Commenting on the outcome of the Sutherland Inquiry into the administration of the SATs by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and ETS, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers' union in the UK, said:
"Given the distress and uncertainty caused to pupils, parents and teachers by the events surrounding last Summer's tests, the Government was right to launch an immediate inquiry.
"I am pleased the inquiry has confirmed that the markers did a professional job. This therefore validates the results achieved and should now silence once and for all those who sought to use administrative failures to undermine the hard work and achievements of pupils and teachers.
"This appears to have been a very thorough review of test administration.
"The findings leave no doubt that the QCA and the contractors ETS are culpable. The enormous scale of the problems that occurred indicates a staggering degree of operational incompetence and mismanagement.
"The failures and fiasco of the QCA and ETS administration and management raise questions about whether these bodies and other similar bodies provide value for public money and are fit for purpose.
"The NASUWT believes that a wholesale review of all such bodies is long overdue and the opportunity this report presents to do this should be seized by the Government."
