The government says it intends for the new baseline assessment to go ahead as planned in September, despite concern from campaigners thatthis would “make life impossible for everybody”.
The Early Education charity has called for the introduction of the Reception baseline assessment (RBA) to be delayed“by at least a year”, as learning has been “so disrupted” by school and nursery closures.
But theDepartment for Education (DfE) told 91 that the assessment is still due to goahead inSeptember, although this will be kept under reviewin light of the coronavirus crisis.
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The DfE said it is hoped that the RBA secondary legislationwill be passed in the summer.
The department confirmed that it is working towards implementing the assessment in September 2020. However, it said that the timescaleis subject to change in the coming months.
The DfE added thatit would keep the situation under review.
Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of Early Education, told 91 that introducing the new baseline assessment in Septemberwould “make life impossible for everybody”.
She said: “If government were to be thinking of still introducing baseline in September, I just think that would be really problematic because…children [need] an extended transition.
“So to take teachers’ attention away from that transition and to spend a week or two just sitting down testing individual children in a way that they can’t actually use to plan their teaching would be really counterproductive and unfair on those children.”
Campaign group More Than A Score also called on the DfE to cancel the introduction of thebaseline assessment “immediately”.
