Writing on question paper
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Bexley Mum 2
- Posts: 851
- Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:55 pm
- Location: Bexley
Have just posted on the Bexley forum to say that advice from Bexley Council is writing on the question paper is NOT allowed.
I guess an invigilator will not necessarily notice if a child is doing this, or may notice and not care. The risk remains though that an over-zealous invigilator may tell a child not to do this. Some children won't mind - I can think of others who would be mortified at being "told off" in a hall full of other children and whose performance might suffer as a consequence.
I guess an invigilator will not necessarily notice if a child is doing this, or may notice and not care. The risk remains though that an over-zealous invigilator may tell a child not to do this. Some children won't mind - I can think of others who would be mortified at being "told off" in a hall full of other children and whose performance might suffer as a consequence.
The problem is not whether writing on the paper is, or is not, allowed. It is whether some children or allowed and whether some children are prohibited. Those children not allowed by the invigilators to write on the paper are then significantly disadvantaged compared to the others. I would suggest that a child who is not allowed to mark on the paper, and who fails by a few standardised marks, would otherwise have passed. Particularly as in the borderline area a few marks can affect significantly the standardised score.
...and mine
This is what I struggled with last year and at the time my son was getting borderline scores for the school we wanted. Thankfully come actual exam he breezed it. It is very unfair because the borderline children are the ones who will struggle to get in on appeal precisely because they are borderline. So in effect they do have the most to loose for doing the right thing so to speak.
The fact is if they know this rule is not being adhered to and they, rightly , have no intention of penalising any child who writes on the paper then let them all write on it. That is the only fair answer.
As you can see this issue really does rile me
This is what I struggled with last year and at the time my son was getting borderline scores for the school we wanted. Thankfully come actual exam he breezed it. It is very unfair because the borderline children are the ones who will struggle to get in on appeal precisely because they are borderline. So in effect they do have the most to loose for doing the right thing so to speak.
The fact is if they know this rule is not being adhered to and they, rightly , have no intention of penalising any child who writes on the paper then let them all write on it. That is the only fair answer.
As you can see this issue really does rile me
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Bexley Mum 2
- Posts: 851
- Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:55 pm
- Location: Bexley
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Bexley Mum 2
- Posts: 851
- Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:55 pm
- Location: Bexley
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Desperate Dan
- Posts: 58
- Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:14 pm
Following my enquiry I received this email from KCC.
"The reason we have always said that children shouldn't write on the question paper isn't actually so that we can use them again: it's partly because the administrative instructions issued by the test designers have always specified that children may do their working out on rough paper, and partly because every year, some children forget what they have been asked to do and start recording their answers on the question paper.
This is a problem, because - unlike the answersheets - the question papers don't have children's names on them and are destroyed in bulk as soon as they come back to us, so we ask invigilators to check that children are putting their answers on the answersheet, not the paper: otherwise, they may be lost completely.
Children have never been penalised for making a mark on the question paper, but they may be reminded by the invigilator to write on the answersheet, not the question paper.
As it happens, the test designers have, of their own accord, changed the administrative instructions printed on the question papers this year, so that they tell children they can "do rough workings on the question booklet". We didn't ask for this change (and weren't expecting it!) but at least it means everyone who takes the tests will be told the same thing.
Hope this helps".
"The reason we have always said that children shouldn't write on the question paper isn't actually so that we can use them again: it's partly because the administrative instructions issued by the test designers have always specified that children may do their working out on rough paper, and partly because every year, some children forget what they have been asked to do and start recording their answers on the question paper.
This is a problem, because - unlike the answersheets - the question papers don't have children's names on them and are destroyed in bulk as soon as they come back to us, so we ask invigilators to check that children are putting their answers on the answersheet, not the paper: otherwise, they may be lost completely.
Children have never been penalised for making a mark on the question paper, but they may be reminded by the invigilator to write on the answersheet, not the question paper.
As it happens, the test designers have, of their own accord, changed the administrative instructions printed on the question papers this year, so that they tell children they can "do rough workings on the question booklet". We didn't ask for this change (and weren't expecting it!) but at least it means everyone who takes the tests will be told the same thing.
Hope this helps".
