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Postgraduate Diploma A Code of Ethics for Polish Examiners | |||||
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This article is based on the diploma work of Aleksandra Bartmańska who works for the Okręgowa Komisja Egzaminacyjna (OKE) in Jaworzno, and submitted in 2003 for the Studium Podyplomowe Kształcenia i Doskonalenia Nauczycieli Języka Angielskiego. For more about the Studium Podyplomowe - see Postgraduate diploma projects and the approach to culture in language teaching taken there - see The Methodology of British Studies on the Postgraduate Diploma Programme.
Outline Exams are always a controversial issue and although the focus is often on the students here the discussion concerns the role of the examiner. If examiners do not conform to a code how can students be expected to do the same? The author in her work for the Okręgowa Komisja Egzaminacyjna (OKE) in Jaworzno is familiar with all aspects of the problem. She examines the present situation (supported by an extensive questionnaire survey), discusses some of the cultural background and issues involved, takes a look at British and Irish models and then presents a finalised code of ethics.
The code was presented at the 9th Polish Conference of Educational Diagnosis at the University of Łódź in Sept 2003. It has also been presented at the Centralna Komisja Egzaminacyjna in Warsaw and now forms a part of the training of examiners in the Katowice region and work continues on its development. If you would like to make any comments - contact the author Aleksandra Bartmańska at matura@oke.jaw.pl
Up to 1999 an examiner in Poland meant exactly the same as a teacher, because exactly the same people performed the two tasks. A common picture of an examiner in Poland, like the picture of a teacher, has been rather depressing. Undervalued, underpaid, not well educated, lazy at school but working hard overtime at private lessons, and with no fixed criteria of assessment. In order to verify this picture the author turned to some more reliable sources of information including OBOP and CBOS (Polish Centres of Statistical Research). The picture presented there was much more positive than expected. According to CBOS teachers are considered to be reliable and honest workers (3.44 on a 5 point scale), although most respondents wrote that teachers are ‘averagely reliable’ and ‘averagely honest’ (the research was done in March, 1999). The social prestige of the profession is quite high and this is connected in fact with the low wages and difficult conditions of work. Since 1997 the prestige of the job has lowered a little. Public opinion considers that teachers should be paid according to their qualifications and the quality of their work Most teachers (78.6%) have high qualifications (university degree), teach for about 22 ‘hours’ a week and 76.9% teach one subject only. The average age of a Polish teacher is between 35 and 45 years of age. Teachers themselves consider their financial status to be average (neither good nor bad) and 50% of them are highly satisfied with their jobs. When they compare their profession with others they think that they earn less money, they are less respected and, that although they feel they are more useful in society, they think they have worse opportunities for promotion, worse conditions of work and more responsibilities than other jobs. To complete this picture of a Polish teacher/examiner unfortunately some more statistics should be mentioned, namely those supplied by CBOS (CBOS Bulletin, June 1997) and quoted by Ms Łybacka, Minister of Education and Sport at a conference ‘Examination as an Honesty Test’ (Warsaw MENiS, 26.06.02): The respondents are least opposed to cheating at school-leaving exams (in Polish: sprawdzian, egzamin gimnazjalny and matura) - a little more than one in two (52%) see nothing wrong with it, but only just over one in four (28%) disapprove. Young people and the youngest respondents - not surprisingly - consent to this form of behaviour the most. The CBOS research was entitled ‘You are not allowed but you may’ and it presents a deeply depressing picture of Polish morals. In order to become a Polish examiner, teachers are supposed to have the appropriate qualifications to teach a given subject, and to have had three years experience (in the last six) in teaching it. The author of the project is of the opinion that nothing but clear, highly demanding and transparent rules can change this negative picture and help us improve the picture of a Polish examiner in the eyes of other countries. The code of ethics for examiners is intended to promote this ambitious task. In an article entitled ‘Developing Cultural Understanding’ the authors, Matihainen and Duffy (2000) define in general terms what a culture is: “A culture is a group of people who share a background because of their common language, knowledge, beliefs, views, values and behaviours. Culture often results in hidden patterns of communication, viewpoints, and expressions that people in that specific culture share”. The contemporary world has created various situations in which we are forced to communicate, which means we must develop grounds for mutual understanding. Communication between countries is possible only when we are aware of the differences and similarities between cultures. As Tavares and Cavalcanti (1996) wrote “(...) the development of people’s cultural awareness leads us to more critical thinking as citizens with political and social understanding of our own and other communities”. In this project the author looks critically at Polish culture in the field of examinations and tries to analyse the reasons for negative behaviour of examiners as well as to find some ways of improvement. It
is an admitted fact that people in Poland ‘cheat’ rather frequently and with regard to corruption was 45th
out of 102 countries (rank one is
the least corrupt) - see Corruption
Perception Index for some
details of the table. In order to understand this fact the author tried to
discover why cheating is often tolerated and accepted.
There is a deeply grounded conviction among Polish people that our problems with honesty and cheating are of historical origin. One source of this behaviour might be seen, as presented by a Polish cultural sociologist Żygulski (1975: 221), in Catholic patterns of upbringing. By suggesting a disregard for all earthly property it has not promoted order in social life nor care for one’s rights, as opposed to the Protestant belief that individual development and care for earthly property is a way of promoting one’s future salvation.
As far as more contemporary opinions on the subject are concerned a
Polish Code of Ethics in information technology (Dyżewski 2000) might
serve as an example. The authors of this code briefly presented in the preamble
their views on observing rules of ethics which in their opinion is determined
by the wealth of a society. The political and economic changes, which have occurred
in Poland since 1989 may
certainly serve as a visible sign of this phenomenon. Before the
transformations an average salary in Poland was an equivalent of about $20. This fact must have influenced
people’s behaviour and observing ethical rules was considered to be heroic. The
rise of salaries after 1989 created a new phenomenon which has been analysed by
sociologists - namely that new temptations have been created for getting rich
quickly and dishonestly by means of breaking professional ethical codes, and
this has become difficult to control. Answering difficult questions concerning ethics was one way of
understanding the self-stereotypes existing in Polish culture. For, quoting
William Shakespeare, Beth Edginton said in her lecture (1996) ‘the beauty
lies in the eyes of the beholder’, meaning that the way we perceive
ourselves determines the way we view other nations. An understanding of people
in Poland was crucial for the
next task, namely the finding of a model in a different culture which could be
followed in creating a code of ethics. Taking into account the fact that the United
Kingdom as well as the Republic of Ireland have
had about 100 years of an established (and more or less stable) system of
examinations it could serve as a required model. By studying documents obtained
from different sources, the author intended to study such culture in the field
of examinations and hoped to find reasons why they have been more successful in
providing reliable results in exams and creating a positive picture of an
examiner. It should also become evident how they have managed to do it. Making use of the opportunities which arose at various conferences
and meetings with examiners, teachers, and professionals involved in education
such as teacher advisers and teacher trainers, it was always possible to get a
chance to talk about exam ethics. I managed to come into contact with
representatives of different examination boards like CAE in Ireland, AQA in the UK and NAES in Romania. They were very helpful in sending
me information about the examination systems in their countries. And last but
not least I tried to make use of the internet as a source of information, and
this supplied me with all kinds of information on ethical problems concerning
schools, teachers, students and examiners. The following documents helped the author analyse the work of an
examiner in the United Kingdom
and in Ireland: §
Information for
Teachers (1995) Scottish Examinations Board §
GCE A & AS Code of
Practice (1997) Curriculum and Assessment Authority
for Wales §
Materials from AEB (1997) Associated Examining Board §
GCSE, GCSE in vocational subjects, GCE,
VCE and GNVQ code of practice 2002/3
(2002) Qualifications - Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales §
Instructions to
examiners (2002) Department of Education and
Science Examination Branch, Athlone, Ireland §
Guidelines for dealing
with instances of academic misconduct, malpractice and maladministration in OCR
externally examined qualifications (2002) OCR §
AQA information for applicants (examiners,
moderators, advisers) (2003) AQA Analysis of these documents made it possible to form the following
picture of an examiner and his/her obligations connected with examination
boards, examinees, etc. General §
He/she must get acquainted with instructions for
an examiner before signing a contract. The instructions are in a very detailed
brochure which contains information about every step that an examiner is
supposed to take (about 36 pages A4) §
He/she treats his work and all information
connected with examinations, scripts and students as confidential Procedures §
He/she has to attend marking conferences
(standardisation meetings) §
His/her marking of scripts is carried out in
accordance with the directions and instructions of the examination board §
His/her work starts at the end of school year
and it lasts for about 26 days. S/He receives about 300 scripts to mark §
He/she marks students’ scripts at home §
He/she receives very detailed written marking
instructions which promotes a positive attitude to marking scripts, flexibility
and an understanding of a students’ way of thinking §
He/she is expected to return scripts arranged in
a specified order §
He/she is supposed to write a report of his/her
work in which must include information about very good answers, very bad ones,
common mistakes, etc Organisation §
An examiner co-operates with more senior
examiners and chief examiners. This structure ensures that the scripts are
marked accurately and maintains uniform standards §
All other participants of the examination system
receive similar information booklets containing necessary procedures concerning
their work Ethical considerations §
There are ways of punishment (high fines)
included in examination procedures in case an examiner does not comply with the
regulations §
Procedures are so detailed that the examiners’
work is double-checked which makes examiner cheating almost impossible §
In school regulations from different school
types, from primary school to university, there is a part devoted to honesty,
and ways of punishing students who have been caught cheating. The regulations
seem to be more sophisticated at every school stage §
There is no code of ethics for examiners Out of 100 questionnaires distributed at
different conferences 62 were returned to the author. The group that took part
in the research consisted mostly of teachers who were trained examiners (93%)
and they were eager to co-operate and discuss the problems presented in the
questionnaire. They had different teaching experiences, but in most cases (36%)
they had had a very long teaching career from 21-25 years. The other two groups
(21%) had either from 6-10 or from 11-15 years of teaching experience. Most of
the participants (93%) had a university degree. The majority (76%) of them
taught at Liceum Ogólnokształcące and almost 66% of them had
participated in external or internal examinations (32%). The first part of the questionnaire concentrated on the
necessity of writing a code of ethics for Polish examiners and its content. 84%
wanted the code and they gave a lot of important and interesting reasons e.g. ·
‘if you don’t
speak about it and it has not been expressed in some way, then it is not
obligatory’ ·
‘there should be
some written document with regard to appropriate behaviour’ Some others were more specific: ·
‘to stress the
personal qualities of an examiner’ ·
‘to make parents
and students realise that examiners are objective, competent and honest’ ·
‘examiners must
fulfil their responsibilities and be accountable’ Other arguments were ·
‘because of the
unethical behaviour of teachers and students who cheated’ ·
‘as a warning against
temptation’ For a complete summary - see Questionnaire results. The second question dealt with the content of the code of
ethics. Respondents suggested it should include norms of what is and what is
not allowed, what attitude an examiner should present, the professionalism of
an examiner, appropriate behaviour, discipline, the qualities of an examiner
and examiner’s rights. One person even outlined the structure of the code which
should include: a preamble about a system of values, what an examiner
is and is not allowed to do, and what to do in problem situations. As far
as unethical behaviour is concerned, from the third question, the
teachers made a very long list. There were some who did not see any necessity
in creating a code of ethics but even they enumerated examples of unethical
behaviour. Aspects most often mentioned were not treating their work as
confidential e.g. asking other examiners about students’ scripts, revealing
results, decoding scripts or influencing other examiners. Other types of
unethical behaviour were corruption, cheating (either as invigilators or
examiners) and unreliability concerning script marking (not respecting the
marking scheme, being biased in assessment, carelessness in marking and
inaccuracy). The fourth
part of the questionnaire was connected with the personal and professional
qualities that an examiner should have. Many respondents mentioned
professionalism, being objective, reliability, experience, precision, kindness
and patience among many other qualities. The
author also wanted to know in the fifth question what the teachers thought
were the duties of an examiner with regard to candidates, the examination board
and other examiners. Objective and reliable assessment were most important with
regard to students. Marking scripts on time and professional performance of
examiners’ duties were most important with regard to the examination board.
Co-operation, helping others and exchange of experience played the most
important part with regard to other examiners. Finally
comments were given on examiners’ behaviour during the Matura exam in May 2002 The following
conclusions were drawn: §
In order to provide reliable results, clear and
detailed rules must be developed with full documentation §
Transparency in the system with clear rules
promotes honesty and allows public inspection §
A code of practice could be created for every
stage and participant in the exams, taking into account Polish conditions, by
developing the examination procedures which already exist §
A code of ethics should be created as a
culture-forming tool for the profession in order to form a clear basis for the
work of an examiner. It would be highly beneficial in Poland to change the negative (historically grounded) habit of dishonest
behaviour at exams. §
On the basis of such a code cases would not be
won in court but the number of dishonest examiners could be narrowed down. What
is more, others will realise what the examiner’s aims are and in this way,
hopefully, corruption will be more difficult. A draft of the
code was written and shown to a group of examiners in the Regional Examination
Board (Okręgowa Komisja Egzaminacyjna) in Jaworzno who were to express
their opinions. The outcome of the discussion, ‘An Examiner’s Code of Ethics’,
became a concise and logical list of rules as seen by people who have to care
about the professional level of examiners’ work. The importance of rules was
taken into consideration and some rules were generalised to make them fit the
work of other examiners, not only those who are connected with regional
examination boards. The external
examinations introduced in Poland in 1999 (administered for the first time in 2002) are important for
students but not only. They also exert a powerful influence upon methods of
teaching as well as school administration, and the behaviour of policy makers
guiding the various institutions connected with education. The student,
together with an examiner, stands in the centre of the system, with the
examiner’s role of equal importance as a tool of the system. An examiner’s task is to
assess the knowledge and skills of a student. His/her assessment may decide
someone’s future life and career, and that is why the social expectations of an
examiner are very high. He/she should be an experienced, professional teacher who
is expected to be objective, responsible, neutral, discrete, patient, respectful
to examinees, kind, self-controlled and conscientious. The following code of
ethics is an expression of this high social demand. 1.
An examiner ought to do his/her duties
respecting the principle of ‘Truth’ 2.
An examiner ought to develop his/her
professional skills constantly and systematically 3.
Examiners must assess students’ papers honestly
and with commitment 4.
An examiner ought to use marking criteria
objectively 5.
An examiner does not assess students’ views 6.
An examiner is obliged to keep all professional
matters connected with a given examination session confidential 7.
An examiner tries to achieve high standards in
his/her work 8.
An examiner does not use his/her professional
position to derive illegal financial benefit Undesirable examiner behaviour This code is a proposal which is going to be presented to different
groups of people and institutions connected with examinations. The text
presented is going to be sent to different examination boards (AQA, CITO,
Irish examination Board etc) for the opinions of a group of experienced
experts. It has been presented in Polish at ‘9th Polish Conference
of Educational Diagnosis’ in Łódź September 2003 and at the Centralna
Komisja Egzaminacyjna in Warsaw (CKE - Central Examination Board) as well as to at teachers’
meetings in Katowice, Bielsko-Biała and Częstochowa. The new
system of examinations in Poland has already introduced a great change in examination culture.
Assessment has become more transparent which makes it possible to control the
system publicly. Examiners cannot mark their own students’ scripts. This helps
them to be objective because they are not involved emotionally. A code of
ethics is an additional element which will hopefully unite a specific group of
professionals. The introduction of the new examination system in Poland may be seen as a new element in
Polish culture. It was an important impulse to change the system from within
with regard not only to the organisation of exams but also in terms of
methodology and will have consequences on a teacher’s professional life. That
may mean a very important cultural change. AQA 2003 Information for
applicants (examiners, moderators, advisers) www.aqa.org.uk Association for Computing Machinery 1992 ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct www.acm.org/constitution/code.html
Associated Examining Board
1997 Materials taken from the SMART programme CKE
2000 Materiały szkoleniowe dla kandydatów na egzaminatorów, Warszawa Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales 1997 GCE
A & AS Code of Practice Department of Education and Science, Examination Branch 2002 Instructions to examiners Athlone: Examination
Branch Dyżewski
A 2000 Kodeksy etyczne w Informatyce - komentarz Edginton, Beth 1996 A
Cross-Cultural Approach to British Studies - Keynote Paper from Jastrzębie,
British Council Website http://elt.britcoun.org.pl OCR 2002 Guidelines for dealing with instances of academic
misconduct, malpractice and maladministration in OCR externally examined
qualifications
MacDonald Ch 2002 Guidance
for Writing a Code of Ethics www.ethicsweb.ca/codes/coe3.htm Maitikainen T & Duffy C
2000 ‘Developing Cultural Understanding’ English Teaching Forum, Vol.
38/No 3 National Association of Educational Buyers 2002 www.naeb.org/code.htm NCME
Ad Hoc Committee on the Development of a Code of Ethics 1995 Code of professional responsibility in educational
measurement Qualifications - Curriculum and Assessment Authority for
Wales 2002 GCSE, GCSE in vocational
subjects, GCE, VCE and GNVQ code of practice 2002/3 London: QCAA Scollon R & Scollon S 1995 Intercultural Communication: a discourse approach Blackwell Scottish Examinations Board
1995 Information for Teachers Materials taken from SMART Programme Tavares R & Cavalcanti I
1996 Developing Cultural Awareness in EFL Classrooms English Teaching Forum,
Vol. 34/No 3-4 Zasady
etyki nauczycielskiej 2002 http://serw.ko.rzeszow.pl/teksty/wychowanie/kodeks.html www.eurydice.org/Eurybase/Application/frameset.asp?country=PL&language=EN Żygulski, Kazimierz 1975 Wartości i wzory kultury
Warszawa: Instytut Wydawniczy CRZZ Kodeks etyki egzaminatora (final version of the Code of Ethics in Polish) Preambuła System
egzaminów zewnętrznych, wprowadzony w Polsce w 1999 roku, wywiera przemożny
wpływ nie tylko na uczniów, ale również i nauczycieli, administratorów szkoły
oraz na tych, którzy decydują o polityce edukacyjnej. Uczeń wraz z
egzaminatorem znajdują się w centrum tego systemu. Rola egzaminatora jako siły
wykonawczej systemu jest więc ogromnie ważna. Zadaniem egzaminatora
jest ocena wiadomości i umiejętności ucznia. Podjęta decyzja o wyniku zdającego
wpływa na jego rozwój osobisty, w tym także na dalsze kształcenie i przyszłą
karierę zawodową. Dlatego też oczekiwania społeczne wobec egzaminatora są
niesłychanie wysokie. Powinien być doświadczonym nauczycielem, który jest
profesjonalny, obiektywny, odpowiedzialny, neutralny, dyskretny, cierpliwy,
pełen szacunku wobec egzaminowanych, uprzejmy, opanowany i sumienny. Poniższy kodeks etyczny
egzaminatora stara się na owe oczekiwania odpowiedzieć 1.
Egzaminator powinien wykonywać swoje obowiązki przestrzegając zasady
szacunku dla prawdy 2.
Egzaminator systematycznie rozwija swoje umiejętności zawodowe 3.
Egzaminator ocenia zdających uczciwie i z zaangażowaniem 4.
Powinnością egzaminatora jest stosowanie przyjętych kryteriów oceniania
w sposób obiektywny 5.
Egzaminator nie ocenia poglądów zdającego 6.
Egzaminator zobowiązany jest do zachowania w tajemnicy wszystkich spraw
związanych z sesją egzaminacyjną 7.
Egzaminator zawsze stara się o osiągnięcie jak najwyższych standardów
merytorycznych i organizacyjnych pracy 8.
Egzaminator nigdy nie wykorzystuje swojej funkcji dla osiągnięcia nielegalnych
korzyści materialnych Powinności
egzaminatora wynikające z obowiązków zawodowych 1.
Egzaminator powinien nieustannie zabiegać o pogłębianie swoich
umiejętności zawodowych poprzez udział w szkoleniach i konferencjach
przedmiotowych 2.
Egzaminator nie przekracza swoich kompetencji zawodowych 3.
Egzaminator szanuje kompetencje zawodowe innych 4.
Egzaminator nie akceptuje warunków pracy, które utrudniają lub
uniemożliwiają rzetelne wykonanie obowiązków Powinności
względem organizatora egzaminu 1.
Egzaminator współpracuje w pełnym zakresie z organizatorem egzaminu 2.
Egzaminator bezwzględnie przestrzega zasad określonych w procedurach
egzaminacyjnych 3.
Egzaminator uczestniczy we wszystkich spotkaniach egzaminatorów w danej
sesji 4.
Egzaminator uczciwie informuje o wszystkich nieprawidłowościach
zaistniałych w czasie egzaminu oraz w trakcie oceniania 5.
Egzaminator kieruje się zasadą lojalności wobec organizatora egzaminu Powinności
względem innych egzaminatorów 1.
Współpraca między egzaminatorami odbywa się na zasadach koleżeńskich z
pełnym poszanowaniem opinii innych egzaminatorów 2.
Egzaminator otwarcie dzieli się swoimi wątpliwościami dotyczącymi prac
egzaminacyjnych 3.
Egzaminator konsultuje prace kontrowersyjne z innymi egzaminatorami lub
swoim przełożonym (organizator egzaminu) 4.
Egzaminator dzieli się swoimi doświadczeniami zawodowymi Naganne
zachowania egzaminatora §
faworyzowanie niektórych zdających §
przekupstwo §
nierzetelna ocena §
stronniczość §
tolerowanie nagannych zachowań §
podpowiadanie zdającym §
przeszkadzanie zdającym §
zaniedbywanie swoich obowiązków §
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