Teacher banned for inflating pupils' grades
GoogleA secondary school teacher has been banned from teaching indefinitely for marking up students' grades.
Sunjit Kang, 40, who was the head of ICT and Business at The Grangefield Academy in Stockton-on-Tees, was found to have made a "concerted effort to falsify grades and examination performance" in about October 2023.
He graded work "significantly higher" than re-moderation marks, the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found.
It said that even if he had wanted to benefit students, his actions undermined the integrity of the assessment system, his motivation was "misguided" and he had tried to cover up his actions.
Kang, who worked at the academy from September 2022 to March 2024, was told he could apply to have the banning order set aside after three years.
In November 2023, a moderation team for the OCR exam board reported concerns about the authenticity of the work submitted on behalf of pupils, which prompted an investigation.
'Lack of remorse'
When Kang was questioned on the difference between his grades and those after re-moderation, he said he had used "best case scenario marks".
His were based on what a pupil might have achieved if they had attended additional sessions, Kang said.
However, the panel said: "This scenario was fanciful and it was inappropriate to apply it to assessed work.
"The disparities were also significant and outside any reasonable margin of error or appreciation."
The panel also found a number of examples where the name, and or signature of one candidate was present in the work of another.
Kang said this was an error, but the TRA concluded the pattern and its repetition was "entirely consistent with an attempt to provide evidence to support grades which had been inflated".
The TRA said Kang then attempted to conceal his actions by submitting authentication forms himself, instead of from pupils.
Kang said any errors were "administrative and non-deliberate", but the TRA found him to have been dishonest and that he lacked integrity.
He was not present for the panel's determination on 17 December.
Decision maker Marc Cavey said: "In my judgement, the lack of evidence that Mr Kang has developed insight into and remorse for his actions means that there is some risk of the repetition of this behaviour."
