Ofqual: more teachers 'helping pupils cheat in exams' It also emerged that 2,590 individual students were reprimanded for issues such as smuggling mobile phones into the exams hall, copying from other pupils and defacing their test paper. The disclosure follows warnings by teachers" leaders that staff are increasingly being forced to cheat the exams system by inflating pupils" results to hit "unrealistic" targets. A survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers last year found that more than a third of teachers admitted using tactics that could undermine their "integrity." Today's figures cover GCSE and A-level exams sat this summer. Ofqual said there was a 62 per cent rise in penalties given to school and college staff for malpractice, with 97 cases being logged, up from 60 in 2012. A report by the exams watchdog said: "Most of these penalties were issued as a result of school or college staff giving inappropriate assistance to candidates. The second most common cause for issuing a penalty was for other reasons, such as entering the exam room to coach or prompt candidates, and allowing candidates to continue working for an extended period after the official finishing time. The most common penalty imposed on teachers was written warning. In 23 cases, staff were suspended from involvement in exams, while a further 23 had "special conditions" attached to their future career. Ofqual's figures show that 135 penalties were handed to schools and colleges - up from 130 last year - and the highest number since the current recording system for malpractice was introduced in 2009. In the vast majority of circumstances, written warnings were given but in one case a school or college had its exam accreditation withdrawn altogether. Further figures showed that 2,590 penalties were issued to individual students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, up slightly from 2,550 in 2012. Among pupils who were caught cheating, the most common offence was smuggling banned items such as mobile phones, calculators, dictionaries or study guides into the exam hall, although the numbers are falling. The second most common offence was plagiarism or failure to acknowledge sources, the report found. In other cases, students were handed penalties for offensive or obscene writing in exam papers or disruptive behaviour. In more than half of cases, pupils lost marks, while almost a fifth of incidents resulted in the entire qualification being wiped out. Ofqual said that the punishments for malpractice among students can vary depending on the type of offence. "For example, candidates who bring a mobile phone into an exam room but do not have their phone at their desk might receive a warning, whereas candidates found using a mobile phone during an exam might be disqualified from the unit or the qualification in that exam series," the report said.