Faith schools to be allowed to redact exam papers.

[creamteas]

It has been reported that some faith schools have been redacting exam papers, taking out questions that their faith objects too.

To be honest, I am not surprised by this, and will happily add this information to my list of why all religious schools should be banned

But I am horrified by the fact that this story seems to be suggesting that OCR are trying to find a way to accommodate this . How on earth can this be justified?

[sashh]

Presumably this affects very few schools though? Most faith schools are CofE or RC, and in neither of these would it be an issue.

Evolution wouldn't be, but other subjects might.

[Whathaveiforgottentoday]

Common sense has prevailed- yay

[reddidi]

Thank goodness for that

Hear, hear.

[pointythings]

Better late than never.
When I was at secondary school, we had a girl in our class who was a Young Earth Creationist. She spoke out in objection to the teaching of evolution, whereupon our biology teacher told her that she was not obliged to believe any of it, only to reproduce it accurately in exams.

[creamteas]

Well it looks like Ofqual have banned this now.

Thank goodness for that

[reddidi]

"I think the compromise being sought is a procedure for setting the questions which would either
(i) hint to the candidates in such schools "skip this question" without disqualifying those candidates' answers to the other questions, or
(ii) put in optional questions ("choose one question from section B") although I don't remember ever seeing this in any science paper - perhaps somebody would put me right on this?"

No, OCR's statement says "... we have reached the conclusion the most proportionate and reasonable approach would be to come to an agreement with the centres concerned which will protect the future integrity of our examinations – by stipulating how, when and where the redactions take place"

So there will be no change to the exams issued by OCR, they will simply alter the rules so that the redaction can take place without breaking them (e.g. in a closed room with all staff taking part supervised until 30 minutes after the start of the exam).

[TalkinPeace]

I have lots of friends in Wales who do not have TVs : they would not expect their kids to get a different exam question because of it

[Whathaveiforgottentoday]

Interesting about the english paper. My gut reaction in this case is that the school were correct to complain as their students were clearly disadvantaged. The difference between this and the evolution question is there is no responsibility for students to be educated about the x -factor show or in fact watch TV at all (very tempted to ban TV in our household!).

I taught abroad and we used to do the GCSE Edexcel paper and every now and again a question would turn up that made no sense to them. The example I remember was about a milkman leaving milk on doorstops and the milk going off. I was in the exam room when one of them put their hand up and asked about it. I gave the students a quick explanation of what a milkman in the UK was! The question was biology based - temperature and milking going off etc so my quick explanation didn't tell them how to answer the question, just helped explain the context of the question. I also let the exam board know what the students had been told.

[creamteas]

Almost certainly they caused all their candidates to be disqualified from the biology paper which was interfered with

Not according to the news reports. The coverage states that as the candidates were not advantaged, they took no action

[camptownraces]

To reply to the OP:

In opening papers and altering them ("redacting them") before giving them to the candidates, the examination centres (the schools) were committing a malpractice sufficient to disqualify the centre from ever holding examinations again. [Suspect this didn't happen, but we don't know]. Schools such as the one in question should have prepared their candidates properly by pointing out which types of questions to avoid, not by altering the question paper.

Almost certainly they caused all their candidates to be disqualified from the biology paper which was interfered with.

Certainly they were causing all their candidates to lose marks, because they wouldn't be able to answer all the questions, but that's another issue.

Of course, this is unacceptable behaviour.

I think the compromise being sought is a procedure for setting the questions which would either
(i) hint to the candidates in such schools "skip this question" without disqualifying those candidates' answers to the other questions, or
(ii) put in optional questions ("choose one question from section B") although I don't remember ever seeing this in any science paper - perhaps somebody would put me right on this?

[JohnnyBarthes]

If a student doesn't have a television, they could discuss why they don't have one. I hope the appeal failed, tbh.

[donnie]

Last November one of the Section B questions on the AQA GCSE English Language paper - which many current Y11 students sat as it was the last one to allow the inclusion of the 20% speaking and listening component (another long saga!) - included a question which said the following: (this is an approximation as I don't have the paper with me)

"Television shows like the X Factor bring nothing of value to society and should be cancelled"
Write a magazine article in which you argue either for or against this statement.

I happen to know that a whole load of students from a certain school near me appealed against the paper on the grounds that as Orthodox Jews, they do not have televisions in their homes and were therefore unable to answer the question (this is North London btw). I think this throws up a whole new set of challenges to exam boards - what do others think about this?

[lalsy]

Yes, I agree it is censorship....that was a quote.

[TalkinPeace]

REDACTION is a euphemism for CENSORSHIP
stop kidding ourselves

[lalsy]

This quote from here www.secularism.org.uk/news/2014/03/government-complicit-in-redaction-of-exam-questions-on-evolution includes a quote from OCR to Ofqual saying "In our deliberations we have reached the conclusion the most proportionate and reasonable approach would be to come to an agreement with the centres concerned which will protect the future integrity of our examinations – by stipulating how, when and where the redactions take place....."

So it sounds as if the Board's concern was the redaction process itself, not the wider issues.

I am not sure it is to do with academies and free schools per se - that link goes on to explain that the law from this Sept will require all state schools to teach the full GCSE curriculum, for the first time I think - but I can see that being difficult to enforce. And I suppose it is always up to a school, and should be, how much time they devote to a particular aspect of the curriculum for each group. So it seems to me too that the line has to be drawn at exam papers - everyone should see the same paper and no-one should be censoring them.

[TalkinPeace]

and, different religion, same gross intolerance that should not be allowed in this country
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-26482599

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Agreed, talkinpeace.

[Whathaveiforgottentoday]

it is, well said talkinpeace

[TalkinPeace]

call a spade a spade
its not "redacting"
its censorship

[Whathaveiforgottentoday]

I hadn't even thought of it from the angle that they are clearly opening the papers early.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I have invigilated GCSEs and A levels, and the packets of papers are opened in the exam room, and, iirc, are put on the desk before the candidates come in.

I have been thinking about this since I first posted, and I suppose you could quickly look through the paper and redact certain questions, if you didn't have a lot of candidates, but it seems utterly wrong, to me.

Even if your pupils can do all the other questions, you are harming their chances of gaining the best marks they can - as a parent, that would appal me, but if you choose to send your child to a school that does this, I suppose you are tacitly agreeing to this - and putting your beliefs above your child's education.

[RunAwayHome]

When do teachers normally open the exam papers? Not normally before the exam is to be sat, I would have thought? The fact that someone is reading the questions and redacting them all (which must take some time!) suggests that they've had a look at them well in advance. I suppose they might prove that precautions had been taken to eliminate any chance of them communicating the questions to pupils or other schools etc, but it seems fairly dodgy to be doing that sort of thing unofficially! (Totally besides all the genuine arguments about whether it's right or not in and of itself).

[creamteas]

I am amazed that the Boards would allow this, and that the Universities are not protesting. Perhaps they don't know?

Well as an university admission tutor, the first I knew was the BBC story we are discussing. We are currently thinking through the implications of this more widely as an institution.

[Whathaveiforgottentoday]

I totally and absolutely agree with the tolerance of religious beliefs and as an atheist working in a faith school, this is my daily existence.

It is perfectly fine to teach evolution and not expect the students to 'believe it' if it disagrees with their faith and steppemum's approach is spot on and has works for many students.

I could answer quite happily answer question on intelligent design/creationism despite the fact that I think its complete dribble and lacks any emperical evidence. (of course in the classroom I would never say its complete dribble for fear of offence - but on here I'm not being paid to keep my own opinions to myself).

I'm more annoyed with the exam board for actually allowing this and I think its a very dangerous road to be going down.

[Blu]

Sorry for being tetchy - the whole subject makes me tetchy!

There's such a need for tolerance of religious beliefs, I am the first to uphold tolerance and respect for people's right to hold different beliefs...and a point where upholding religious beliefs picks at the fault lines of democracy. And I think banning aspects of the public examination syste in a state funded school picks at that line.