The Standards and Testing Agency plans to “transform” how it engages with schools, but just a quarter of calls to its SATs helpline were answered last year.
The agency published its annual report and accounts for the 2023-24 financial year.
Here’s what we learned…
1. New ‘digital and technology’ division
The STA said it continued working towards “producing digital assessments for the future, developing digital services to deliver our world class assessments to pupils”.
A new Assessment Digital Data and Technology division (ADDaT) has been launched within STA to “reflect our expanding remit”.
The new division is “responsible for managing the build, maintenance and delivery of the new digital, data and technology services used across STA”.
2. Plan to ‘transform’ how schools engage with STA
At the moment, digital services that schools use to engage with the STA are provided by “third parties”, and the agency “relies on older data transfer technologies in its processing”.
In order to “increase consistency for users and update STA’s technology infrastructure”, a “transformation programme” has been initiated.
The programme will also “explore the potential for the application of digital approaches in our assessments”.
3. Helpline targets missed…
The STA has a target to answer 90 per cent of helpline calls within 15 seconds.
In 2022-23, 42,871 calls were made to national curriculum assessment helpline, of which 26.70 per cent were answered. Of those, 42.29 per cent were answered within 15 seconds.
13,535 calls were made to the marker helpline of which 34.06 per cent were answered. Of those, 57.01 per cent were answered within 15 seconds.
During the height of the 2021-22 test season, two-thirds of teachers calling the helpline hung-up after no-one answered the phone.
4. …but data ‘skewed’ by SATs week
But the STA said the KPIs for the helpline service last year “are skewed by one week of extreme call volumes during test week”.
The agency has “made extra effort to drive down call volumes and improve training and recruitment of the temporary agents that are needed over this period”.
Capita has also “made recruitment of temporary agents more robust and improved the quality of training materials”.
5. Reading test debate prompted transparency concerns
Some leaders complained the 2023 reading test was too difficult.
But regulator Ofqual concluded that although it was harder than those set in recent years, there was “no evidence” that it “failed to meet its stated purpose”.
However, the STA said the debate “highlighted that our test development and standards maintenance processes were not as transparent as they should be”.
The organisation has therefore “embarked on a series of stakeholder engagement sessions to explain these processes and how we ensure that tests are valid and fair”.
6. Contractor’s system error delayed marking
The key stage 2 test delivery issues experienced in 2022 were “largely resolved in 2023”.
The bank holiday for King Charles’s coronation “resulted in adjustments to the test timetable and the date of return of results, but these changes went smoothly”.
But the start of the marking process was delayed “owing to an error in the contractor’s systems such that the first round of preparatory work for marking had to be restarted”.
However, “this was resolved and marking was completed to schedule”.
7. DfE withholds £500k from Capita over data delay
Capita is also required to provide 99.9 per cent of “accurate item level data”, which shows how pupils performed in each part of a question to support the maintenance of standards.
But STA said the firm did not meet this deadline in 2023 and a “delay credit” of £581,842 was withheld from the company’s payment.
STA added although the target was missed, “sufficient volumes of data” was provided after a “short delay” to “confidently” maintain standards.
8. ‘Improvements’ to gateway
On the morning of results day, “some schools and teachers reported that they were unable to access their results when the Primary Assessment Gateway (PAG) opened”.
But by 10.30am, 13,238 primary schools – about 79 per cent – had downloaded their results.
The STA said it had been “working with Capita on improvements for the 2024 test cycle”.
Improvements this year included a queue system, which unions likened to “music fans struggling to get hold of sought-after concert tickets”.
9. Print supplier went bust
The accounts reveal how Capita’s test paper printers, Communisis, went into administration in December last year.
A new provider, APS Group, was found in “a matter of weeks”. The STA was monitoring “closely” to check printing was on track.
10. Auditors ask for improvements
The government internal audit agency rated STA as “moderate”, which means some improvements are required to “enhance the adequacy and effectiveness of the framework of governance, risk management, control and assurance”.
Recommendations include the STA continuing to request the “necessary pay flexibilities” from the Department for Education to “support effective recruitment and retention of staff in the future digital space”.
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