College lecturer Zoe Griffith dishonest over grades, hearing told

A lecturer who gave students grades without fully assessing their work has been banned from the profession.

Zoe Griffith, who taught business at Coleg Cambria in Northop, Flintshire, had acted dishonestly, the Education Workforce Council panel ruled.

She resigned in August 2021 after a verifying company which monitored exam grading standards sought more details.

Ms Griffith did not attend the hearing but had denied the basic allegations the panel heard.

She also denied her actions amounted to gross misconduct.

Ms Griffith had worked at the Northop-based college in various roles since 2002 and taught business to BTEC level from 2019.

Concern about her work was first raised in March 2021 when the verifying company Pearsons sought more details of her grading work.

Ms Griffith failed to provide all the necessary paperwork and evidence of marking when the college looked into the matter the hearing was told.

One learner had been given a merit and another distinction and, after the students had been asked about their assignments, Ms Griffith went off sick.

In finding the allegations proved, the committee said in knowingly allowing grades to be recorded when they were not based on completed and assessed work, she was "dishonest when applying the standards of ordinary decent people".

"As an education professional she was required to maintain high professional and ethical standards," it said.

"In particular, there is an expectation that registrants must strive to ensure the integrity of the assessment process."

Ms Griffith, said the panel, "failed to conduct herself in a trustworthy manner and behaved in a way that lacked integrity and was dishonest".

"The committee concluded that the conduct found proved is fundamentally incompatible with Ms Griffith continuing to be a registered person," it said.

No disciplinary action was taken as she resigned before allegations were fully investigated.

The committee said her previous good record was taken into account but as she put her own interest before that of the students' and had not shown insight into the serious implications of her actions a prohibition order was the only appropriate sanction.