23rd December 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
This week the school examination system came under increasing amount of fire as the full extent of corruption and flaws in the system were exposed. It has been revealed that exam boards had run sessions for teachers charged at £230 a day, which provided details of which questions to expect on exam papers and the exact wording students should use when answering. Ofqual, the exam board regulator, has determined that teachers who attended these seminars were given an unfair advantage, and has opted to postpone the student’s exams.
The regulator also raised concerns over the integrity of the exam system, pointing out that mark schemes were now so specific that student’s whose teacher had not attended the advisory classes had little chance of doing well. This means that even the brightest students risk achieving Cs and Ds if their schools are unable to pay for the necessary information. Education secretary Michael Gove called for widespread reform of the education system, and suggested that he may do away with all but one mainstream exam board, in order to prevent corruption and unhealthy competition.
These conversations have come after a week in which members of exam boards were caught by undercover reporters telling teachers that if they gave the students the information they paid for, they “wouldn’t have to do much teaching”. Another examiner was reported to have said “we’re helping you cheat”. The profits made by exam boards have tripled in the last few years, with revenue coming from seminars for teachers, prolific numbers of retakes (around £20 a paper), and text books which tell students the secrets to passing with a particular exam board.