would be severe for the school

Original poster
supersare · 12/06/2011 13:04

I don't know how far into the exam he found the note if I'm honest and as he has further exams this week, me and his father are not pressing the matter and potentially driving him to 'flunk' the few he last left to take.
At this moment I've got past the upset stage and am absolutely furious with him but can't vent my anger on him as it would only inflame the situation.
Yes, the school have said they have to report it and as soon as the letter is written and ready to be sent off we have requested to see a copy.

What a complete nightmare this is.
All we can do now is hope that it is only this one paper which will be voided and go from there. The teacher who is handling it is a reasonable and fair person so we're hoping he will highlight the fact he has gone literally all the way through school with an (almost) 100% attendance record and without any serious problems.
Thanks for everyone who has given positive advice on this.

OP posts:
ajandjjmum · 12/06/2011 13:24

I think you need to see the school urgently though, because for him to still be sitting exams he may be disqualified from seems unfair. Hopefully the exam board will take note of the school's opinion of your DS, which is obviously pretty high normally.

MigratingCoconuts · 12/06/2011 13:25

I wish you all luck with this that your son comes through it with the minimum of sanction possible....I can imagine it must be very stressful and which, as a teacher, I have always dreaded coming across. Good luck xx

Goblinchild · 12/06/2011 13:28

'At this moment I've got past the upset stage and am absolutely furious with him but can't vent my anger on him as it would only inflame the situation.'

What a wise attitude, being furious with him and ranting will not change what has happened and won't solve the problems he's now facing.
Good luck. Resits aren't the end of the world.

MigratingCoconuts · 12/06/2011 13:28

He has to sit them as no decision has been made yet and it may take the exam board a while to decide. In this situation it is best to carry on as normally as possible until told otherwise.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 12/06/2011 13:37

I have been an invigilator for maths GCSEs and A levels, and before the exam started, we went round the hall with boxes collecting mobile phones, and other stuff that wasn't allowed in the exam - and we specifically asked for calculator cases/covers, because in some cases there were formulae printed on the inside of the case itself. The school should have done this, and then the note would have been collected before the exam started and there would have been no problem.

However, AngusOgg and others are right - your son's school teachers will have emphasised the exam rules over and over again, and he has little excuse for this absentmindedness. I hope that things come out as well as possible for him - which would be voiding that particular paper, I suspect.

However, I do think you should push to see the letter before it goes to the exam board, because your son's school should be taking a portion of the responsibility for this mistake - it shouldn't have been possible for him to keep his calculator case (as I said, when I invigilated, we never allowed them to keep the cases). If the school doesn't routinely collect the cases, then they are partly responsible, and should be making this clear to the exam board (though they may be very unwilling to do this because they won't want edexcel to think that they are lax in their procedures - that might risk their status as an exam centre). If the head invigilator stood up at the front of the exam and told all the candidates to hand in phones, calculator cases and any other prohibited material, and your son either didn't pay attention, or ignored the instruction, then he is in this on his own, I'm afraid.

MmeBlueberry · 12/06/2011 14:33

The school may have done something wrong, but this does not let the child off in any way. He can't pass in the blame to the invigilators. He is responsible for the malpractice.

You can't expect the school to strip-search the candidates before they enter the room.

Goblinchild · 12/06/2011 14:39

'You can't expect the school to strip-search the candidates before they enter the room.'

No, that's the responsibility of the child and the parent.

sillybillies · 12/06/2011 16:00

'You can't expect the school to strip-search the candidates before they enter the room.'

we do at my school - obviously not a strip -search but they do search their bags now. They all have ample warnings about what is not allowed into an exam hall plus we have an office to hand in phones etc beforehand. There really isn't an excuse nowadays for taking prohibited items into an exam hall.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 12/06/2011 16:41

MmeBlueberry - no, you can't expect the school to stripsearch the candidates, but if the school doesn't take calculator cases away from the children, that would be an error on their part.

Teenagers can be careless, thoughtless and forgetful, so the school should make sure they've done all they can reasonably do to ensure that no prohibited items get into the exam hall.

The chief invigilator where I worked told me a story about a candidate who forgot to hand in his phone at the start of an exam. The exam started a bit late for some reason, and at the time when the exam should have finished, the lad's mum rang him to ask how it had gone - his phone rang, and he answered it! Even though it was within minutes of the end of the exam, it still had to be reported as a breach to the exam board. I think they were lenient and forgave the breach, but they could have voided the exam paper for him.

MmeBlueberry · 12/06/2011 17:59

It's up to the candidate to hand in the calculator case. If the school asks them, then that is a bonus. Their future, their responsibility.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 12/06/2011 18:10

All I can say is that, as an invigilator, we made very sure to ask everyone to hand in their prohibited items. Kids who are worrying about their exams can be more forgetful, so it needs to be a team effort between the school, the parents and the child to ensure that no prohibited items get into the hall.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 12/06/2011 18:11

But bottom line is that you are right, it is the candidate's responsibility.

MmeBlueberry · 12/06/2011 19:07

And it could be that the OP's school is similar, and despite that, he kept his notes and calculator lid.

There isnonly so much the school can do.

EvilTwins · 12/06/2011 19:24

At some point in a child's school career, they have to take sole responsibility for what they do. Exams is a good example of this - I spend a lot of time telling younger children "when it comes to your GCSEs, it won't matter what XXX is doing - your exams are your exams" (and other cliches...) It helps no one to even suggest that the school ought to share the responsibility here, I'm afraid. It might get the OP's hopes up. The exam board will not put any responsibility on the school. I have never come across a secondary school where the relevent notices are not displayed outside AND inside the exam room, and where the rules are read out to the students at the start of every exam. Schools have to follow the rules to the letter for exams, otherwise it makes a mockery of the whole system.