Sats results chaos is the worst ever say headteachers

Headteachers today warned of "unprecedented" problems with this year's Sats results - finally beginning to arrive in schools a week late.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls was under increasing pressure to apologise to more than a million pupils affected by the delays this summer. The biggest headteachers' union said there were growing concerns over the quality of marking despite the extra time taken to return results.

The warning followed claims that some Sats were being marked by people who had only recently finished their A-levels. Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Associationof Head Teachers, said his union had received very high numbers of calls from members unhappy with the grades they were getting back.

"For us it's unprecedented," he said. Heads reported questions being marked wrongly, more administrative mistakes, and complaints that markers - particularly in the English tests - were not up to the job.

Yesterday, Mr Balls repeatedly refused to apologise for the fiasco when invited to do so by MPs.

Mr Brookes said the minister's attitude was "disappointing".

He added: "The apology shouldn't necessarily go to schools, though that wouldn't go amiss, but actually to the children who have put all that effort in yet haven't had their work returned."

About 1.2 million pupils in England aged 11 and 14 took Sats in maths, English and science. A string of problems hit the tests this year. Markers did not receive papers on time, the official helpline was swamped with calls and a backlog of 10,000 emails, and new computer systems broke down.

At least 120,000 teenagers will not get their grades by the end of term, with tens of thousands of primary pupils also waiting for results.

ETS Europe, the company contracted to run the tests, has been warned it faces "tens of millions" of pounds in financial penalties after failing to deliver results on time.

The firm has stressed that its markers undergo rigorous quality checks.

Parents have demanded that the national tests be scrapped.