Scarborough teacher banned for submitting false marks and altering student's coursework

Rebecca Noble, 46. has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute by a National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) panel.

The allegations which the panel found to be proven relate to incidents when she was a science teacher at St Augustine’s Catholic secondary school in Scarborough. She has been banned from teaching indefinitely but can apply for the prohibition order to be set aside in three years time.

In a decision announced today the panel found that she had engaged in “maladministration of coursework” in 2008 and 2009 for missing moderator deadlines, for which she received warnings.

It also found that in 2015 she missed moderator deadlines, submitted false coursework marks and then altered the students’ coursework that she intended to submit the exam board OCR. The panel said that in doing so she acted dishonestly in that she “knowingly falsified students’ coursework.”

North Yorkshire County Council said that as soon as the school suspected that the teacher was engaged in the maladministration of coursework it took immediate action to investigate further and also contacted the exam board OCR.

She resigned before a disciplinary panel hearing and the school referred the case to the NCTL.

St Augustine’s head teacher Mark Taylor: “As soon as we had evidence to call this teacher’s trustworthiness into question, the school, with the support of the county council, took immediate action to investigate every aspect of this case. Throughout this whole process no child has been disadvantaged and parents have been kept informed throughout. The marks of students affected were adjusted by the exam board to reflect their true attainment in line with national performance standards. We expect nothing less than the highest professional standards from our teachers. We will not tolerate malpractice of any sort and certainly not in relation to coursework.”