From the BBC:

Parents and teachers are to get clearer guidance on helping pupils with their coursework, in a bid to curb cheating.

…some parents draft work, some teachers help so much it results in “cloning”, and downloading essays from the internet “cannot be controlled”.

With the way the government and exam boards behave with respect to education and exam marking I think it’s a bit rich for anybody to finger-point at teachers and parents who help the pupils produce better quality work. We more or less know the system is being tweaked in order to meet government targets so why would teachers, parents and so on resist the urge to help out a bit with coursework?

The problem with this, of course, is that in cases where a pupil’s coursework really the result of parental assistance, teacher guidance and downloaded essays from the internet the result can, potentially, be a large and unrealistic swing in their exam result:

Coursework is marked internally within schools, while exam boards call in samples of the work for external checks, known as “moderation”.

At GCSE level, it varies from 20% of the overall qualification in double science, maths and religious studies, to 60% in art and design and design and technology.

At A-level it can be from nothing to 30%, or 60% in the case of art and design.

In some cases so much was given in the form of writing frames, templates and checklists the report said it amounted to “coursework cloning” with little original work.

Coursework actually started with the Conservatives in 1988 when GCSEs were first introduced but its value is not universally accepted, it seems:

Teachers varied in the value they put on coursework.

Almost all the history teachers surveyed felt it was an important, integral part of the course.

In contrast, 66% of maths teachers indicated it was sometimes problematic.

Science teachers regarded coursework as “jumping through hoops” to maximise marks and “a poor educational tool”.

In reality the skills taught by doing coursework - projects and the suchlike - are not essential skills and, where needed in later life, can be more readily picked up if a person already has a decent grasp of the underlying information required. For as long as ministers, exam boards, teachers, pupils and parents are looking for ways to buck the system we can be reasonably sure the system cannot be trusted. Labour’s command from the centre and obsession with setting - and then meeting - targets has moved us away from learning and towards fulfilling political aims. Once again, the poorer children bear the brunt of this manipulation.