Teachers 'stricter' than examiners

Classroom teachers mark pupils more strictly than external examiners do, it emerged yesterday, adding momentum to the case for scrapping national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds.

New figure revealed that outside examiners were more likely to award higher marks to 14-year-olds than their teachers were.

In science, external examiners gave twice as many pupils (26 per cent) a higher grade than a lower grade (12 per cent) when compared to marks from classroom teachers.

Teachers' leaders said evidence of a similar pattern was emerging in the assessment of 11-year-olds.

The figures will increase pressure on ministers, who have already scrapped the tests for 14-year-olds, to move to teacher assessment at 11.

Critics have usually responded to such calls by warning that teachers might "bump up" the marks of their own pupils so their school does well in performance tables.

However, David Laws, the Liberal Democrat schools spokesman, who obtained the figures in an answer to a parliamentary question, said: "The figures show that teacher assessment is just as rigorous as traditional exam papers.