Expletive Given Marks in English Exam

A review has been launched after a top examiner gave a GCSE English candidate marks for writing only a two word expletive on their exam paper.

Peter Buckroyd, the Assessment and Qualification Alliance's (AQA) chief examiner for GCSE English, gave the pupil two marks out of a possible 27 for writing "fuck off" on the exam paper.

According to The Times Mr Buckfield defended his leniency by saying that the candidate had demonstrated more skills than one "who doesn't write anything at all".

He told The Times: "It would be wicked to give it a zero because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for - like conveying some meaning and some spelling."

The Joint Council for Qualifications, a body representing the exam boards, said that examiners were required to report instances of "inappropriate, offensive or obscene material" in exam scripts. The awarding body must investigate and decide on an appropriate sanction.

An AQA spokeswoman said that examiners in a similar position should contact the board for advice.

She said: "As a result, an obscenity should either be disregarded, or action will be taken against the candidate, depending on the seriousness of the case.

"The example cited was unique in the experience of the senior examiner concerned and was used in a pre-training session to emphasise the importance of adhering to the mark scheme: i.e. if a candidate makes any sort of response to a question then it must be at least given consideration to be awarded a mark.

"We do not condone the use of obscenities in scripts: in the light of this incident we will be reviewing our instructions to examiners which will include reiterating the procedure to be followed when encountering obscenities in scripts."

Foreign Students Accused of Degree Fraud

An influential MP has said that the Government must take seriously the fraud of foreign students with poor English language skills graduating with postgraduate qualifications in the UK.

Phil Willis, Lib Dem MP for Harrogate and Karesborough and Chair of the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee, warned of unease at the way standards were policed.

Mr Willis' comments come a few days after a university lecturer blew the whistle on her institution's approach to recruiting postgraduates who lack even basic English skills.

The anonymous female academic, who works in a science department in a well known UK university, told how she'd had to resort to drawing pictures to communicate with some postgraduates because their English was so poor.

Hundreds of people emailed the BBC to corroborate what the whistleblower had said. Several of the email correspondents claimed that their institutions were happy to turn a blind eye to overseas postgraduates with poor language skills, because of their high tuition fees.

Concern was also expressed that some overseas students resorted to plagiarism to overcome their poor level of written English. Institutions are reluctant to penalise these students, because they recognise that such cutting and pasting may be acceptable in different cultures.

Mr Willis said: "The government must take this issue seriously.

"The quality of our higher education product - with several of our universities in the top 100 universities in the world - is dependent on the quality of research and the quality of the students doing the research, and that must not be jeopardised. "

"It is hugely disappointing that the academic cannot report this to his or her own university or to Hefce [England's funding body for higher education].

"It is critically important that where there is evidence of malpractice - or fraud, which is what this is - that it is teased out as quickly as possible."

The universities claim to have measures in place to ensure students have sufficient knowledge of English to cope with their studies.

Parents Given Green Light for Village School

A group of parents has been given permission to open a new village school.

The villagers of Bolnore in West Sussex are the first parents in England to win the right to open their own school.

The primary school, with sufficient places for 210 pupils, will be built in woodland near Haywards Heath.

Children from the village currently have to travel to over 20 different schools, most of them several miles away.

The need for a school was recognised by West Sussex County Council last year, with the population of Bolnore creeping upwards. Due to Government legislation the authority had to put the proposal for the new site out to tender.

It is the first time parents have succeeded in a competitive bid to run a primary school, but it is not the first parent-led state school.

Bolnore School Group chairman Julia Bunting Thring said: "We're incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to create a new school that will meet the needs of all our children, our families and our community.

"Our proposal is about partnership. It's about bringing together the best people to ensure that every child can flourish and reach their full potential."

Jim Knight, Minister for Schools, said: "This shows that our policy of increasing choice and diversity for parents and pupils is really working. We want new and distinctive groups to get involved in education where this has the support of the local community and will help to raise standards.

"This could include other schools, local colleges and universities and other institutions with a presence in the area, perhaps in a shared trust.

"And we particularly welcome the involvement of parents and local residents themselves who know the needs of the children and the area. I congratulate the Bolnore School's Group on their success, and wish them all the best for the future."

The new foundation school will open in September 2009. To begin with it will operate in shared primary school accommodation in Haywards Heath, moving to new buildings the following year.

Scotland Offers New Baccalaureates

The Scottish Government has announced the introduction of new science and languages Baccalaureates.

Launching the scheme at Stirling University Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "The new Baccalaureates are designed to stretch our most able young people and the first awards will be made in 2010. The Baccalaureates will contribute to the Government's principal purpose of creating a more successful Scotland with opportunities for all to flourish through increasing sustainable economic growth."

"The awards aim to encourage more of our young people to study science and language courses in the later stages of secondary school, raise the status of S6 and assist our young people in making the transition from school to higher and further education and employment."

The new qualifications, based on the existing system of Highers, are intended to smooth the transition between school and university or employment.

The Science Baccalaureate will consist of a maths Higher, two science Highers, one science at advanced Higher, and an "interdisciplinary" project to be taken at the Advanced Higher level.

The Language Baccalaureate will consist of English or Gaelic at Higher level, two modern or classical language courses at Higher, one modern or classical language course at Advanced Higher, and an interdisciplinary course at Advanced Higher level.

The Conservatives have accused the Government of making the awards system even more complicated.

Schools Warned: Improve or Close

As many as one in five secondary schools in England face closure unless they can improve their exam results.

The Government is targeting 638 schools, where less than 30% of the pupils gain at least five good GCSEs including English and Maths.

The new standards drive, known as the National Challenge, will give the worst performing schools only three years to pull their GCSEs grades above the 30% benchmark. The scheme will also see the number of academies increase by 70.

Launching the scheme Schools Secretary Ed Balls told Radio 4: "Academies in the last few years have been taking intakes from more deprived areas, a move deprived intake than their area would suggest, and have faster rises in results than the average."

Struggling schools will receive additional funding, expert advice and support from neighbouring successful schools and external partnerships.

There will also be a new type of school structure for those "completely unable to raise their exam results".

These National Challenge Trusts will see the shutting down of the failing school and a reopening of a new school, to be run as a joint project with a high-performing local school and a partner such as a local business or university, with up to £750,000 funding.

Teachers' unions have criticised the plan and suggested it risks stigmatising schools in poor areas.

School Bans Red Bull

A school has decided to ban its pupils from drinking the energy drink Red Bull, following complaints that it increased the level of bad behaviour.

Chatsmore Catholic High School in Worthing, West Sussex, said some children's conduct changed after consuming the drink.

The acting head, Anne Ward, said that pupils were now banned from bringing Red Bull on to the school grounds. The Tesco branded Kick high energy drink has also been banned from the 630-pupil school, in a bid to stop the escalation of bad behaviour.

Ms Ward said: "We found that a small number of children's behaviour was less appropriate after they had been drinking these drinks.

"We were becoming increasingly concerned about the level of inappropriate behaviour so decided to take action before it becomes a bigger issue.

"If they want to drink these drinks outside school then that is an issue for their parents.

"We advocate drinking water and indeed we allow pupils to drink water during lessons."

Each can of Red Bull, advertised by the manufacturers as a product that "gives you wings", contains 80 mg of caffeine. It is not recommended for individual sensitive to caffeine, including children.

New Child Protection Vetting List

Millions of adults who work with children will have to register with child protection authorities, under an expanded safeguarding scheme due next year.

The Government estimates that 11.3 million people - one in four of all English adults - will be included on the new database, with registration costing £64 per person. The fee will be waived in the case of voluntary workers.

Inclusion on the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) database will be mandatory for anyone who works with children, whether in a paid or voluntary capacity.

Organisations providing work experience placements for students will not be compelled to register their workers.

From October 2009 employers, voluntary organisations and charities will be forbidden from recruiting anyone who is not ISA registered. People currently working with children will have until 2010 to complete the registration process, irrespective of whether they have been previously vetted.

It will become an offence for anyone barred from working with children to apply for such a job - and there will be penalties for employers who fail to check on the registration of applicants.

Initially the scheme will apply to workers based in England, but it is expected that it will be extended to Scotland and Wales.

Most Maths Teachers Not Specialists

Less than half of maths teachers in England's secondary schools have a degree in the subject, despite a national recruiting campaign to boost numbers.

A government-commissioned study of 327 secondary schools found that most teachers had a degree in the subjects they taught.

This tended to be more likely in the sciences, with 90% of these teachers having what was categorised as a relevant post A-level qualification.

In biology, for example, 85% of those teaching the subject had a relevant degree, as did 83% of those teaching chemistry and 72% of those teaching physics.

But the figures showed that only 47% of those teaching maths had a relevant degree, although 75% had a post A-level qualification of some sort.

One in four maths teachers did not hold any relevant post A-level qualifications, which include BEds, PGCEs and Certificates of Education.

And the percentage of lessons taught by maths specialists dropped from 88% in 2002 to 84% in 2007, according to the report, the Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey 2007.

A spokeswoman for the Training and Development Agency (TDA) for Schools told the BBC News: "Fewer students are studying science, technology, engineering and maths subjects at A-level and degree level, meaning a smaller pool from which to draw in an increasingly competitive graduate labour market."

Universities Showing Clemency to Plagiarists

University students caught plagiarising their work are very rarely expelled, according to the latest survey on the issue.

The findings, published in a recent Higher Education Academy report, show that of the 9,200 cases studied only 143 students were actually expelled.

The most common sanction was making the students resubmit their work with marks deducted. The second most common sanction was a reprimand.

The report criticised the inconsistent approach shown by different institutions in dealing with plagiarism. Some institutions allowed students to resubmit plagiarised work with no penalty, whereas others were happy to issue an informal warning.

This study also found that plagiarism was more frequent in postgraduate courses.

"It was surprising to observe that the recorded level of plagiarism among postgraduate students was so much higher than the recorded level among undergraduate student," says the report.

Across the universities as a whole, the cheating rate was about seven cases for every thousand students.

Students Tipped Off Over Exam Content

An exam board is investigating claims that teachers may have given students prior notice of the questions they were likely to face in a practical examination.

The Oxford, Cambridge and RSA (OCR) exam board is concerned that discussions in an online student forum ahead of their A2 biology practical identified key areas for revision.

A thread was started on The Student Room forums asking for ideas about which topics would be covered in the exam.

One student replied: "My teacher randomly covered kidneys today and offered no explanation. Also we covered yesterday a Benedict's test of a non-reducing sugar... can't be coincidence."

The following replies also appeared:

• "It's more than likely going to be food tests and kidneys for Q2, as I've been led to believe."
• "Pretty sure it's kidney and food tests."
• "Our teachers have had a look and gave us a revision list ..."
• "In my last lesson my teachers made us do this practical practice sheet on the kidney - all about the different areas and what's in them etc so yeah I would say that is going to be the microscope question."
• "The microscope is on kidneys! That's for sure, my teacher would not lie."
• "Yes, she (the teacher) gave us a *MAJOR* hint so no reason to disbelieve her. We looked through kidney slides today as well, spent a full 1 hour looking down a microscope at the kidney! She wants us to be 'familiar' with it."
• "Kidneys a deffo so revise everything. And the first question we were hinted by our techa that its got to do something with a mini water bath u have to make of ur own so is temperature and enzymes related to this?"

In a statement, the board said: "OCR is aware that, as is the case every year, various suggestions as to what might be in the practical examination were circulating on the internet.

"We will be closely examining the results from any centre where there are grounds for suspicion to ascertain if any candidate was unfairly advantaged."

In the same examination last year OCR were forced to abandon candidate's marks after many had difficulty in obtaining experimental results.

Under-5s Curriculum Slammed by Top Schools

The Government's proposed curriculum for under fives is an assault on family life, according to a coalition of top schools.

In a leaked letter to Beverley Hughes, the Children's Minister, the Independent Schools Council (ISC) argued that the planned curriculum would see greater interference in the education of younger children than in any other age group.

The Council, representing 1,280 fee-paying schools teaching 500,000 children, also criticised the target-driven programme as a "clumsy" and "unjustified" imposition on schools.

The Early Years Foundation Stage framework, nicknamed the nappy curriculum, sets out hundreds of developmental milestones for younger children and envisages assessing them on almost 70 different skills areas.

It will apply to all 25,000 nurseries and child care settings in England, whether they are run by the state, charities or private companies. This includes 946 ISC member schools, providing facilities for children aged three to five.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) defended the project, saying that parents would be able to opt out of parts of the programme that conflicted with their beliefs.

AQA Launch New A-Level in Being a Teenager

The largest examining board in England and Wales is launching a controversial new A-level that will see students tested on a range of teenager related issues.

The A-level in communication and culture is being branded as "excellent preparation" for higher education by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA).

But critics suggest that the new qualification, which replaces the obsolete and derided communication studies A-level, lacks the academic rigour of other subjects. There is also concern that schools will use the lightweight subject as a means of artificially inflating their standing in the league tables.

The syllabus is reported to include topics such as the cult of celebrity, body modification, forms of communicating including texting, computer games, graffiti and street art.

Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: "Many parents and employers will consider this a waste of school time and expect an A-level covering 'culture' to concentrate on great literature, art or music."

An AQA spokesman said the syllabus had been approved by the exams watchdog Ofqual.

Teachers Reminded of Online Risks

Teachers in Scotland have been reminded of the dangers of putting too much personal information on the internet.

The new guidelines, issued by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), follow concerns that teachers were contacting pupils by email and exchanging information via social networking sites like Facebook or Bebo.

Concerns have been raised that teachers who communicate online with pupils could be exposing themselves to potentially career damaging accusations of misconduct.

Gary McDonald, technology teacher at Balerno Community High School in Edinburgh, said teachers had to be careful of getting into situations where they could be taken advantage of by a group of pupils, or by an individual.

He added: "Teachers should not involve themselves with social networking sites, or be in a situation where an online relationship could form with a pupil.

"In school there are guidelines to say don't be in a classroom alone with a pupil, all doors should be open, and from that point of view we are covered.

"Online we are not and teachers should be wary of involvement with pupils, particularly through social networking sites."

Annie Rankin, an English teacher at the same school, said the code of conduct sets out expectations for teacher behaviour in such circumstances.

She said: "There are some new technology issues that do come up. A friend of mine had a social networking page and was recently approached by a pupil to become their friend, to which they rapidly replied: 'no thanks'.

"In rural areas, where teachers live within the catchment areas of the school or perhaps have children who go to the same school, they may have pupils who are friends with their children and maybe even visit their house.

"At what point does it become the teacher/pupil relationship, or one of the friend's parent?

"There has to be a balance between building a rapport with pupils, but also maintaining a distance and a level of formality.

"There is always an element of naivety, particularly with those who are new to the profession, but this new code will benefit us and protect us."

NUT Issues New Strike Warning

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has raised the prospect of further classroom disruption with a warning that an autumn ballot for strike action remains an option.

The union, which recently staged the walk out of teachers in over 8000 schools, is considering the next course of action in a disagreement over pay.

The Government's proposed pay deal would see teachers receive an increase of 2.45% this September, followed by 2.3% increases in each of the following two years. The NUT has dismissed the offer, which they argue equates to a pay cut when the price of living is taken into account.

Christine Blower, NUT acting general secretary, bluntly warned that: "An option for an autumn ballot will be given consideration."

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, responded to NUT concerns by saying: "I believe that this three year award will enable teachers and schools to plan ahead, is fair and affordable and delivers the kind of public sector pay discipline that our economy needs at this time."

Elsewhere the University and College Union (UCU) is threatening that its members in London will take strike action on 9 June unless there is an improvement on 2.5% pay offer.

GCSE Music Answers Mix-Up

Thousands of teenagers sitting their GCSE music exam had a pleasant surprise when they discovered some of the answers had been included on the paper.

The Oxford, Cambridge and RSA (OCR) exam board is blaming a printing error for the embarrassing blunder, which affected 12,000 pupils sitting the exam on 16th May.

In many centres the mistake wasn't noticed until the exam had already started, leaving eagle-eyed candidates at a potential advantage over their less observant counterparts.

As part of the exam the pupils had to listen to, identify and answer questions on several compositions - the details of which were conveniently provided in the copyright acknowledgement on the reverse of the question paper.

An OCR statement said: "OCR regrets that a printing error may have affected a small number of marks on the GCSE Music paper which was taken on Friday 16 May. A maximum of five per cent (5%) of the marks on this particular paper are potentially affected.

"All exam papers have a copyright statement dealing with source material on the back page. This one in particular had more detail than is usual in a music paper. OCR has received a handful of calls from schools querying the situation. Since there has been media comment, there are still only 20 queries from teachers that have been received. It is unlikely that many of the 12,000 students sitting the examination would have recognised the value of the information in the copyright statement and subsequently used it.

"However, OCR is putting procedures in place to identify the effect, if any, this had on candidates and to make allowances accordingly to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged. There will be no need for candidates to retake this component. OCR is confident that the procedures put in place will ensure that all candidates get the grades that their hard work deserves."

The new exams watchdog Ofqual has been informed of the incident.

Ofsted Switch Focus from Tables to Classrooms

The schools regulator Ofsted is to send more inspectors into classrooms to observed teachers' performances, following criticism that they focus too much on national test results.

Appearing before the House of Commons Education Select Committee he chief inspector of education, Christine Gilbert, told MPs that the new Ofsted inspection regime would include more lesson observation.

Ms Gilbert also raised concerns about the number of poorly performing teachers, saying it took too long "to get rid of" teachers who were not up to scratch.

She said: "We are working to improve our work so it is more proportionate - inspectors may spend more time than they currently do in classrooms."

Committee chairman Barry Sheerman suggested that the current lighter touch inspections had failed to "get to the heart of" what was happening in schools - a claim firmly rejected by Ms Gilbert.

She said: "We don't rely just on data. We go into schools and test out that data, speak to teachers, observe lessons and invite comments from parents, and we do get a full impression of the school."

Asked about the number of failing teachers, she said: "I see, and heads tell me, that the process for getting rid of teachers who can't teach well takes too long. They are reluctant to embark on it. When they embark on it, the teacher moves school before the end, so I do think there is an issue there."

Recent estimates place the number of below-standard teachers in England's schools at between 17,000 and 24,000. The Government has promised to make removing poor teachers from schools easier in the future.

Advantages of Setting Questioned

Setting pupils by ability in primary schools has no clear advantages and can have a detrimental effect on children in the lower groups.

That's the opinion of a group of leading academics working on The Primary Review.

Setting children by their academic ability is a widespread practice in UK schools. Those in the top group work faster and have enhanced learning opportunities, with teachers expecting more from them. Those in lower groups can feel stigmatised and have their activities restricted, according to the report.

On setting, the report said: "Teachers believe that they are matching instruction to the level of the students' ability, but the evidence suggests that many pupils find the work they are given is inappropriate; often it is too easy."

In fact, teaching quality had the biggest influence on whether pupils were successful or not, said the researchers from the Institute of Education and King's College, University of London.

It continued: "The adoption of structured ability groupings therefore has no positive effects on attainment but has detrimental effects on the social and personal outcomes for some children."

Exam Watchdog Asks Tough Question

The public are to be asked whether they think examination standards are falling, according to the new independent watchdog.

Kathleen Tattersall, the first head of Ofqual, is to gather evidence on the thorny issue of whether public examinations are being dumbed down.

Ms Tattersall says that the public have unrealistic expectations that assessment should be absolutely perfect or accurate, citing the examples of essay and multiple choice questions where answers could be influenced by the interpretation of the examiner or sheer luck.

Ofqual's creation was announced last autumn, when the Government said it was splitting the two functions of the exams watchdog QCA, which had been charged with making sure standards were maintained and with shaping the curriculum and testing regime.

In a letter to Schools Secretary Ed Balls, Ms Tattersall said her first priority would be "to establish Ofqual as a credible, authoritative and independent voice in the debate around standards, assessment and qualifications, as we maintain and develop the ongoing work of regulating qualifications and tests".

Speaking to the Press Association news agency Ms Tattersall said: "We have really got to begin to engage with the public in a dialogue about the nature of the examination system.

"There's a broad expectation that assessment should be absolutely perfect and accurate, that a mark of 50 is a mark of 50, regardless of who marks, the time at which it is marked and so on.

"There is a precision expected of the system. We need to explore whether that sort of expectation is well-founded, or whether within the system there are some trade-offs between absolute reliability of that nature and the validity of the way in which we go about assessment."

Ms Tattersall suggested it was difficult to maintain standards whenever courses were revised or syllabuses changed.

Universities Falsifying Satisfaction Survey Results

Students from a range of UK universities have claimed that they are being pressurised into making overly enthusiastic responses in an official satisfaction survey.

The National Student Survey, set up by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), provides a league table of student satisfaction designed to help potential undergraduates choose their university. The survey is endorsed by the Government and is part of the quality assurance system in higher education.

The underhand tactics came to light when students at Kingston University complained that staff were trying to sway their survey responses. Subsequently students at dozens of other institutions came forward reporting similar intervention.

In the Kingston University case a student obtained an audio recording of members of staff instructing students how to respond to the survey in a positive light, rather than by making their own honest answers.

In an email to BBC News a student called Brian from Newcastle wrote: "The message was practically shoved down our throats. Give us good reviews or your degree won't be worth much and you'll look like you're coming from a rubbish place in your interviews.

"We had at least three 'special' lectures on it, and a school wide announcement and e-mails and it was announced in induction events."

An HEFCE spokesman defended the credibility of the survey by saying: "Apart from Kingston, a very small number of cases has been brought directly to our attention. Again each of these has been or is being investigated.

"We do not consider that the cases that have come to light call into question the robustness of the survey and believe that the great majority of students will take the opportunity to provide accurate feedback on their experiences."

Tests Damaging School System

An influential panel of MPs has said that the English national system of school tests is being misued to the detriment of children's education.

The report by the House of Commons Schools, Children and Families Select Committee comes in the same week that hundreds of thousands of eleven-year-olds are sitting their Key Stage 3 SATs exams.

It says that teachers spend too much time "teaching to the test".

"The inappropriate use of national testing could lead to damaging consequences," warns the report.

Barry Sheerman, chair of the committee, said that: "In an effort to drive up national standards, too much emphasis has been placed on a single set of tests and this has been to the detriment of some aspects of the curriculum and some students."

The committee broadly supported the idea of national tests but voiced concerns that there was over-emphasis on their results.

Schools Minister Jim Knight defended the use of national tests as part of the process of assessing progress for pupils, schools and the education system.

"Along with teachers' own judgements and Ofsted reports, tests are a tool which help pupils and their parents to understand how well they are doing, help parents and teachers to understand how well their school is doing, and help the public to scrutinise the performance of the schools system.

"That's why they are here to stay. Parents don't want to go back to a world where the achievements of schools are hidden from them."

The National Union of Teachers and NASUWT have both voiced their opposition to National Curriculum tests.