British high school students are being awarded marks for writing obscene phrases on their English tests because it shows at least some ability to convey a message.
A chief examiner responsible for training other markers said the phrase "f... off" deserved some marks.
Peter Buckroyd told The Times the phrase met the requirements for minimum marks - that students demonstrate some simple sequencing of ideas and some words in appropriate order.
Buckroyd, a chief examiner of English for the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), an examination board, admitted he'd given a pupil two marks, out of a possible 27, for using the phrase.
"It would be wicked to give it zero, because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for like conveying some meaning and some spelling," he told The Times.
"It's better than someone that doesn't write anything at all. It shows more skills than somebody who leaves the page blank." Buckroyd, who is responsible for standards in exams taken by 780,000 pupils, said he'd told other markers to follow his lead - even if "f... off" was the only thing written on a paper.
He told The Times he used the example to teach examiners the finer points of marking.
"It elucidates some useful points - it shows some nominal skills but no relevance to the task," he said.
Ofqual, the British government's examinations regulator, refused to condemn Buckroyd's approach.
"We think it's important that candidates are able to use appropriate language in a variety of situations but it's for awarding bodies to develop their mark scheme and for their markers to award marks in line with that scheme," it said.
Other examining bodies told The Times their marking schemes would not reward such language.
Edexel said: "If the question was 'Use a piece of Anglo-Saxon English', they may get a mark, but if they had just written 'f... off', they may get sanctioned.
"If it was graphic or violent they may get no mark for that paper." The Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents exam boards, told The Times that examiners were required to report instances of inappropriate, offensive or obscene material in exam scripts, and the awarding body must investigate.
"If malpractice is identified, the awarding body will decide on the appropriate sanction, which could include loss of marks or even disqualification," a spokesman said.
