Alliance comments on reception baseline delay

Commenting on the news that the introduction of reception baseline assessments is to be delayed until autumn 2021 as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the 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.

“We hope that the government will now confirm a similar delay to planned changes to Early Years Foundation Stage, which also risk placing undue pressure on a sector already facing significant challenges. 

"As with baseline, the government should then take this opportunity to reconsider the tick-box approach to early learning and assessment that is currently being proposed, and work in partnership with the sector to ensure that any changes to the EYFS have the needs of the child at their centre."

 

Editor notes 

  • The Early Years Alliance is the largest and most representative early years membership organisation in England. A registered educational charity, it also provides high-quality affordable childcare and education to support children and families in areas of deprivation throughout the country.
  • The Alliance represents 14,000 members and supports them to deliver care and learning to more than 800,000 families every year. We deliver family learning projects, offer information and advice, produce specialist publications, run acclaimed training programmes and campaign to influence early years policy and practice.
  • The Alliance website is