TEACHERS will still be able to write exams under new proposals that follow a review sparked by following a leak that saw a Winchester teacher suspended.

But exam boards will have to take tough measures to “protect the integrity” of assessments - including keeping records of any conflicts of interests relating to teachers who have seen confidential materials, according to Ofqual.

The watchdog announced a review of rules allowing teachers to set question papers last autumn in a move that came after two high-profile private schools became embroiled in a controversy over exam breaches.

As previously reported, head of art history at Winchester College Laurence Wolff was suspended after an investigation was launched by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), which organises the A-level-equivalent Cambridge Pre-U exams, into irregularities concerning the Pre-U arts history exams at both Winchester College and Eton College.

A pupil at the £38,000 school was handed information as a revision tool on topics which would later come up in the arts history exam. The boy, who was unaware the information would come up in the exam, then sent it to another pupil at Eton.

Mr Wolff later retired from the college.

At the time, a spokesman for Winchester College said it had notified the exam board as soon as it became aware, and that “no boy was to blame for the exam irregularity”.

Under the new proposals teachers will still be able to write assessments and have access to confidential materials.

It says that exam boards will have to keep up-to-date records of all conflicts of interest linked to teachers involved in setting exams and put in safeguards to limit the risk of using teachers in this process - such as making sure they do not know if or when any assessment they have been involved in developing will be used.

Boards will also have to put in place tough measures to detect malpractice.

Ofqual chief Sally Collier said: “Almost universally, respondents to our call for evidence emphasised the importance of retaining a strong link between teaching and examining, and the benefit it brings to assessment design.

“Our rules on confidentiality and malpractice are already demanding. The proposals we have put forward today build on them and provide greater clarity about our expectations and the implications for awarding organisations if information about an assessment is disclosed by a teacher who has been involved in its development.

“There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenge of maintaining confidentiality. However, the events of summer 2017 showed how public confidence in assessments and, in turn, qualifications, can be damaged if confidential information is wrongly used. It is essential that those who take or otherwise rely on qualifications have the utmost confidence in the outcomes.”