SATS shambles as teenagers 'straight out of school' are called in to mark pupils' exam papers

The SATs testing shambles deepened yesterday as a senior MP claimed teenagers straight out of school are marking papers.

Barry Sheerman told ministers he had evidence 'people who have recently passed their A-levels' were hired to mark English, maths and science scripts.

Most primary schools received their results yesterday, and head teachers have already noted concern over discrepancies in assessment.

Janis Burdin, head of Moss Side Primary School in Leyland, Lancashire, is demanding that pupils' papers are remarked.

She said the scheme is a fiasco and released two examples to highlight the problems.

The papers were both graded level 4, although Child A received one more mark overall.

Child A wrote: 'If he wasent doing enthing els heel help his uncle Herry at the funfair during the day. And had stoody at nigh'.

Child B wrote: 'Quickly, it became apparent that Pip was a fantastic rider: a complete natural. But it was his love of horses that led to a tragic accident. An accident that would change his life forever.'

Both children were awarded five marks out of a possible eight for sentence structure. Child A received eight marks out of 12 for composition and effect, while child B received seven.

ETS, the firm running the testing system, admitted any use of untrained teachers as markers is a serious violation of procedures.

No Apology: Ed Balls refused to say sorry for the failure to mark Sats tests on time

Mr Sheerman, chairman of the Commons schools committee, made the revelation as Children's Secretary Ed Balls admitted that at least 120,000 pupils will not get all their SATs results by the end of term.

But he refused to apologise, despite accepting that he carries ultimate responsibility for national testing. At a meeting of the schools committee yesterday, Mr Sheerman told Mr Balls he was aware that ETS had hired 'not graduates, but people who have recently passed their A-levels, to mark papers'.

He believed the marking had taken place in the Nottinghamshire area and involved Key Stage Three tests for 14-year-olds.

He said he had raised the issue on Tuesday with Ofqual head Kathleen Tattersall.

'They were astonished when I produced a piece of evidence which I know to be true,' said Mr Sheerman.

'An agency hired a graduate to mark science, maths and English papers. He was the most experienced member of the team.'

It also included non-graduates, he said. Rules state that markers should be either trained teachers or on training programmes.

ETS admitted an agency had been used to help source markers, and said that it is investigating the allegation that untrained staff have been assessing papers.