8th August 2018 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) has announced that they are launching an independent inquiry into exam cheating. Reported on the BBC, the JCQ said that a lot of time and effort goes into looking for signs of cheating in exams, and that malpractice was extremely rare. Last year 2715 penalties were issued, 895 to school staff and 120 to schools and colleges. Any sanctions on the candidates were largely for carrying a mobile phone during the exam.
Mark Bedlow from OCR said that deliberate cheating is still extremely rare, but incidents do still occur, and they have begun to see students using technology in increasingly different ways to cheat in an exam. He added that it’s important to look at the role that social media now plays as technology is changing. OCR has staff who monitor social media for any signs of malpractice throughout the year.
Alex Scharaschkin from AQA said that they are conscious of the different media available to students which allow them to share information. Derek Richardson from publisher Pearson, who own the Edexcel examination board, said that almost all students do their exams under equal and fair conditions, and those students want confidence that everyone is doing the same.
The JCQ inquiry will be lead by Sir John Dunford who is chairman of Whole Education, a schools partnership, and it will begin in September with the hope of having some results early next year. He said that young people’s futures depend on their GCSE and A Level results, and it’s important to maintain the integrity of these exams.