Renewed call for Baseline to be “paused”
By Rachel Lawler
The More Than a Score campaign has called on the government to “pause the introduction of Baseline assessments in September.
The campaigners have made the suggestion, alongside requests for SATs and other statutory primary assessments to be paused, in the campaign’s latest report, .
The campaigners argue that dropping the assessments will give children more time to bridge learning gaps caused by the pandemic.
In the report, Alliance director of quality improvement Michael Freeston and Early Education chief executive Beatrice Merrick argue that children’s wellbeing and welfare are the “top priorities” during the Covid-19 pandemic and that administering the test takes teachers away from the classroom during the “crucial settling-in period”.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL school leadership union, commented: “The pandemic has bough opportunity for permanent change to a primary testing regime that is demonstrably not fit for its original purpose. This should become our Covid legacy.”
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