Thousands of teachers are caught cheating

THOUSANDS of teachers have been caught cheating in school exams – but only a fraction faced tough sanctions, figures show.

Nearly 2,300 ‘malpractice’ offences by staff were committed in schools and colleges offering qualifications by the OCR exam board from 2012 to 2016.

More than half were cases of ‘improper assistance’ to pupils sitting tests, according to data revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.

But only 83 teachers were suspended from exam roles, while 113 were sent for training and there were 81 warnings.

Over the same period, there were 3,603 offences by pupils, often involving ‘unauthorised materials’, according to the Sunday Times. The figures come weeks after regulator Ofqual announced that coursework marks would no longer count towards GCSE computer science grades due to widespread cheating.

A spokesman for OCR said it took allegations of malpractice very seriously.