Worried Dad needs advice

[JonnyHattfield]

Apologies if I’m not doing Mumsnet right. First time! Please don’t bite!

My wife is a teacher of Chemistry at a prestigious school that has made all the exams offline this year. She has set all exams and is now desperately worried they have done too well. 5/7 in one Y12 class have As.

When I say “worried”, it’s an understatement because she is stressed beyond any point at which I’ve seen her in her while teaching career. Partly as the school is offering no support, despite many cries for help.

She is on medication, doesn’t sleep or eat and there are no councillors at the school.

I tell her everyday that there’s no reason to worry about the results. She has worked hard in the run up to the exams with their revision, without tailoring the exams or cheating. All I can tell is that because they never finished the course in school, she has removed anything from the end of the year’s curriculum from the exams. Surely that’s fair?

Anyway, my question is - how can I reassure her about the process afterwards? Science results will apparently be investigated and naturally she’s terrified they’ll somehow discover she’s enabled students to cheat. Does anyone know about what that process will entail? How can I set her mind at ease?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Maybe somewhere else to find answers? I really want to help with robust advice as she is becoming unwell, but refused to quit as she is the only one in the school who can finish the job.

Hi. Are we talking about external exams? If so, is her school expecting teachers to base their TAGS (Teacher Assessed Grades) purely on this set of exams? How do they compare with previous attainment?

Yes, they’re external exams. And the TAGS are down to each department in terms of evidence. So, no - she can gather more if needed. I think for example she is setting a handful of extra questions next week to ascertain whether there may be some cheating going on.

Comparing previous grades, it all seems (to me) realistic. The students who normally do well are doing well here. There’s one cheater, and he’ll likely be withdrawn. Evidence is robust.

Sorry to keep asking questions but are you sure this is Y12 and not Y13? Are they currently in school or are they doing these exams at home? For our Y13s we've used evidence from 2 years, not just the recent exams. What's the school policy on this?

We are looking at performance over time, so reference to mark books across the whole course, and filing evidence that shows typical performance across the different grade descriptors. So if things are wildly out of character for a student, wider context is important too. If a cohort’s performance is out of line with what is typical of that department in that school, then the evidence is likely to be checked, but if your wife is confident of her evidence that shouldn’t be a problem.

If the performance on the papers is wildly different from what she was expecting, and contradicts all their other work, it throws into question whether the students had managed to get hold of the paper beforehand. Some past papers have been on sale online. This wouldn’t be her fault.

If she is worried, she should flag it up to her line manager asap as the deadline for TAGs is looming.

Agreed, she should definitely discuss this with her line manager.

Well, yes - Y13 as well. All exams are at home online. Using Exam.net.

They are indeed using data collated from previous papers and evidence. However, mocks were low so the school is trying to force her to ignore them. The pressure they’re putting on teachers to get the best grades is immense. This is a high fee paying for-profit Independant school.

Ok, thank you for clarifying. I didn't just use exam marks, I used essay marks as well for the whole 2 year period - I know Chemistry is different but does she have grades for work other than the disappointing mocks? If the mock marks were low, how have they done so much better in the recent exams? She might be asked this. If she can provide evidence (lesson plans etc) of pinpointing issues with the mocks and working to improve them then she should be fine.

This is good info. Thank you. And I agree, with the evidence, none of it should be an issue. There have been a couple of unseen “locked” papers used and these have shown that the trends hold up - besides one obvious cheater who generally gets low grades but has managed to magically stick rigidly to the mark scheme in these exams. He’s already been flagged up.

Anyway, I guess I just wanted some reassurance of the procedure afterwards. Partly to know better how to support her through this. I’m not trying to solve it, I just feel let down by the school as they aren’t supporting her.

Part of the problem is her line manager. Someone recently new who has unrealistic expectations and zero compassion for how much stress and work this has created. My wife has tried and failed on a number of occasions to discuss her concerns. There seems to be a conflict of interest between the desire to get perfect grades and the need for solid evidence that protects the school’s reputation. After last year’s mess, there seems to be a lot more scrutiny.

Yes- they did much better on the exams over the mocks. Part of the reason fir this is that she has been running many online revision classes. Going over the entire course with every class. Outside of normal hours. Not all have turned up to these classes, but the ones who have have shit up from B’s and C’s to A’s. This is as you’d expect, but she’s worried that it doesn’t show a trend. What it might show is that she’s been tailoring her revision to the exams that she’s set.

Very tricky, I can see why she's so stressed. What's the policy of the school as a whole - err on the side of caution? We've certainly done this as a department - we've only given grades that we feel we can justify. Can she go over her LM's head with her concerns or would that just make things worse?

Yeah, you’ve hit the nail on the head. She wants to err on the side of caution. She’s been deliberately setting grade boundaries higher for that reason. And you’d expect this year everyone would want to. But the school have been leaning on her to keep them lower and the grades high. I think it’s highly unethical and we’ll end up with another year of high grades. Anyway, this is the precise reason why she’s so stressed. She just doesn’t know how to judge it all. And on no sleep and food for so long, she’s losing perspective.

And unfortunately, that’s a no to going shiver her LM! For complicated reasons.

Has she discussed it with colleagues in other departments? If her LM is her HOD then it might be time to look for another school to be honest. If she genuinely feels that they have got the grades they deserve and she can justify them (apart from the dodgy cheater) then she should go ahead with those. She also needs to see her doctor or she'll become so ill, she won't be able to function at all.

She should also let her union rep know what's going on, just in case.

@MrsHamlet

She should also let her union rep know what's going on, just in case.

Agreed.

Yes, she has discussed it with other HODS. Maths in particular (another new teacher) is also finding the situation impossible, juggling the constantly changing demands with the intense pressure on success. He is also seeking medical help for the first tune in his career.

Regarding union rep- there isn’t any. This is an independent school.

Yes- moving schools is being considered, despite another year on her contract.

Thanks for yo

Thanks for your advice. Thus has genuinely been helpful. It makes me realise the school is the problem. I know there are issues everywhere but I’m sure it didnt need to be thus bad.

However, I do think she’ll be ok. The results are good, in line with previous results, and can be justified with evidence.

Thank you.

One more thing - I didn’t mention this as it would add complications to the thread and I just wanted an answer about the final process, but it probably explains some of the reasons why you may think this situation is different from your experiences. The school is a British school, sister of a very successful independent school but located abroad. Therefore many of the systems are different. Also, our lockdowns have been at different times. Although it’s still a British curriculum and exam board, Grade boundaries are set by teachers for each department and the course isn’t linear. Y12’s exams are a factor and in chemistry there is no course work or essays.

Oh, and there are definitely no unions here!

Yes, the pay is good, and the sun always shines, but it doesn’t compensate for this sh*t show.

Anyway, just a few more weeks now. The end is almost in sight!

Thanks for the extra info. If she's only got a year left on her contract then maybe she should stick it out? I'm assuming from what you've said that she's a HOD herself so probably doesn't usually have this level of involvement from her LM and therefore next year should be easier, when, hopefully, we will have normal exams.

I suspect there are quite a few other teachers in her position - under pressure from SLT to give good grades. Fortunately, my school is more part of the 'err on the side of caution so the grades don't stick out like a sore thumb' school of thought!

I really feel for your wife. The government totally dropped us in it with announcing ‘exams are cancelled’ without any other information or forethought and the response from the exam boards has been laughable. I’m lucky that SLT at my school have been amazing. Our CAGS policy is robust and we all feel very well supported. My only advice to your wife would be that she follows whatever policy there is (whether it is written up as a ‘policy’ or cobbled together via email) and that any verbal conversation is followed up with an email (“just to confirm, you want me to award these seven As as they all meet the mark scheme and last year’s grade boundaries...?’) She should try to reframe them in her head as CAGS rather than TAGS (she is not the person to sign these off; it’s the head) and remember she is doing the best she can in very difficult circumstances.

One final thought though: you sound lovely, but you don’t have to ‘fix’ this for her. When I moan to my DP about work, I just want him to listen. If he tries to give solitons, it irritates me as he ‘couldn’t possibly understand’ (I know this makes me the unreasonable one!) Maybe just be there with the hugs and the gin, rather than the advice

I am also going through this process at an independent school and while it has been stressful, it's not been at all like this. She needs a new job and pronto! Teaching does not pay enough for this s*it even somewhere sunny!

If it's small numbers (you imply one class has 7 students) as long as the spread of grades is similar to 2017-19, she has copies of the evidence, is confident in her marking and the suspected cheater has been flagged, she should try not to worry. The results have to be signed off by the Head of Centre ultimately, not her.

It was left entirely up to schools what content was included in assessments and indeed, whether assessments were set at all. No guidance was given on what revision was allowed (and how could it be when exams weren't required?!)

The actual deadline is 18th June, by the way.

Also she could call the Education Support Partnership's phone-line for confidential support (I think...not sure about calling from overseas).