Early Years Foundation Stage (Miscellaneous Amendments) and Childcare Fees (Amendment) Regulations 2021

(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)

Tuesday 13th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Watson, for tabling this Motion and I welcome the opportunity to discuss the regulations. I also thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee for its detailed examination of the regulations. At the start of the debate, I particularly want to welcome and thank the noble Lord, Lord Knight, as chairman-elect of E-ACT, and I look forward to working with him in its delivery of excellent education.

The reforms to the early years foundation stage that form part of this statutory instrument have been several years in the making—with consultation, of course. The aim is to strengthen the early years curriculum, assessment and practice to improve outcomes for all children and to close the disadvantage gap, which the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, mentioned.

There has been considerable research into and evidence about the developmental stage, particularly over the past five to 10 years, which underpin this. The changes were devised with child development experts using the latest evidence on what is most important for supporting the learning and development of our youngest children. The early years foundation stage reforms were consulted on, and more than 3,000 schools have taken part in the early adoption year this year. It is important to note that, as the noble Lord, Lord Storey, and other noble Lords mentioned, the purpose of those reforms is to free up more pupil and teacher contact time for teachers to get to know their students, which helps to identify many of the special educational needs that the noble Lord, Lord Addington, often speaks about.

Likewise, the reception baseline assessment, or RBA, has been developed over a number of years with the Standards and Testing Agency working closely with teachers and school leaders at every stage. The noble Baronesses, Lady D’Souza and Lady Blower, among others, mentioned the British research project and validity. As I say, this has been piloted in the majority of primary schools and a validity report was published in February 2020 that provides evidence that the RBA satisfies four key requirements: first, that assessment is age appropriate; secondly, that the assessment results provide a fair measure of pupil performance; thirdly, that pupil performance is comparable within and across schools; and fourthly, that the meaning of RBA data is clear to those responsible for assessing the progress measure.

It is important to note at this point, given that many noble Lords raised the issue, including the noble Baroness, Lady Blower, that this is not an attainment measure but a progress measure and it is not unethical. We have the Progress 8 measure at secondary schools, and it is akin to that. We have had no challenges, saying that that is an unethical way to handle data. It is a short, interactive and practical assessment and will use age-appropriate resources that are easy for pupils to handle. Pupils do not have to prepare for this, either in school or at home. It will be very similar to other on-entry assessments currently carried out in reception classes in most of our schools. Most noble Lords mentioned teacher workload, and the good news is that once fully established, it will form the baseline for primary progress measurements, in place of key stage 1 assessments. Most noble Lords would, I hope, welcome the reduction in workload.

Noble Lords have rightly highlighted specific concerns about the RBA and the timing of its introduction, but the Government are confident that we are taking the right approach. It is important that we hold schools to account for the progress they make with their pupils, ensuring that all pupils are being supported to achieve, regardless of their background, prior attainment or additional needs. The RBA will enable us to do this in a fairer way. The noble Lords, Lord Knight and Lord Storey, and the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, mentioned the different cohorts and summer-born and autumn-born pupils. This is a measure of a cohort in those schools, so summer and autumn-born pupils will be spread across the country. A school will not be disadvantaged because the summer and autumn born, while not spread equally across the population, are spread across our schools generally, so this will not be detrimental.

On the value we place on teachers, particularly in the earliest foundation stage, we do value them and that is why £153 million has been allocated for professional development for early years. The RBA means that primary progress measures will in future include the crucial first three years of primary school, which, of course, key stage 1 currently does not. We know that not all pupils start school at the same point in their development, and the RBA will enable us to understand the progress pupils make throughout their time in that school. That is one of the reasons why, when we consulted in 2017, a clear majority agreed with moving the baseline assessment point away from key stage 1 to reception.

The RBA will give parents better information with which to make informed decisions about schooling and, once fully established it will, as I say, end the key stage 1 assessments. It is not a measure of attainment; it is just an assessment at all entry points. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, that if we give more flexibility than six weeks or delay until January 2022, it will not be a meaningful comparison for the children who enter in September, once you move that baseline point. It is for students when they enter school, within that six weeks. That is the validity of this report, so delaying until January 2022, when most students will have started in September, would undermine the validity of the data.

A number of noble Lords, particularly the noble Lord, Lord Knight, raised the issue of data protection. We have regularly consulted with the Information Commissioner’s Office when developing the data aspects of the RBA, and we are confident we are taking the right approach. The data will be stored on the national pupil database in a way that means it cannot be accessed by anyone other than the analysts who will, in X years’ time, be using it to measure progress. It will not be available to commercial organisations because of data control—I think that is the technical name. In order to be valid, this needs to be delivered as close as possible to the start of reception, so, unfortunately for noble Lords, we cannot delay until January.

I know that noble Lords are concerned about teacher workloads, and we are enormously grateful for the work that teachers have done during the pandemic. We have been taking decisive action to make improvements and reduce teacher workload.

I would like to reassure noble Lords that preparation time for teachers is limited and the RBA should take no longer than 20 minutes per child, with the average assessment taking 14 minutes. In addition, one of the principal aims of the changes to the early years foundation stage was to reduce the workload. Schools—and, if they wish, parents—will also receive a series of short narrative statements about the child’s performance in the assessment, which can help inform classroom practice, including understanding where children’s language skills may need further attention, so that children are given the right support at this critical time. Because it is a progress measure, and even though we have had the pandemic and we know the effect, schools will be given credit for this. Obviously, it is based on where the child has started: it is not an attainment measure but a progress measure, so overall, schools will be given credit for all the catch-up that we know they have been working hard on recently.

In relation to children with special educational needs, measures have been specifically developed with a SEND reviewer. We are confident that the test can be adapted, and the feedback from the 3,000 early adopter schools which, even during Covid, chose voluntarily to do this, is that, actually, many children enjoy it. It is more like a quiz kind of assessment; it is age-appropriate to them. Some wanted it to carry on because they were so enjoying what they were doing in the classroom, so it is not a traditional form of exam.

The RBA is about fairness for schools, parents and pupils. It will provide a baseline for a fairer progress measure for schools, and ultimately reduce the overall assessment burden and provide parents with better information. Along with the reforms to the early years foundation stage that these regulations introduce, RBA will improve provision in early years and reception. Covid-19 makes that improvement all the more urgent.

The noble Viscount, Lord Hanworth, mentioned a matter that in fact relates to a different statutory instrument, so I will write to him.

I hope I have reassured noble Lords that this will have a positive impact and will enable schools to be given credit overall for the catch-up they will be doing with our pupils, because this is a progress measure, not an attainment measure, and we will be introducing it as of September this year. Schools have had the information about the tests since March 2021, so there has been sufficient advance notice to the workforce.

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19:05

Division 3

Ayes: 216

Noes: 232