By Gavin Mackintosh-
A headteacher found guilty of misconduct over cheating in SATs tests has been allowed to teach again after the Teaching Regulation Agency overturned its own decision to ban him.
Malcolm Drakes, (pictured)former executive headteacher of Mead Primary School and Broadford Primary School in Romford, east London, was struck off in November 2022 following a misconduct hearing into proven allegations he helped pupils cheat in the award winning primary school end of year exams.
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Joanne Stanley, the assistant head at the school, also faced a misconduct hearing. The panel were told that she felt pressure to follow Mr Drakes lead and mirrored how he was acting, but she escaped a ban.
The school, which is amongst the ebst primary schools in the country did exceptionally well in those Sats test, but alarm was raised by other staff about the extent of cheating which occurred during the tests, assisted by a headteacher who was supposed to be setting examples.
The panel decided not to ban Mrs Stanley from teaching as it would not be in the public interest.
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The revelation of the cheating has sparked suspicion by analysts and many in the education sector that similar level of cheating is rampant in primary schools, given the fact his case is not an isolated one. Cheating conducted in schools is believed to serve the purpose of protecting the reputation of the school in relation to the comparative assessment of grades nation wide.
Teachers accused of misconduct are now waiting more than two years on average for their cases to conclude after waiting times for staff facing hearings worsened for a third year running.
The TRA convened at a second hearing after the High Court ruled the misconduct panel had “wrongly stated” there was “no material before them” regarding how Drakes would act differently in the future.
In a decision published today, the TRA overturned its own decision – saying Drakes’ “exceptional contribution to teaching and education” meant the ban was not appropriate.
However the findings that his actions were “misconduct of a serious nature” were upheld.
Drakes was shown to have “excessively” assisted pupils and “indicated” whether their answers were right during a spelling, punctuation and grammar test in May 2018.
It was alleged that Mr Malcolm Drakes was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct
and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, in that whilst employed as
executive headteacher at Broadford Primary School (The Learning Federation) during
academic year 2017/2018
With respect of the Key Stage 2 assessments, related to English, Grammar and Punctuation tests, he assisted pupils in a test expected to be done independently by pupils.
Mr Drakes accepted that his conduct was dishonest and amounted to unacceptable professional
conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
This included over pronouncing words, such as stating ‘arc-i-tect’ for architect and ‘d-e-send-dant’ for descendant to help pupils spell, and stating that a pupil needed to leave space between words in an answer.
In the same month, he also “excessively assisted” pupils during a key stage 2 maths test. In both tests, he allowed other staff members to excessively assist pupils.
The exams were annulled by the Standards Testing Agency (STA) following a whistleblowing complaint from a staff member, including a video taken during one of the assessments.
Drakes stepped down from the role in December 2018 by “mutual agreement”. In the intervening years before the first hearing, he worked as an associate principal at an “underperforming academy”, as well in a leadership consultant role at Harris Federation.
Last November, Drakes accepted his actions were “dishonest and lacked integrity” and amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
Former colleagues at Broadford Primary School were among those to offer references to the TRA
The panel’s recommendation of a prohibition order was then accepted by the secretary of state.
Drakes appealed to the High Court, which ruled a different professional conduct panel should make a fresh decision on whether he should be banned.
At a fresh hearing in August, the panel upheld the allegations against Drakes but “was satisfied” that mitigating circumstances led to his “dishonesty”.
In evidence to the panel, the former headteacher said he had supported vulnerable pupils who “threatened” to leave the school site, which would pose a “significant safeguarding risk” on the day of the spelling test.
The panel was offered numerous references to his “exceptional contribution” to teaching from referees who were aware of the allegations against him.
These include from staff at Harris Federation, an employee at Academies Enterprise Trust who had been a moderator when Drakes oversaw SATs at two other schools in 2019, as well as former Broadford staff.
In its resulting judgment, the panel found Drakes to have “demonstrated significant remorse” having seen the impact of his actions on former pupils and staff.
It added that he “affirmed” his dedication to the profession in voluntarily supporting disadvantaged pupils with UCAS statements and mentoring school leaders while banned from teaching.
At the time of the cheating, his “career had been one of interrupted success with national recognition and acclaim.
Drakes “admitted he had developed a persona that may have made it difficult for others to challenge him.
“He now has a very real sense that he is someone who could make a mistake, and that just because he has a certain belief, that does not mean he is always right, or that others should share that belief.”
There was also a “strong public interest consideration” in retaining hi
m in the profession “since he is able to make a valuable contribution”, the panel stated.
David Oatley, acting on behalf of the secretary of state, agreed with its recommendation that a prohibition order was not appropriate.
Andrew Faux, who represented Drakes, said the case had been “torturously slow. It was enormously disappointing when he was prohibited last year and immediately clear that the committee’s approach was flawed”.
Banning Drakes “would have deprived the public of the services of this exceptional educator”, he added.
The TRA was contacted for comment
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