SATS results should not be compared to previous years, Morgan says

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has cautioned that SATS results, due to be published today (5 July), should not be compared with previous years.

The news comes after the tests, taken by 11-year-olds, were made tougher, with many teachers and parents criticising the more rigorous testing methods and new curriculum. There has since been a wide spread expectation of volatile and unpredictable results.

Commenting on the release of the results, Morgan said: “They simply cannot be compared directly. I expect critics of the new primary curriculum will be quick to try and suggest that any lower results are evidence of a failure of the system.

"Nothing could be further from the truth. I don't know what the results will look like yet. But I have always been clear that politicians trumpeting ever-rising test results, at the expense of high standards is entirely wrong."

"It wouldn't mean children have performed any worse this year; simply that we have raised the bar on what counts as good enough.

"Neither schools nor parents should try to compare this year's results with previous years. The tests are new and are based on a new, more rigorous national curriculum - based on the best evidence from across the world."

However, unions such as the National Union of Teachers (NUT) have heavily criticised the new tests, claiming the Department of Education and Ofsted could use the results to make judgements on schools, with
potentially ‘serious consequences for the jobs of school leaders and the future of the school’.