Actually the parent wants me to straightforwardly lie to her kid and tell her that she passed an exam when she didn't.

Think it may be time for a Dear John letter.

That's appalling!!! How will they explain to the child the absence of a certificate? which I'm sure the child will know (or find out about) comes as part-and-parcel of an examination pass.

Like you, I think I would politely withdraw from teaching in this sort of scenario.

There is nothing wrong in failure, we all fail at something at some point in life - it's part of life - but we learn to deal with it, and often learn a lesson from it.....well sometimes! Protecting children from failure will do them more harm than good in the long run.

NB. I've heard that GCSE's will no longer be marked with any sort of fail - even if the student doesn't achieve the lowest grade. Apparently a 'Deferred Pass' (whatever that's supposed to mean) will be issued instead!!!

What sort of message is being sent to the younger generations by doing this??!!

Hmm tricky one......I "failed" my 11 plus exam as a child (in an area with Grammar/Secondary Moderns)......It was very difficult at that age being labelled as someone that "failed", at a time when I was just entering teenagerdom and the rollercoaster of emotions you tend to go through. That label has stuck with me to some extent...still with 9 GCSES, 3 A Levels and a degree later. I think we need to be very careful how we label children....however they ALSO need to learn that life isn't all "winning" and that sometimes we're not quite as great as we think we are!!

I wonder if there is a way of telling your student that he/she didn't make it this time, but that by working harder and practing (leave this up to you) he can take the exam again.

It might help to explain that many people don't make it the first time, but keep trying until they do. Sometimes it can do more harm than good to use the word failure - it somehow stays with you as you mature. I think it's important that your student not "throw in the rag". I don't know how old your student is, but can tell from the way you posed the question that you have his/her best interest at heart.

Some parents see themselves in their children and expect them to achieve what they didn't - big mistake. Anyway hope this helps.

I failed chemistry A level first time. I managed to retake it and get a B, followed by a degree and a pHD also in chemistry. The failure at A level doesn't seem to have affected my career much

Damn! On reading Frankie82's comment, I've just realised that when I did my 11+ (in the USA) I was told that some of the papers had gone astray and I had to redo one bit. Maybe actually I'd failed and they never told me...

However, I'd prefer to believe the "gone astray" version, of course!