SATs tests in chaos as company at centre of marking fiasco is ditched by exams watchdog

Major exam boards ruled out taking over the contract from ETS Europe as testing chiefs admitted that running the system next year would be 'very demanding'.

They said new testing technology could not be introduced in time to speed up the process, giving a replacement contractor only nine months to organise systems for manually marking ten million scripts.

No apology: Ed Balls refused to say sorry for the failure to mark SATs tests on time

Teachers' leaders seized on the chaos to urge ministers to scrap some or all of the tests and ask classroom staff to conduct assessments instead.

Dr John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said appointing a new company would be akin 'to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic'.

Last night, pressure was mounting on Dr Ken Boston to resign as chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which negotiated the original five-year £156million contract.

The termination of ETS Europe's contract is the latest development in a fiasco that unfolded when computer glitches and administrative failures delayed the release of this year's national test results in English, maths and science to 1.2million pupils aged 11 and 14.

Under the terms of a deal with the Government's testing agency, ETS Europe will repay £24.1million out of a total £39.6million handed over to operate the 2008 testing cycle.

Ministers insisted the £15.5million ETS Europe received for its work represented a loss and was smaller than the sums it had spent in England.

Seven per cent of English papers for 14-year-olds have still to be returned to schools. Most of the other papers have been marked, but papers for entire year groups of pupils at dozens of schools will have to be remarked because the schools are worried the results are not are

reliable. The Conservatives insisted ministers must bear 'direct responsibility' for signing up a firm that 'badly' let down pupils and teachers.

Education Secretary Ed Balls last night pointedly refused to support Dr Boston. Asked several times if he had 'full confidence' in the QCA head, Mr Balls repeatedly avoided answering.

He said: 'He has done a good job to get things sorted out but we still want to know why we got into these difficulties.'

In an interview with Sky News, Dr Boston admitted he had 'backed the wrong horse' and said ETS was 'clearly not up to it' but insisted the firm came with a long- established and international reputation.

'It failed very badly and very publicly here and clearly could not continue for five years,' he said.

But he said marking technology currently used for GCSEs and A-levels could not be introduced in time to run SATs for 11 and 14-year-old pupils next year, forcing examiners to mark millions of scripts 'at kitchen tables'. 'It will be very demanding but not impossible,' he said.

However, the Edexcel exam board, which previously ran the testing regime before it was undercut by ETS during the last bidding round, said yesterday that 'online marking should be used for future test delivery'.

The board declined to confirm whether or not it will bid to administer testing next year.

A second board, AQA, said it had 'no intention' of bidding for the contract while a third, OCR, said it had 'nothing to add' to recent reports that it would not wish to take on the contract.

Dr Dunford, whose association represents secondary heads, has demanded an end to tests for 14-year-olds.

'The testing and examination system is sinking under its own weight and it is time for the Government to examine seriously how it can streamline the assessment regime and again make it fit for purpose,' he said.

Zoubir Yazid, managing director ETS Global BV, said ETS Europe apologised to schools for the delays.