Teacher gave pupils test answers

A teacher who cheated for students by filling in test papers taught for two years before he was caught.

Paul Young taught woodwork at Auckland's Aorere College between December 2003 and late 2005, when other staff noticed that almost all his students passed assessments.

A board of trustees investigation found that Young had:

* ignored Qualifications Authority (NZQA) marking criteria in favour of "personal judgment";

* given students questions and answers before assessments;

* left questions and answers on the blackboard until the day of a test;

* given students filled-in test papers to study "until they felt ready" to sit the test later in that same period;

* filled in a blank exam paper to replace "lost" student work;

* not supervised assessments adequately;

* failed to keep adequate records.

When teachers handed in examples of their marking to be sent to NZQA for checking, staff discovered Young's students' papers had been filled out in two styles of handwriting.

Principal Mike Williams said once the "irregularities" were picked up, the case was "pretty much a slam dunk".

Young was suspended, and later told the Employment Relations Authority he was "puzzled" about why he was sacked. "He could not see that his conduct was problematic," authority member Dzintra King said.

The case has highlighted a loophole in the NZQA moderation system exposed by the Herald on Sunday in June, when an investigation revealed that last year just 3.2 per cent of teachers' internal assessment marking was checked. Even when discrepancies were found, no marks were changed.

NZQA chief executive Karen Poutasi said the irregularity did not occur until last November, when the school immediately identified it.

"NZQA has confidence in the professionalism of the vast majority of teachers - the actions of one teacher cannot, and should not, be taken as evidence of a failure of the internal assessment or moderation systems."

The authority found out about the irregularities only after being contacted by the school.

"We were suspicious that the marks were too good," Williams said. "It was picked up because of our internal processes. Those same processes weren't there the previous year."

Woodwork was almost entirely internally assessed at Aorere College, meaning Young's marking could have skewed results of two years' worth of students.

Young told the ERA he should be paid lost wages and compensation, as well as being reinstated.

He lost his case last week.

Young told the authority he had been bullied by principal Mike Williams and had been "puzzled for months as to the real reasons for my dismissal".

"There is nothing wrong to tell students answers before the test," he told ERA member Dzintra King during the hearing.

King said Young did not appear to understand the difference between revision and handing out answers.

She concluded that Young had been justifiably dismissed.