Teachers could face being taken to the High Court if they discuss the content of this week’s SATs exams on social media.
The Department for Education (DfE) used Twitter yesterday evening to warn teachers, headteachers and schools not to share any information about the test as some children would not be taking the key stage 2 exams until next Thursday.
The tweet read:
Please be aware that some children won’t take the KS2 tests until 21/5, so please don’t tweet anything about the content of them. Thank you.
— Department for Education (@educationgovuk) May 10, 2015
A Standards and Testing Agency (STA) spokesperson said: “It has been made expressly clear to schools that Key Stage 2 test papers are confidential and we take their integrity very seriously.
“In the event of any such breach of confidence, we will take steps to ensure the immediate removal of leaked content, including seeking an injunction in the High Court if necessary.”
Today, year 6 pupils across the country sat down to take their English reading SAT paper. Exams will continue in other subjects throughout the week.
Children may sit the tests up to five school days after their peers if they have an unavoidable absence, due to illness for example.
If a child is unable to take the second maths paper on Thursday, then they will be able to apply to the STA to sit the exam at a later date – by Thursday, May 21.
Agree with this. The discussion may be innocent but if the contents of the papers are leaked then that would not be fair to the students who had done the tests (as the tests may be declared null and void).