Headteachers have labelled the Department for Education’s Sats checking system a “farce” amid fears that problems, which have prevented them from accessing the data, could lead to incorrect results being used by Ofsted to inform school grading.
School leaders have reported issues accessing the DfE’s key stage 2 assessment results checking exercise service, with many unable to do so before yesterday’s deadline, which had already been extended by a week due to the tech problems, Tes understands.
This means that some school leaders have missed out on the chance to check that the Sats data the DfE holds for their school is correct before it is shared with the watchdog.
In March, the DfE revealed that Ofsted will use this year’s Sats data to judge schools’ curriculum delivery, a decision that was met with concern from the sector.
The deadline for using the DfE checking service was originally pushed back a week after the NAHT school leaders’ union told the DfE that their members were flagging problems with access.
Sarah Hannafin, senior policy advisor and assessment lead for NAHT, said: ”It is almost unbelievable that schools have experienced yet another issue around Sats this year - there is a lot for the government to put right in order for schools to have the confidence that things will run smoothly next year.”
Chris Dyson, headteacher at Parklands Primary School, said he has wasted over a day and a half trying to get hold of his login details for the service.
He added that, at one point, he was forced to wait on hold for three and a half hours while trying to get through to the DfE.
Mr Dyson said: “It has been an absolute farce”.
He added that the checking of the Sats data held by the DfE is “an essential job” to ensure that the information being passed to Ofsted is correct.
Matt Jessop, headteacher of Crosthwaite C of E Primary School, said it was “so important” to check his school’s Sats results but “the ship has sailed”.
Mr Jessop said he is the leader of a small school with 12 pupils taking Sats this year, which means one incorrectly recorded result could have a knock-on effect.
Both Mr Dyson and Mr Jessop experienced problems with receiving their login details, which would have allowed them to access the service.
Other headteachers have taken to Twitter to voice their frustrations with the system.
Ms Hannafin said: ”After the many problems with Sats this year, it is crucial that schools are able to check their results.
“Our members have flagged issues with us about problems getting access to the checking exercise website and we have raised those concerns with the DfE.”
This year’s KS2 Sats were the first to take place since the summer of 2019 after being cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.
The results showed a “disappointing” fall in attainment compared with before the pandemic.
Overall, the proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in all three areas of reading, writing and maths at age 11 was 59 per cent this year - far below the 2019 figure of 65 per cent.
Earlier this month, Tes revealed that the Standards and Testing Agency had apologised to schools affected by “unacceptable” missing papers and delays in receiving results.
