Reception Baseline: Overwhelming majority of parents reject testing children starting school - survey
Catherine Gaunt
Friday, April 16, 2021
Just 6 per cent of parents think that children should be tested in English and Maths within their first few weeks of school, according to new research, which also revealed that most parents surveyed do not support assessment in Reception.
The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) is due to become statutory from September, but campaigners argue that scrapping it should be part of the recovery plan for schools.
Some headteachers also argue that the assessment should not take place this year as most pre-school children's experiences were affected by the pandemic, and therefore any data from the tests would consequently not provide an accurate baseline measure.
Campaign group More than A Score surveyed a sample of 2,012 parents of children aged four-to – 11-years-old online between 11 and 16 March.
Just 8 per cent of parents surveyed strongly supported the introduction of the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA), with the majority highlighting settling into school and making friends as key for children starting school.
Of the primary school leaders surveyed (234 responses), almost two-thirds (64 per cent) believe the test should not be going ahead this year, with only 16 per cent agreeing that it will be a good use of teaching time. This online survey was carried out between 11-22 March.
The campaign is calling for early years specialists, heads, teachers and academics to sign an open letter to Gavin Williamson MP, the education secretary, asking for the cancellation of the RBA to be included in the recovery plan for schools. The letter has 180 signatories so far.
The open letter states, ‘A child-focused recovery plan must start with our very youngest pupils.
'Along with everyone else, the nation’s four-year-olds, starting school in September, have had their young lives disrupted by Covid. They have missed out on socialising, play and many of the skills usually obtained in pre-school settings.'
It goes on to say that when children start school, as with older children, the focus must be on children's emotional well-being.
'Settling in, learning the routines of school life and making friends must be the priority. In this context, there is no place for the Government’s planned introduction of Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA).'
The letter continues, 'In any year, the information obtained from such young children would be unreliable and unhelpful to teachers and parents. This year, results will reflect the amount of literacy and maths experiences children have been exposed to and therefore will be primarily a test of input from parents/carers. In a year when nursery experiences have been at best disrupted and at worst non-existent, its collection is a pointless waste of teachers’ time.’
Parents’ priorities for the crucial first few weeks are focused on the social and practical aspects of school, according to the research.
The most important factors for the parents surveyed were:
- settling into school (84 per cent)
- making friends (77 per cent)
- learning the routines of the school day (67 per cent)
- enjoying new activities (61 per cent).
The Government plans to use the information collected from the tests as a baseline to measure progress when children leave school in seven years’ time.
However, a major concern for just under two-thirds (63 per cent) of primary school heads surveyed is that the Covid effect on pre-school experiences will render any data produced from the tests useless as a baseline measure.
Although nurseries remained open during lockdown, attendance was low, under 50 per cent in January, February and March.
After so much disruption, just 8 per cent of school leaders surveyed believe that the RBA will produce more accurate information than observational assessment by teachers.
The Government is yet to publish any detail on how progress will be measured in the future, leaving many heads and experts to dismiss the plan as 'pointless and damaging', More than A Score claimed.
Chris Dyson, headteacher, Parklands Primary School in Leeds, said, ‘The first few weeks of school are so important for our young learners. The last thing they need is for that critical settling-in period to be disrupted by an irrelevant data-gathering operation. My teachers want to spend that time making sure their pupils are happy and comfortable and starting their learning journey with confidence. I trust them to do this job by assessing pupils’ needs through careful observation, not a formal test in English and maths.’
Nancy Stewart from More Than A Score said, ‘The coming school year is not the time to subject any primary school children to formal government tests. The focus must be on pupils’ emotional wellbeing and mental health and that starts with the very youngest children.’
The RBA will replace SATS taken at the end of Year 2.
The Department for Education says that the RBA is not a test, and there is no ‘pass’ mark. Children will not have to prepare for it. They will not receive a score, but teachers can download a narrative statement describing how each child did at the time to inform teaching and share with parents.
The DfE maintains that introducing the assessment will help have a fairer accountability system for schools, based on the educational progress their pupils make during their time at primary school.
It also said it launched the Early Adopter Year (which involved children taking the RBA last September) so that schools could familiarise themselves with the content and administration of the RBA if they wished.
The new progress measure ensures schools are recognised for the work they do with their pupils, in particular for those with a challenging intake and those who have been significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the DfE said.
