Should a teacher be banned for amending students' coursework?

In this article, we look at Jennifer Howie: professional conduct outcome in which the Secretary of State had to decide whether a teacher who was accused of amending students' coursework had committed unacceptable professional conduct and/or brought the profession into disrepute.

Facts

In May 2021, the school raised concerns about Miss Howie, deputy director of business and ICT, in relation to alleged assistance given to students with the coursework component of their BTEC qualification. 

The school carried out an internal investigation. Miss Howie said that she had been preparing an example report to guide students. She explained that she had mistakenly worked within a student's coursework document, which then auto saved to that student's file. She said she corrected the error as soon as she became aware of it.  

The school invited Miss Howie to a disciplinary hearing where she became aggressive, shouted at colleagues, and used racially discriminatory language about students. 

The matter was referred to the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA), where it was alleged that Miss Howie had engaged in unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, on the basis that she amended students' coursework and then behaved in an aggressive and threatening manner towards colleagues and used racist language.

Professional conduct panel

The panel heard allegations that Miss Howie amended the coursework of two students. They both said that Miss Howie asked them to share their coursework with her online. In each case, they later received notifications showing that she had accessed and edited their documents. When they reviewed it, both students found significant changes. Large sections of their original content had been removed and replaced with text they had not written. 

Miss Howie initially denied making the changes but later accepted that she had amended at least some of the work, saying this was accidental and linking it to the pressure she was under. She also suggested that a colleague may have used her laptop, but the panel found no evidence to support this. 

After reviewing different versions of the documents and access logs, the panel concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, Miss Howie had made a significant number of changes to both students' work. 

The panel considered the Joint Council for Qualifications: Suspected Malpractice Policies and Procedures (JCQ Procedures) guidance. This defines improper assistance as: 

“Any act where assistance is given beyond that permitted by the specification or regulations to a candidate or group of candidates, which results in a potential or actual advantage in an examination or assessment. For example: assisting candidates in the production of controlled assessment, coursework, nonexamination assessment or portfolios, beyond that permitted by the regulations.” 

It also defines malpractice as: 

“any act, default or practice which is a breach of the Regulations or which: gives rise to prejudice to candidates; and/or compromises public confidence in qualifications; and/or compromises, attempts to compromise or may compromise the process of assessment, the integrity of any qualification nor the validity of a result or certificate; and/or damages the authority, reputation or credibility of any awarding body or centre or any officer, employee or agent of any awarding body or centre.”

The panel rejected Miss Howie's explanation that the material was purely illustrative. It found that her amendments went well beyond guidance and instead provided material that could directly improve the students' work. It therefore concluded that she had provided improper assistance and committed malpractice.

The panel also found that she had acted dishonestly. It concluded that she knew she was changing the students' work, knew this was wrong, and later tried to remove the changes. Her failure to report what she had done also showed a lack of integrity.

Finally, the panel concluded that Miss Howie shouted and swore at colleagues during the disciplinary meeting, behaved aggressively, and made racist and offensive comments in the vicinity of students.

Was it a breach of the Teachers' Standards?

The panel then considered the Teachers' Standards and found that Miss Howie had breached the following standards:

• Teachers uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school, by:

  • having regard for the need to safeguard pupils' well-being; and

  • not undermining fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs

• Teachers must have proper and professional regard for the ethos, policies and practices of the school in which they teach

• Teachers must have an understanding of, and always act within, the statutory frameworks which set out their professional duties and responsibilities

The panel also considered the offences listed in the Teacher Misconduct: the prohibition of teachers and, in particular, the offences of fraud or serious dishonesty, and intolerance on the grounds of race. 

The panel was satisfied that her conduct amounted to misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession and brought it into disrepute. It recommended a prohibition order with a review after five years, and the Secretary of State accepted that recommendation. 

Key takeaways for schools and colleges

This case underlines the need for teachers to clearly understand what support they can give to students, and when that support crosses the line into improper assistance and malpractice. You should review internal policies to ensure these boundaries are clear, practical and easy to apply in day-to-day teaching. You should also reinforce this message regularly with staff, particularly at high-pressure times such as coursework deadlines and exam periods. 

This case also highlights that managers may need to deal with challenging situations and have difficult conversations with staff as part of disciplinary hearings or more generally. You should ensure managers have the skills, confidence and support to handle these issues effectively. 

Our training

Our online Back-to-Basics training gives your line managers the tools they need to handle day-to-day challenges confidently. We have a number of modules - including how to handle investigations and disciplinary hearing. You can find out more about these in our brochure. Please speak to Gordon Rodham or Jenny Arrowsmith if you need more information. 

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