Teacher helped pupils cheat their GCSEs by manipulating coursework to get them top grades

A teacher allowed his GCSE pupils to cheat their exams by telling them how to boost their coursework grades after coming under “significant pressure” from his bosses to deliver top marks.

Reahgan Quartermaine allowed his students at at Waingels College in Reading, Berkshire, to re-do their coursework after the deadline had passed.

A Teaching Regulatory Agency (TRA) panel found he gave them tips and advice on what they needed to do to increase their grades after the deadline, before submitting their final versions to the exam board.

The panel heard in 2023, between January 6 and 8, he helped under-performing students manipulate their work by providing templates, writing frames, checklists, specific feedback and access to the teaching materials.

The teaching watchdog also heard evidence that eight pupils were directly encouraged to amend their work by Mr Quartermaine and proceeded to do so.

One said: “He sent to the examiners I got a level 2 distinction which I clearly didn’t get and in two days I had to get my coursework up to that level before the coursework gets sent off.”

Another pupil said: “Before work was handed in Mr [Quartermaine] bumped marks for people up with only a few days to try and get that pass mark he had given us.”

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Mr Quartermaine told the panel that he had undertaken a “long period of soul-searching” and that he was ashamed and embarrassed by his actions that consume him with “sadness and regret” every day.

He escaped the sack after a disciplinary panel found that he was under “significant pressure” from the senior leadership team, which impacted his behaviour.

They found Mr Quartermaine had been set a target for these pupils to attain a level 2 qualification and throughout October 2022 to January 2023 his “desire and ultimate goal” was to get the best results for these pupils.

“In light of the above, the panel was satisfied on the balance of probabilities, that it was not Mr Quartermaine’s intention to deceive or to be dishonest as he did not appreciate or understand that he was providing prohibited levels of assistance when supplying the students with the information.”

Mr Quatermaine now works as a head of PE at another school.

Geraldine Baird, the chairperson for the TRA panel said he should have taken a “greater responsibility for his own professional development” and studied the module's specification more closely.

Ms Baird said: “The panel also took account of the uniquely influential role that teachers can hold in pupils' lives and the fact that pupils must be able to view teachers as role models in the way that they behave.

“Although Mr Quartermaine's behaviour was enormously disruptive to the School, the pupils and the parents, this was an isolated incident that was limited to a short space of time.”