by KIRSTY WALKER

Last updated at 08:39 21 April 2007

Schools are paying £200 to send teachers on courses where they learn how to help pupils cheat in exams and coursework, it was claimed yesterday.

Examiners were said to be doing a 'lucrative' trade in seminars where they give teachers tips on how to inflate their pupils' grades.

A-Level and GCSE examiners are charging teachers up to £200-a-time to show them how to be 'generous' in marking coursework without attracting the suspicion of exam watchdogs, it was claimed.

A new book, Education By Numbers: The Tyranny of Testing, says teachers are being given scripts of oral exams and a 'swag bag' of key phrases guaranteed to score higher points.

Other tips include making children

aware of typical questions and model answers, which they are urged to memorise months in advance of exams.

Youngsters are also advised that they don't need to master some of harder material.

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said the practice, which will fuel the debate on the pressures put on schools to meet Government targets, should be banned.

He said: "The gap between education and results is growing all the time. These examiners are, in my view unethically, contributing to that process.

"It needs to be controlled in the same way that drug-taking by athletes needs to be controlled. Just in the same way as drugs give a false impression of the capabilities of athletes, so does this kind of intensive preparation and teaching to the test give a false impression of abilities of children."

The book's author, education journalist Warwick Mansell, said he was allowed to attend two seminars held by French and history examiners, on condition their identities were not revealed. The seminars are among hundreds run by private firms and exam boards.

The French examiner told teachers to advise pupils on what to write in coursework and give them a store of key phrases to write in exercise books and transfer into coursework later.

The examiner - who described this as the 'Burglar Bill swag bag' - added: "If you do that, you are in with a shout. Children like this idea of stealing."

He urged teachers to be "realistically generous" in marking coursework so as not to attract the attention of moderators.

Teachers were also advised against teaching low-ability pupils much French grammar because it did not attract many marks at GCSE.

At the history seminar, the examiner told teachers not to bother aiming for the highest quality work because it was not necessary for achieving an A* grade.

"This is realpolitik, a question of ends justifying means," the examiners said. "The grade boundaries are lower than you might think."

Professor Smithers said the problem was state schools were held to account via exam results which dictated their league table positions.

A spokesman for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which regulates exams, said: "The awarding bodies have common rules that govern the outside activities of examiners that work for them.

"The awarding body would take action if any outside activities represented a breach of contract."