Policy paper

2012 maladministration investigation procedures

The purpose of this document is to outline procedures followed by STA when investigating allegations of maladministration.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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Under The Education (National Curriculum) (Key Stage 2 Assessment Arrangements) (England) Order 20031 (鈥渢he Order鈥�), the Secretary of State has a statutory duty to investigate any matter brought to its attention relating to the accuracy, correctness or validity of results of any child鈥檚 National Curriculum, English writing sample and science sampling tests. Such matters are referred to in this document as 鈥榓llegations of maladministration鈥�.

The term 鈥榤aladministration鈥� refers to any act that could jeopardise the integrity, security or confidentiality of the key stage 2 level 3-5 national curriculum tests, the key stage 2 level 6 national curriculum tests, the key stage 2 English writing sample tests or the key stage 2 science sampling tests, and could lead to test results that do not reflect the unaided abilities of children. This could refer to a range of actions, including test papers being incorrectly opened, children cheating, over-aiding of children by test administrators or changes being made to children鈥檚 test scripts by someone other than the child.

The purpose of this document is to outline procedures followed by STA when investigating allegations of maladministration and to provide information on: what constitutes maladministration; how allegations of maladministration are reported to STA; how a case of alleged maladministration will be investigated; and possible outcomes of an investigation into alleged maladministration.

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Published 1 October 2012

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