Teacher Ethics in Summative

Assessment

Survey of teachers’ views of methods of

maximising results

• Conducted 2014

• Designed by Ofqual but conducted by Pye Tait

• 548 responses (out of 200K+ secondary school teachers)

• 92% actively teaching

• 44% teachers, 34% Heads of Department

They were asked

• Whether they had first-hand experience of a range activities

within the last academic year (including student activities,

teacher activities and school activities)

• How acceptable they considered each of those to be from

1 ‘not at all acceptable’ to 10 ‘completely acceptable’

• E.g. • Becoming markers to gain insight into the examination system

• Focusing efforts on borderline ‘C’ students

• Providing wording of sections of coursework to students

UNREPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE WARNING

But what kind of water are we in?

Teachers’ methods ordered by perceived

acceptability

Method Median

Becoming markers to gain insight into the examination system

7-9

‘Question spotting’ what might come up on an exam and tailoring teaching accordingly

Targeting enquires about results to pupils just below key grade boundaries

Changing teaching midway through a course in response to changes in policy

Not covering all of the specification content so as to focus on those areas most likely to be

examined

Switching to what they believe to be ‘easier’ exam boards

5-

5.5

Focusing efforts on borderline ‘C’ students

Giving students the benefit of the doubt in awarding marks when assessing coursework or

controlled assessment

Considering school league table performance in choosing which qualifications to offer

Entering students into exams ‘early’ to give them more than one examination opportunity

Having students use revision guides as opposed to text books

Encouraging students to memorise mark schemes

Encouraging students to rote learn answers to likely exam questions

1-4

Giving students writing frames to use in their controlled assessment

Teachers giving students hints during controlled assessment

Providing wording of sections of coursework to students

Opening exam papers before the specified time

Method %

Focusing efforts on borderline ‘C’ students

80

‘Question spotting’ what might come up on an exam and tailoring their teaching accordingly

Targeting enquires about results to those pupils just below key grade boundaries

70

Becoming markers to gain insight into the examination system

Giving students the benefit of the doubt in awarding marks when assessing coursework or controlled

assessment

60

Considering school league table performance in choosing which qualifications to offer

Changing their teaching midway through a course in response to changes in policy

Giving students writing frames to use in their controlled assessment

Switching to what they believe to be ‘easier’ exam boards

Entering students into exams ‘early’ to give them more than one examination opportunity

Teachers giving students hints during controlled assessment

50Encouraging students to rote learn answers to likely exam questions

Having students use revision guides as opposed to text books

Not covering all of the specification content so as to focus on those areas most likely to be examined

40Encouraging students to memorise mark schemes

Providing wording of sections of coursework to students

Opening exam papers before the specified time

<10

Teachers’ methods ordered by experience

Method Median

Schools working together to share and understand performance data

7-9

Borderline students being ‘hot housed’ with additional classes/support

Students being double entered for key qualifications e.g. for more than one exam board’s GCSE specification or for GCSE and IGCSE

1-4

Student qualification choices being steered to those they will perform well in, rather than those they enjoy or those that would aid future employment

Students being removed from the school roll so as to avoid their results contributing to measures of school performance

Schools finding ways to pick and choose the pupils they take in

School methods ordered by perceived

acceptability

Method %

Borderline students being ‘hot housed’ with additional classes/support 70

Student qualification choices being steered to those they will perform well in, rather than those they enjoy or those that would aid future employment

40

Students being double entered for key qualifications e.g. for more than one exam board’s GCSE specification or for GCSE and IGCSE

30

Schools working together to share and understand performance data

Students being removed from the school roll so as to avoid their results contributing to measures of school performance

20

Schools finding ways to pick and choose the pupils they take in

School methods ordered by experience

Controlled assessments

40% described experience of at least one additional method of

maximising controlled assessment results

Teachers providing

marks, corrections,

feedback and guidance

to enable students to

draft and re-draft

Teachers (required to

document feedback)

doing so verbally or

using post it notes

Teachers providing

sentence starters,

quotes, detailed writing

frames, essay structures

and help sheets

Teachers focusing

help on less able

– but crediting the

student in full

Teachers repeating

controlled assessment

tasks with the class or

using an almost identical

task before the real

thing

“I can get a very weak student an A grade by breaking the rules, as I

do, yet the poor Head of Department down the road doing

controlled assessments in near exam conditions is lucky to get

any work out of the student for an E grade.”

“The current system works very well for us as long as we ignore

any rules for limited, medium and high control in controlled

assessments. We ensure that every student always meets their

target grade, whatever it takes.”

Controlled assessments

“This year, we made much more use of writing frames and doing a

'similar' assignment to the one students had to do by way of

preparation. This followed from discussions with other Head of

Departments at LEA meetings last year on how to get through

these controlled assessments as fast as possible with the

minimum amount of stress and time for teachers.”

“Students can look at past years' A / A* controlled assessments for

the same task at any time as we have them in the classroom.

(The tasks remain 'live' for years).”

Controlled assessments

Coursework

21% described experience of at least one additional method of

maximising coursework results

Teachers re-drafting,

completing and writing

the coursework

themselves

Teachers

dictating or typing

coursework on the

computer for students

Teachers providing

students with previous

years’ stock of highly

graded coursework

Teachers writing

sections for the

students, and/or

providing them

with detailed

writing frames,

sentence starters

and detailed

guides

Teachers providing

extensive guidance,

coaching, corrections

and enabling re-drafts

with detailed feedback

given to students

“A teacher having difficulties with the level of students’ ability to do

coursework was told she would have to do it herself.”

“Students have their IGCSE coursework written for them by their

teacher. The expectation from the school is that 'all students' will

have A/B grade coursework folders, despite only a sixth of

students in the school being A/B grade students. Staff are

expected to 'intervene' with each student until their coursework

is of this grade.”

Coursework

“Students are given too much support during the completion of

coursework. This is a massive issue that I have experienced in 4-

5 of the schools/colleges I have worked in. This ranges from

providing them with specific examples of good work, letting

them copy others work, allowing students to work together to

plan work and when it gets to the end of the year students being

stood over by the teacher and told what to write.”

“Teachers send marks off for coursework in A level Health and

Social Care when the students haven't even given the

coursework in by the deadline – then making sure the

coursework, when it has been given in, is adapted to fit the mark

awarded.”

Coursework

Exams and orals

13% described experience of at least one additional method of

maximising exam or oral results

Teachers

giving pointers to

questions,

reading questions

out for students,

answering

questions about

exam tasks,

providing students

with hints about the

right solution

Teachers offering

strategic advice on

timing and which

questions to focus on

first

Teachers invigilating

their own subjects or

being in the hall for

exams

Teachers giving

students oral

questions, rote

learning

answers, or

giving them

more time to

prepare than

allowed by the

exam boards

“A teacher was told to go into the exam hall to help students even

though the teacher did not want to go in. Most teachers for that

subject were in the hall whilst other teachers were used to cover

their lessons.”

“I was told to target only things that would definitely come up on an

exam paper and teaching was focused solely on how many

marks each area was given. This meant lack of cohesive

teaching and students were taught only what was required on

the test not what would move their knowledge of the subject on.”

Exams and orals

“On the day before the actual speaking exam my Head of Faculty

unexpectedly appeared in my classroom to provide my pupils

with a final list of unexpected questions for them to prepare. The

pupils were asked to choose a question out of the list provided…

I was supposed to ask the chosen question to my pupils.”

Exams and orals

Conclusions?