An invigilator’s enthusiasm to help students during an exam backfired, as she was dismissed and the exam was cancelled.
The school had to take action to safeguard its reputation with overseas educational bodies
Teacher Katerina Skleranova was sacked after it was discovered she compromised the examination by helping the students and allowing them more time to complete the questions.
She appealed against the decision, claiming unfair dismissal by Verdala International School in Pembroke.
But the headmaster’s decision, taken following an exhaustive investigation, was upheld when the case reached an industrial tribunal as well a subsequent tribunal appeal board.
The students, who had to re-sit after the University of Cambridge exam in question was annulled because of the invigilator’s “gross misconduct”, confirmed she and her husband, who was also invigilating, had assisted the students.
The case concerned an International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) exam in Information Technology (IT) held by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), for which the school is a registered centre.
Initial suspicions arose soon after the first exam in April 2008, when there were complaints about suspected irregularities.
The headmaster investigated and Ms Skleranova assured him the exam had been run in accordance with the regulations.
However, at the end of August 2008, the school received notification from CIE that it was investigating a case of suspected malpractice in its IGCSE IT exam on April 18.
The investigation began because a number of students had “the same database summary report... (that) were all displayed in the same unusual way”.
The tribunal heard students Eliza Bakardjieva, Marielle Velander, Talina Dahling, Olga Sazhina and Luke Chetcuti confirm that Ms Skleranova and her husband had assisted them .
Only one student, Nico Abela, contradicted this version, insisting the teacher had not helped anyone. But Ms Skleranova admitted assisting the students, mostly by general hints, and said this was a mistake that would not be repeated.
Her husband, identified only as Mr Sklenar, also admitted assisting students, mostly by reminding them of menu options to be used and mouse-based operations.
Investigations by the CIE malpractice committee found “compelling evidence” that the malpractice was not limited to only four candidates but to all who sat for the exam at the centre.
It concluded that all the candidates were helped by the teacher and allowed more than the specified time to complete the exam.
She was dismissed in September 2008 for “misconduct that compromised the academic integrity of the school”.
The school argued it had to take action to safeguard its reputation with various educational bodies overseas to mitigate the risk of losing accreditation and registered centre status.
In its decision the tribunal, chaired by George Borg Cardona, said Ms Skleranova and her husband were “overzealous to help the students” and that their concerns “exceeded the limits of prudence”.
While ruling there was justification to terminate her employment, the tribunal noted that rules of procedure were broken to the detriment of the school’s reputation, although the errors committed were due to eagerness to help.
mxuereb@timesofmalta.com