Nursery World - Baseline assessment – busting the ‘myth-busters'

After the disruption of coronavirus to pre-school children's lives, they should not be expected to take the Reception Baseline in September, argues Nancy Stewart

Nancy Stewart: 'The baseline idea is based on a mechanical, data-driven view of learning that assumes a school is like a factory'

Children now in nurseries and pre-schools are to be the first group to sit the Government’s planned test for all four-year-olds as they enter Reception classes in September. As if they haven’t had enough disruption over the last year of pandemic– with family strains, limited opportunity to experience a vibrant social life, and attendance at nurseries patchy at best – they are now to be subjected to being taken aside and tested to find out how well they measure up as they start school.

Despite prolonged, evidenced opposition to the baseline test, the Government is determined to go ahead with a plan that would seem ridiculous to most people. Does it even remotely make sense that you can test every four-year-old in the country, and then use the outcome seven years later to find out how well schools have done? Have a look at this video with comedian Zoe Lyons for a view into why you can’t reliably test four-year-olds.

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