Teachers' tricks
From Mr Huw Pateman Sir: Andrew Gimson's excellent article on lowering the school-leaving age Mown with school', 9 June) fails to mention one of the most important aspects of the mass migration of teachers away from teaching: coursework. As well as trying to control a class full of disaffected psychopaths, the teacher is expected to obtain decent GCSE passes for them, irrespective of ability. A respectable pass is a C, and it is generally held that a child must enter the examination with a C in his coursework if a C in the exam is to follow.
The system worked like this in the school where I taught. At the beginning of every academic year teachers were told by the headmaster exactly how many C grades were expected of their classes. Even the refuseniks were to obtain Cs, and threats were made about what would happen if they did not.
The only solution to this appalling state of affairs was to cheat. Coursework essays were dictated to pupils of low ability while the more intelligent had to 'redraft' theirs. Redrafting simply meant rewriting an essay under 'guidance' from the teacher until it made the grade. Needless to say, this was in direct contravention of the Southern Examination Board's regulations, which stipulated that any extra help given to the pupil had to be recorded and submitted with the coursework. It never was.
Presumably it is only a matter of time before teachers are expected to sit the examination for the pupil.
Huw Pateman
Cardiff
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