BRITAIN: British ministers ordered a review of GCSE coursework today amid warnings of cheating among parents, pupils and teachers.
The exams watchdog said some pupils admitted using friends' work as their own, while others tried to download essays from websites, an activity which could not be controlled.
Teachers sometimes gave their classes too much help, resulting in "coursework cloning", a major report from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) found. And one in 20 parents actually drafted some of their children's GCSE essays.
Education secretary Ruth Kelly demanded a crackdown on cheating and ordered the QCA to conduct an urgent review of coursework in every GCSE subject.
In a letter to QCA chief executive Ken Boston, Ms Kelly said: "I look to the QCA to ensure that where malpractice is discovered the appropriate sanctions are rigorously enforced. It is fundamental to your role as regulator to sustain public confidence in our national qualifications, including those containing coursework."
She stressed that coursework could be of great educational value and was often an important way of testing skills not easily tested by an exam.
Dr Boston warned of a new generation of risks associated with cheating through use of the internet. "In a very small proportion of cases, there is deliberate malpractice," he said. "The availability of the internet is a powerful aid to learning, but carries a new generation of risks of plagiarism."
The QCA report called for coursework markers to make more use of computer software to detect internet plagiarism.
More than nine out of 10 pupils interviewed for the QCA report said they had access to the internet at home. The report continued: "The internet has increased the potential for plagiarism. Coursework assignments are available on the internet at any level and in any subject.
"There are at least 10 popular websites producing coursework from GCSE to degree level. With so much work being completed outside school, the use of such sites cannot be controlled."
The guidelines to teachers were also "limited and open to interpretation", the report said.
Teachers often gave classes checklists, templates and "writing frames" to help pupils with their coursework.
The QCA report added: "This approach sometimes led to 'coursework cloning', with candidates fulfilling the minimum requirements and displaying little original work." - (PA)