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Sunday 22 November 2009

Marking Sats has always been a total fiasco

Liz Brocklehurst recounts her experiences as a Sats marker

There were also occasions when we had to mark incorrect science as correct. The reason given for this was inappropriate question-setting. Only after the marking process had begun did the senior examiners decide that the correct answer was perhaps beyond the scope of the age range.

Why all these ridiculous decisions?

Well, given that the marked papers are returned to the schools and that reputations — and positions in league tables — are at stake, it was hardly surprising that the markers’ unwritten maxim was ‘if in doubt, mark it right’. (And if you didn’t, you could guarantee the school would appeal against the marking, the mark would then be awarded at this stage, and this re-marking would count against the marker in his/her final grade. Yes, even the markers were graded on their work, and awaited their results each year with as much trepidation as the pupils awaited theirs.)

I can’t speak for Key Stage 2 English and Maths tests, but if their markers followed similar guidelines to those employed in Science, it makes it all the more worrying that each year such a relatively large proportion of our 11-year-olds gained results showing they were performing at a level below that expected of their age group. And I still find it a concern that it is apparently acceptable (even after 10 years of ‘education, education, education’) for an 11-year-old to be unable to spell a simple three-letter word such as ‘air’.

Over the years I have watched the whole episode of Key Stage 2 Sats with more than a passing interest. I remember David Blunkett staking his job against the meeting of targets (lucky for him that he got out first); and Estelle Morris apparently forgetting that she had done likewise; and Stephen Twigg, as schools minister, exhorting headteachers to teach to the tests in order to try and meet targets; and Alan Johnson, as Education Secretary, being accused of ‘burying bad news’ by releasing poor Key Stage 2 results on the same day as the better GCSE results. And now we have the current headline-grabbing situation.

I can still remember the senior examiner telling me, as a newish marker, that there were ‘political issues in what we do’. But ten years as a ‘political pawn’ was quite enough. Thank goodness I got out before this summer’s mess.   

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