In association with
Broadcasting Flevoland
NOS News•today, 12:34
A teacher at a secondary school in Almere who was accused of secretly correcting a student’s exam should not have been summarily dismissed. The court has determined that.
The case at the Baken Park Lyceum took place in June. During the pre-vocational secondary education exam in Physics and Chemistry, a student had written a plus instead of an arrow next to a chemical formula. The teacher who marked it then added that arrow himself in pencil before the exam went to the second corrector.
She said she deliberately used her marking pencil, so that it was clear to the second corrector that she had made the addition. Her intention was to determine the final score in consultation with the second corrector.
Inspection
However, the second corrector regarded it as a sneaky improvement and informed the examination committee. The Education Inspectorate was subsequently also involved. It concluded that there was an “irregularity”. The woman was summarily dismissed by the school.
The woman then went to court. It now judges that the school has not provided clear marking instructions to teachers. According to national rules, writing on submitted exams is not allowed, but the correction instructions for the exam in question stated that this was allowed.
Formula was correct
According to the judge, it has not been established that the student could have achieved a higher grade due to the extra arrow. The arrow was already mentioned in the question accompanying the assignment. The student got the answer to the formula correct, he just forgot to copy the arrow.
The judge believes that the school dismissed the woman too quickly. No conversation took place with either corrector and the woman was not given the opportunity to explain why she had added the arrow.
The teacher told Omroep Flevoland that she mainly sees the judge’s ruling as “reparation”. The woman now has a new job.
