17th September 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Three as yet unnamed London Schools stand accused of falsifying GCSE science results. It has emerged that the schools have been switching weaker GCSE pupils to BTecs, which are coursework based vocational qualifications, and then falsifying the coursework marks. A former science teacher undertaking doctoral research at London’s Institute of Education spent a period of five years observing science teaching in three London schools. Anonymous interviews with pupils and teachers revealed the practice of inflating grades, which he has reported to the Department for Education.
The former teacher was originally studying assessments and feedback methods, but discovered that teachers were monitoring students who looked unlikely to achieve at least C grades, and inflating the grades. He found that pupils who were judged unlikely to obtain C grades were switched to the coursework-based BTecs just six weeks before the courses were due to end. Teachers were not asked directly about the practise of inflating grades, but volunteered the information during interviews about how the BTec student’s work was marked. The report suggests that 30% of students were switched to the BTec at the last minute. In some cases the coursework grades were falsified, and in other cases coursework was not marked at all, and automatically assigned a C grade.
All the schools implicated had been rated “good” in their latest OFSTED reports. The scheme began to fall apart when the exam board which administrates the BTecs requested the coursework for moderation purposes. Teachers revealed to the researcher that this lead to a panic in which students, some of whom had already left school, were called in to urgently complete the coursework. Teachers confessed to giving them work to copy, or telling them what to write. The researcher, who will present his findings at the British Educational Research Association conference, said that he did not begin the research looking for these kinds of activities. The teachers volunteered the information to him when he asked about the marking of BTec work. The Department for Education has condemned the practice, and said that they will tighten assessments in future. However, an OFSTED spokesperson has said that the practice of grade inflation will inevitable emerge whilst so much pressure is put on schools to maintain their position in league tables.