Father of boy, 17, stripped of Maths GCSE after cheating accusation tells LBC of his son's 'nightmare' ordeal
19 October 2023, 17:52
Tom Swarbrick speaks to student's father who was stripped of his Maths GSCE grade
The father of a GCSE pupil who was stripped of his maths result amid claims he cheated told LBC of the nightmare his son had to endure.
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Emil Bednarski, 17, was stripped of his Maths GCSE after finding a question online which later appeared in his exam.
Speaking to LBC, his dad Cezary recounted how representatives from Pearson questioned his son and asked to see his mobile phone with the headteacher present.
Emil complied and even showed the representatives his bank account to prove that he did not pay for someone to give him the question beforehand.
His father told LBC that he had found the question online by chance. The GCSE student was looking for practice questions online and found one he needed help with.
He brought his attempt at solving the question to his teacher to check his work. It turns out that question was on his GCSE Maths paper.
The school was obliged to inform the exam board, Pearson, which led to the questioning session.
Mr Bednarski told LBC that thousands of other students likely saw the question, but his son was being targeted just because he brought his revision work to his teacher.
He only found out he was stripped of his grade on results day over a month after taking the exam.
Mr Bednarski emphasised how the stress of the ordeal impacted the rest of his son’s exam results and future academic prospects. Without his maths GCSE, he couldn’t do the A-levels he wanted.
Emil plans to re-sit his exam.
A spokesperson for Pearson said it takes all malpractice allegations "very seriously."
The board had not found any evidence of a wider leak of questions online.
"All exam boards use analysis during and after marking to look for telltale signs of malpractice in exam papers - both at an individual and cohort level," she said.
"Our review found no evidence that would require an adjustment to the marking or grading of exams."
