Schools minister Nick Gibb has confirmed that this year’s spelling, punctuation and grammar tests for six- and seven-year-olds will now not go ahead, and apologised for the error.
Yesterday it came to light that a teacher at a school taking part in the trial had discovered that that the spelling paper all Year 2 children in England were due to take next month had been accidentally published online by the Standards and Testing Agency.
The spelling test is included in one of three tests that children take. The paper had been published online as one of the practice papers that can be used by teachers and children several months ago.
Initially, the Government said it would press ahead with the tests but teaching unions had described the incident as 'farcical' and called for them to be scrapped.
Mr Gibb has ordered an investigation into the incident and ‘commissioned a root and branch inquiry into the operations of the STA.’
In a statement the minister said, ‘In the meantime, we have worked swiftly to find a solution to the administration of this year’s KS1 grammar, punctuation and spelling tests. To remove any uncertainty and clarify the situation for schools, I have decided that we will remove the requirement on them to administer the KS1 grammar, punctuation and spelling test for this year only.
‘Schools will still need to submit a teacher assessment judgement based on pupils’ work in the classroom as has always been the case. However there will be no requirement this year for them to administer the KS1 grammar, punctuation and spelling test or use the result as part of that assessment.’
He added that the immediate inquiry had shown that none of the other KS1 test papers have been affected by this error.
‘This is a clearly regrettable incident and I am sorry for any concern it has caused teachers, parents or pupils,’ he said.
Commenting on the Government’s decision to cancel the tests, Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) said, ‘We’re glad the Government has made the right decision here. With scrapping of Key Stage 1 SPAG and baseline tests within the last few weeks, it’s increasingly difficult for teachers or parents to trust any primary tests. It’s time for Government to scrap the lot, listen to the profession and start again.’
Earlier this month the DfE confirmed that the Reception baseline would not be used as a progress measure, after the three schemes were found not to be comparable.
