Schools face race against time to apply for SATs marking reviews
Pearson have apologised ‘unreservedly’ after announcing that the results of this years Keys Stage 2 SATs will be delayed by nine days. The results had been due on July 7, but will now be delivered on July 16, with some schools having already broken up for the summer by then.
In a statement Pearson said the delay was ‘the result of technical issues with the new SATs platform Pearson uses to support markers, along with technical issues in the transfer of data within the systems Pearson uses for SATs’. This year is the first time Pearson have been responsible for delivering the KS2 SATs results, following a change in the contract run by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA). The Department for Education (DfE) has said it is ‘exploring all options for recourse’, which could include financial penalties or the cancellation of Pearson’s contract. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson commented: ‘Pearson has rightly taken full responsibility for the delay and apologised to schools and families. My priority is now getting results to schools as quickly as possible, and my department is playing an active role in resolving the technical failings that Pearson has overseen.’
The news has been met with deep frustration by union leaders, with the ASCL’s Pepe Di’Iasio calling the situation ‘a complete shambles’. He went on to note: ‘A significant number of schools will have finished for the summer by the time the results are available, and those that haven’t will be on the verge of doing so. This will inevitably mean staff working through holiday periods to finalise end of year assessments and reports, which has implications for their wellbeing and really is the last thing needed at the end of a busy academic year.’
Following the delay to the results, schools will now only have just over a week, until 24 July, to apply for marking reviews, but Mr Di’Iasio called for this to be extended: ‘We do not think giving schools eight days to apply for reviews of marking is long enough, particularly as relevant staff members could be on holiday during this period. This deadline should be moved back further to ensure all pupils have the best possible chance of success.’
Meanwhile general secretary of the NAHT, Paul Whiteman, said the delay was ‘completely unacceptable’, and called for Pearson to be held accountable. ‘Schools are held to an extremely high standard when it comes to test administration,’ he said, adding ‘Small errors can result in serious consequences for school leaders, and the same should be expected of Pearson and everyone responsible for test and exam results.’
In their statement Pearson went on to say that their ‘priority’ was ensuring schools and pupils received ‘complete and accurate’ results: ‘We have a plan to complete the remaining work, and our teams are working around the clock to deliver the remaining pupil data.’ They also said the issue was ‘specific’ to this year’s SATs, with Pearson’s GCSEs, A-Levels, and vocational qualifications ‘not affected’.
However, in a separate incident this week, Pearson was ‘rebuked’ by exam regulator Ofqual for failures in an Edexcel Maths A Level exam sat by thousands of pupils last summer. Pearson repurposed contingency exam papers from 2022 as assessment papers in 2025, leading to some content being ‘unreasonably similar’ to that which appeared in 2022 A Level maths papers. Attempts to mitigate this, by switching to a separate contingency paper, then led to some topics being over-assessed and others under-assessed. A Pearson spokesperson said they ‘take responsibility for not fully identifying and managing the risks linked to the use of contingency papers’. Sir Ian Bauckham, Chief Regulator at Ofqual, said: ‘Tens of thousands of students sat these exams trusting that they had been properly designed and delivered. The failures by Pearson caused anxiety, stress and uncertainty at a time when students needed it least. The problems that arose were foreseeable and preventable. We will always act to protect students and maintain confidence in qualifications.’ The ‘rebuke’ was introduced by Sir Ian last year, designed to be a sanction for cases serious enough to warrant a public outcome, but not serious enough for a fine. This is only the second time Ofqual have issued one.