UnSATisfactory!

Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Thu 24th Jul 2008

On Tuesday we had a major row about SATS tests, which this year have descended into farce as a result of the contract to mark the tests going to an American company, ETS. Either ETS hugely under-estimated the task of marking the exam papers of a whole cohort of eleven and fourteen year olds, or else it has been monumentally incompetent. Possibly both.

The headteacher of one of our local primary schools has sent me a copy of a letter expressing her concerns, which I suspect are shared by many schools. Her school has not yet had any results for Science, which is disgraceful in itself. But she says the errors in marking in the English and Maths papers she has received back are totally unacceptable. Inconsistent and frankly absurd marks are not an accurate reflection of the standards of the children's work.

If that's the case across the country, then surely the whole SATS tests for this year should be declared null and void, ETS should be summarily shown the door, a better system introduced for next year, and for this year, we should rely on the experience and expertise of teachers to assess children's capabilities. That would also show we actually have confidence in teachers to do their job.

Failing that, I shouldn't put too much store in this year's results.

Trust your children, and the teachers, not the tests.