Alliance comments on reception baseline assessment provider announcement
4th February 2015
Commenting on the announcement of the six providers approved to deliver reception baseline assessments, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said:
“We remain deeply concerned about the introduction of the reception baseline assessment.
“As a result of the restrictive criteria put forward by government - stipulating that the assessments must primarily focus on language, literacy and mathematics - the majority of the approved baseline tests are extremely narrow in focus; and in those cases where the assessment of crucial early skills, such as personal, social and emotional development or physical development, has been included, this is only as an optional extra.
“Equally concerning is the fact that the majority of the approved providers focus on ICT-heavy, checklist-based assessments rather than detailed observations. This risks creating artificial testing situations, which is not only unsupportive for young children, but may lead to inconsistent or unreliable results. As such, we continue to oppose the introduction of these tests.”
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Notes for editors
ABOUT THE ALLIANCE
- The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
- Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.
- For information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visit our website: