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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
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