10% of Sats appeals lead to level change

Schools made almost 23,500 appeals against this year's Sats results, official figures showed today.

Data published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) show that 3% of English and maths test papers taken by 11-year-olds were sent back for review.

In total, 23,438 review applications were made.

Of these, nearly one in 10 (9.8%) resulted in a level change.

The level of review applications made this year was lower than in 2009, but a quarter of primaries did not take part in the tests because of a boycott by two teaching unions.

Last year's results included appeals against science Sats, which were scrapped by the previous government and not taken by pupils this summer.

The data relates to appeals against results gained by 11-year-olds taking Sats in English and maths.

The largest number of appeals were against English results, usually seen as more difficult to mark because there are no right or wrong answers and are open to interpretation.

Schools made applications for reviews of 22,537 English papers, compared to 901 for maths.

Mick Walker, QCDA director of education, said: "Marking reviews allow us to be sure that all scripts have been accurately marked and give us confidence in the system. If a school requests a review, we ask one of our most experienced markers to review the whole script against the mark scheme.

"It is also worth noting that 100% of scripts were returned to schools on time this year."

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) boycotted this year's tests, arguing the tests are bad for children, teachers and education, cause unnecessary stress and should be scrapped.

The Department for Education is due to published details of a review into primary school testing tomorrow.