Marker Gone ‘Rogue’
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A ‘rogue marker’ has attempted to leak SATs tests intended for Year 6 students, the Department for Education has said.
The SATs answers appeared online for four hours on Monday on a password-protected site for test markers. The source from the DfE has blamed an “active campaign by those people opposed to […] reforms to undermine these tests”.
The test had not been leaked into the public domain, and was given the go-ahead. This has been the second test to be leaked online in the past three weeks, after one was pulled due to a “serious error”.
The grammar, punctuation and spelling test is being taken by 600,000 Year 6 children today.
Pearson, the supplier of the tests, apologised for the error, which they are currently investigating.
In a statement, they said: “A small number of markers accessed the paper, although as contracted markers, they are bound by confidentiality and have a duty not to share any papers. We do not have any evidence that the content of the paper has been compromised and it is important that the test should go ahead, not least as it follows so much hard work by teachers and pupils.”
Lucy Powell, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said the leak was another “body blow to parent and teacher confidence”.
The Department for Education said the test will go ahead, and that answers would not be compromised.
Many parents are disgruntled with the idea of more “robust testing” in schools, and many parents have kept their children off school in protest.
A petition of almost 50,000 signatures from parents has emerged, calling for a boycott of primary school tests.
The new tests have been created to assess children’s grasp of the recently adopted curriculum, which is widely heralded as much harder than previous versions.
The government has said the newer tests should not cause students stress, and are designed to raise standards.
Despite the fact that children as young as six are now stressing over exams.
Good job, DfE.