American mum: British schools are filthy

The head of the government agency responsible for the test-marking fiasco was so pleased with the “rigorous and diligent” way in which the contract was awarded that he recommended it “as a case study to share best practice”, The Times has learnt.

Minutes from the board meeting of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) at which the contract for marking the national curriculum tests was awarded to the American company ETS Global, show that officials from the Department for Children, Schools and Families were closely involved in the whole process.

The disclosure comes despite claims by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, that the department’s involvement was “at arm’s length”.

Ralph Tabberer, director-general of schools at the department (then known as the Department for Education and Skills, or DfES) was at the meeting on December 14, 2006, at which the QCA agreed to give the £156 million five-year contract to ETS.

The minutes show that “observers from the DfES had been fully involved in the process alongside QCA and National Assessment Agency staff”.

The minutes note that Sir Anthony Greener, the QCA chairman, declared that the procurement process - code-named Tornado Project - had been so successful that it should “be used as a case study to share best practice amongst other divisions”.

Michael Gove, the Shadow Schools Secretary, said the minutes suggested that ministers were far more involved in the fine detail of the awarding of the contract than they had previously admitted to. This suggested that they should shoulder full responsibility for this year’s marking shambles, which has delayed the publication of the Key Stage 2 and 3 tests taken by 1.2 million pupils aged 11 and 14 and raised questions about the accuracy of marking.

“Ministers have continually said that the decision to award the contract was taken at arm’s length, but these minutes clearly show that a DCSF civil service director, accessible to the Secretary of State, was there at the meeting when the decision was taken,” Mr Gove said. “The Government cannot maintain this decision was taken by a body at arm’s length when their officials were present.”

On Wednesday Mr Balls told the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee that he was responsible for making sure that testing happened, which he did “in an arm’s length way through the QCA”.

Mr Balls has ordered an inquiry into the arrangements for the tests, to be chaired by Lord Sutherland of Houndwood. However, the inquiry’s terms of reference focus overwhelmingly on the role of the qualifications authority, not on his own civil servants. Of the nine points in the document, only one mentions the department and that merely questions whether it had sufficiently monitored the authority.

As schools get back pupils’ scripts, more than a week late in some instances, there are continuing reports of head teachers being sent unmarked papers and of some pupils who took the tests being recorded as absent.

Mr Gove called on the Government to scrap the marking contract, saying that parents and teachers could no longer have confidence in ETS. “ETS have forfeited the right to run future SATs. Every day brings new evidence of their serial incompetence.”

Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said that Lord Sutherland should consider scrapping the results of this year’s tests because their reliability had been “contaminated”. The results of most Key Stage 2 tests were published on Tuesday. Schools are due to receive most of their Key Stage 3 results by today, but not all of the results will be available, with some not expected until August.

If you have a story to tell about this year’s test results, please e-mail us at timeseducation@thetimes.co.uk

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