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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/07/how-to-beat-exam-cheats-schools
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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
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| The fail-safe way to beat exam cheats | The fail-safe way to beat exam cheats |
| (13 days later) | |
| Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, reports that in 2017 there was a 25% rise in the number of penalties given to students cheating in GCSE and A level exams. | Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, reports that in 2017 there was a 25% rise in the number of penalties given to students cheating in GCSE and A level exams. |
| It serves us to remember that only a small percentage of students cheat; and that there was also a rise in teachers and school staff involved in exam malpractice. However, when students did cheat, in most cases it involved taking “unauthorised materials” into the exams, which were generally mobile phones or other electronic devices. | It serves us to remember that only a small percentage of students cheat; and that there was also a rise in teachers and school staff involved in exam malpractice. However, when students did cheat, in most cases it involved taking “unauthorised materials” into the exams, which were generally mobile phones or other electronic devices. |
| Admittedly, I’m speaking as a parent who is still not over her shock and bitterness at discovering that students are allowed to use calculators for homework. Crikey. In my day, as a young whippersnapper, we had to descend from our penny farthings to gormlessly count on our fingers to get sums wrong. Still, it seems a bit odd that pupils can’t be made to hand their phones in – couldn’t they be placed in little labelled bags and kept in a big wicker basket at the entrance to the hall? After all, what innocent or compelling reason could students have for retaining their phones – in case a 16-year-old is urgently needed by MI5, or the babysitter rings? | Admittedly, I’m speaking as a parent who is still not over her shock and bitterness at discovering that students are allowed to use calculators for homework. Crikey. In my day, as a young whippersnapper, we had to descend from our penny farthings to gormlessly count on our fingers to get sums wrong. Still, it seems a bit odd that pupils can’t be made to hand their phones in – couldn’t they be placed in little labelled bags and kept in a big wicker basket at the entrance to the hall? After all, what innocent or compelling reason could students have for retaining their phones – in case a 16-year-old is urgently needed by MI5, or the babysitter rings? |
| Short of unpleasant frisking that could result in lawsuits, it seems that something could be done to successfully remove the phones and iPads from students. If all else fails, there’s always the option of cutting off the supply at the source. Indeed, perhaps educational establishments should just do what anybody does when they wish to stop something like this happening. The way to potentially thwart modern exam cheats, as well as simultaneously reduce everybody else in the vicinity to hopeless crumbling wrecks unable to function? Just turn off the wifi. | Short of unpleasant frisking that could result in lawsuits, it seems that something could be done to successfully remove the phones and iPads from students. If all else fails, there’s always the option of cutting off the supply at the source. Indeed, perhaps educational establishments should just do what anybody does when they wish to stop something like this happening. The way to potentially thwart modern exam cheats, as well as simultaneously reduce everybody else in the vicinity to hopeless crumbling wrecks unable to function? Just turn off the wifi. |
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