The Department for Education is “confident” this year’s controversial SATs reading paper was “set to an appropriate level of difficulty” despite complaints from parents and teachers that it left pupils in tears.
Teachers and school leaders reported that 10 and 11-year-old pupils had struggled with the test last Wednesday, warning it was far more challenging than previous years.
Schools minister Nick Gibb said this week he would “certainly look at [the criticism] because I know that there has been concern expressed by some schools”.
In a blog post today, the Department for Education said evidence from its trialling processes “indicated that the tests were of similar difficulty to previous years”. “As a result, we are confident the test was set to an appropriate level of difficulty.”
