A leading Shropshire teacher has warned that schools can have no faith in the marking system for SATs which is “clearly in meltdown”.
Mike Wardle, of Bridgnorth Endowed School, says pupils, parents and teachers are under enough stress without the “ridiculous situation” of not knowing the full results of the Key Stage 3 tests.
He has demanded to know whether schools will be compensated for the time and effort spent on trying to sort out the problem.
An administrative fiasco has delayed marking and meant pupils across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin left for their summer holidays still in the dark over how well they have performed in the Key Stage 2 tests for 11-year-olds and Key Stage 3 tests for 14-year-olds.
The Government has been under pressure to sever ties with the American company ETS Europe which has overseen the marking for the Standard Assessment Tests.
Mr Wardle has raised his concerns with Ludlow MP Philip Dunne.
He says in an e-mail to the MP: “We have not yet received any maths SATs results.
“We have only received 73 per cent of our science results.
“We have received no English results but worryingly the results file on the Key to Success website shows that 30 per cent of our pupils were absent.”
Mr Wardle says he has e-mailed ETS Europe “to no avail” and is awaiting a reply from Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.
“Pupils, parents and teachers are under enough stresses and strains without this ridiculous situation,” he adds.
“As you probably know we had an Ofsted inspection a few weeks ago and were categorised as satisfactory, mainly as a result of CVA (contextual value added) data concerning maths and English.
“What faith can staff place in a system that is clearly in meltdown?
“Please raise my concerns with the Secretary of State and ask him what compensation is being sought from ETS Europe and how much will be passed back to schools where staff are spending considerable time and effort in trying to find information concerning their missing results/marked papers.”
Mr Dunne, who has taken up the issue with Education Secretary Ed Balls, today described the system as an “utter shambles”.
“If results formed part of an Ofsted assessment of a school, then there could be a longer lasting impact,” he said.
By Dave Morris
3 Comments
As a current Primary school teacher of more than 20 years experience, I must agree with Mike.End this farce now. If we must have national accountability, let it be in the form of a sample of pupils and schools. Start treating teachers as professionals again and leave them to make judgements using teacher assessment.Completely overhaul this inept system, or preferably scrap it for the sake of our children.Give them a more rounded education instead of forcing them through a relentless regime of tests designed to reinforce failure.
I took my Key Stage 3 Sats this year. I felt i was under lots of pressure to do well get good grades to apparently help my GCSE’s options. On my final day of Year 9 it was still not known when we would recieve our results and even now over 3 weeks since we were due to recieve them parents and pupils are non-the-wiser. I totally agree with the teacher above. Time to scrap them !
Mr. Harris,
When public education is left in the hands of teachers it usually ends up being controlled by the teachers’ unions.
Because of this public education in this province (British Columbia) is no longer public, and everything from curriculum (especially social studies) to school hours to teachers’ salaries is taken care of by the union - which after all is just another business.
There is virtually no testing in the schools and teachers’ assessments can, all too often, be off the mark and of course biased.
Student achievement has not improved and as many as 35% of students in their 12th year do not have the literacy and numeracy skills to find worthwile employment or enter college.
If we want a well rounded education for children then we should be looking more closely at the training of teachers and improve it. Also professional development(for teachers) should be directed, not by the unions, but the local administration together with parents and elected trustees.