Do teachers cheat ?

[modeller]

Do teachers cheat as compared with with 'O' level days ?

http://www.telegraph....dle-teachers-say.html

[zebo]

"A" level Physics practical blankety blank years ago. The q said to suspend a metre rule from 2 stand and set it swinging in the same sense. Our Physics teacher, talking to the Lab Tec, said, loudly, I bet they'll set it going backwards and forwards instead of swinging from the middle so that both ends are going the same sense. This said with many hand gestures. Naturally we all stopped it swinging back and forth and set it going properly. Nothing new under the sun.

[modeller]

I found course work a complete farce there was so much help from parents as well as the opportunity to redo everything it was impossible to fail.
and with all the modules you only had to remember facts for a week after the revision week. These facts were not in the main called for , for the final exams. As a result we had remedial students getting Cs and Bs especially in the arts.

There were lists of acceptable answers which would never had been accepted for the old 'O' and 'A's.

[zebo]

Coursework was a farce, though being a moderator paid for my Summer holiday! It was the school's responsibility to ensure that the work presented was the pupil's own work, I once questioned a girl about her work as I knew she couldn't have done it. The management of the school had her angry Father on the phone, I was apparently being unfair to her, and they backed him, I was told I had to accept it.

[jake-the-peg]

Really?

Can you not see through this?

The exam boards check a random sample of papers to make sure that this doesn't happen.

This is a total smokescreen because there are now law suits about the English papers and Gove is scared.



The story is popular because it flatters older readers

The subtext is "It was harder in your day and you had to work harder, you're really much more clever than these youngsters"

They'll show you the questions from the lower lever GCSE papers wher C is the highest grade you can get and compare it to a O level question (rather than a CSE one) and cite it as proof!

You're being flattered and you're falling for it!

[jake-the-peg]

By the way I did O levels and having seen my kids GCSE papers I don't think there's much difference when properly compared.

Coursework elements is another matter, that's going anyway but you'll find that recently a lot of boards insisted that was done in class to avoid parental assistance.

[modeller]

jake #By the way I did O levels and having seen my kids GCSE papers I don't think there's much difference when properly compared.#
It is not so much the questions but rather what can be accepted as an answer and what grade can be given.

#Coursework elements is another matter, that's going anyway but you'll find that recently a lot of boards insisted that was done in class to avoid parental assistance. #

The trouble there is that it is treated as a normal lesson , mistakes are pointed out and the pupil could write it all out again before it was put in the course folder. In addition the folders could still be taken home where parents could do their bit.
Plus in school and in homes there is the widespread use of computers.

On the marking side if you marked down pieces of work that you knew had been done by the parents that affected everyones grades because it lowered the average. I was told this by a moderator when I wanted to give lower marks for a piece of work which I knew had been done by the parent.

[modeller]

To answer my own question . I don't think teachers cheat but they do use an ill thought out system for the beneifit of their pupils. It started when the CSEs and the 'O' levels were merged this resulted in a much lower standed being required to obtain a C which in turn lowered all the other grades.
I do think league tables are bound to have an effect. Individual teachers trying to maintain standards have often been undermined by the school governors if it might effect their position in the league table.