Lanterna Rally

Author: Stewart R. Sutherland

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9780102958393

The Sutherland Inquiry, (HCP 62, session 2008-09, ISBN 9780102958393), is an independent inquiry remitted by the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) and the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, into the delivery of the National Curriculum tests in 2008. In July 2008, 1.2 million pupils heard that their National Curriculum test results would be delayed. The test delivery service represented a failure in customer delivery service, to the pupils, schools and also the markers upon whom the National Curriculum testing regime relies. The primary responsibility must therefore rest with the American organisation, ETS Global BV (ETS), which won the public contract to deliver the tests and failed its customers. This report examines how this organisation secured the contract, what its plans were, and why its systems and process as a whole were not properly tested. The report will also describe how ETS's systems failed during the test delivery process. There was also a failure on the part of the Government's Non-Departmental Public Body, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to deliver its remit. The report also sets out the procurement process that QCA used to select its delivery supplier, ETS, and how it managed the contract. The report sets out a number of recommendations on how test delivery can improve in future years, and has set out a number of key priorities, including: that the delivery process of the National Curriculum tests should be modernised and improved, in consultation with the marking community, including piloting online marking; that whatever process is used should be thoroughly piloted and project managed to ensure schools and pupils get their results on time; that the customer service provided to markers must be vastly improved to ensure that they are properly supported and are able to access up-to-date information.