Reception baseline assessment delayed until 2021
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, June 25, 2020
The introduction of the reception baseline assessment (RBA) has been delayed until September 2021, the government has announced.
The delay has been welcomed by campaigners, however, they are still calling for the controversial testing of four-year-olds to be scrapped completely.
The RBA was set to be introduced in September with children expected to be tested within weeks of starting school.
Schools minister NIck Gibb today announced the postponement of the assessment due to the impact of Covid-19 on the education system.
He said: “As we prepare for all children to return to school in September, I know teachers are working tirelessly to provide extra support to children to recover from the impact of coronavirus.
“In light of the circumstances, we have decided to postpone the statutory rollout of the reception baseline assessment until September 2021, given that some schools may not have had the time they need to familiarise their teachers and staff with the process.”
However, in a change to government guidance on the RBA, published by the Standards and Testing Agency, schools can now apply to become an “early adopter” of the scheme from October this year.
Schools who choose to participate will receive assessment materials shortly before the October half term, with the optional assessment window opening for six-weeks after the half term break.
Gibb added: “We remain committed to introducing the new assessment to have a fairer accountability system for schools, based on the educational progress their pupils make during their time at primary school. Schools will have the flexibility to sign up to the early adopter year to familiarise themselves with the content and administration, with the reassurance that this year’s data will not be used for accountability purposes.”
The 20 minute one-to-one check on a child and is carried out by either a teacher or teaching assistant. It involves a series of tasks and activities looking at language, communication and maths skills.
The initiative has received widespread criticism from teaching unions, head teachers and academics who say testing children at a young age is both unreliable and anxiety-inducing for pupils.
Campaigners praised the delay in introducing the initiative but vowed to continue to lobby for it to be scrapped completely.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Schools need to be fully focused on supporting children's learning as they return to school, and baseline testing would have been a complete distraction.
“Although the government has had the good sense to call off the tests, it is still encouraging schools to become 'early adopters' of the tests. There is no value to schools in doing this: Baseline remains a pointless exercise in accountability, not a measure that can improve the quality of teaching and learning. Alongside many others in the early years sector, the union will continue to campaign for the complete withdrawal of reception baseline assessment from the policy agenda.”
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: “We welcome the news that the introduction of the baseline assessment is being delayed until next autumn. Clearly, given the pressure that teachers and other education professionals are currently facing, now was not the time for the government to be pushing ahead with this policy."
"Given the widespread criticism that baseline assessment has received from both early years and primary education professionals, we would urge the government to go even further and scrap these tests altogether. Baseline assessments have been shown to be an incredibly unreliable form of assessment and, given that the government has previously admitted that they are focused on assessing schools rather than children, place completely unnecessary pressure on young children”.
