Labour schools shadow calls for baseline assessment to be cancelled
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Shadow Schools Minister Margaret Greenwood is pressing Nick Gibb, School Standards Minister, to abandon the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) to support emotional well-being as children return to school after the coronavirus lockdown.
In a letter to Mr Gibb, Labour's Ms Greenwood says that there can be no justification for baseline assessment of four-year-olds that creates stress and anxiety for children, and that this is particularly important in the current circumstances.
‘Settling children into school during their first few weeks is immensely important at any time and it makes no sense to disrupt that with the RBA; this year this will be all the more important.
‘Many children due to attend Reception class in the autumn may have experienced severe psychological trauma as a result of the coronavirus pandemic; some will have lost parents, grandparents or other family members, while others will have simply struggled, like millions of others across the UK, with living in lockdown, unable to play with their friends.
‘It will be vitally important for teachers to create the positive and supportive environment that pupils will need to be able to settle in to school and enjoy learning in the school environment. It must be a key priority of the government to support the psychological and emotional wellbeing of pupils.’
Ms Greenwood says that she supports the National Education Union, educationalists and campaign groups in their opposition to the RBA, and cites UCL Institute of Education research that found overwhelming opposition to baseline assessment, along with the More than a Score petition signed by more than 80,000 people.
Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of Early Education, warned last month that introducing RBA in September would ‘make life impossible for everybody’ and that children need ‘an extended transition’.
Ms Greenwood says,’ I urge you to cancel the introduction of the RBA as a matter of urgency so that parents can be confident that their very young children will not be subjected to an assessment that may damage their early experiences of school.’
The Department for Education has said that RBA will be kept under ‘regular review’, with further guidance to be provided to schools in the summer term.
