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

Baroness Wilcox of Newport Excerpts

Tuesday 13th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Lab)]

In this debate, we have learned that the reception baseline assessment is a short assessment taken in the first six weeks in which a child begins reception. As my noble friend Lord Watson stated at the outset, we are not against assessment.

This debate refers to the Childcare Act 2006 and the Early Years Foundation Stage (Learning and Development Requirements) Order 2007, which underpin the requirement for schools to administer the RBA. The legislation has been amended to ensure that the assessment is included in these requirements on a statutory basis; this statutory basis forms the basis of this regret Motion in the name of my noble friend Lord Watson, who argued comprehensively for a flexible delay in the light of the pandemic, allowing teachers to focus on the greatest needs of those in need.

We have learned that the RBA assesses a child in early mathematics, literacy, communication and language and that its purpose is to form the starting point for cohort-level school progress measures. We understand the purpose and need for a baseline assessment of where a young child begins their formal entry into education and that data is used as a benchmark for recognising progress, but many noble Lords have argued powerfully in this debate for the complete abolition of the test, and I understand their views.

However, the basis of this regret Motion is to highlight the fixed position of the statutory basis beginning in September. We are asking for a little more flexibility to be written into the regulations so that schools, which have been through the most incredible and incredulous time since March 2020, have the ability to administer the test according to their particular circumstances throughout the autumn term and do not remain fixed to the window of six weeks, as noted in the administration.

I am pleased to see in the guidance that scores are not shared or published, to prevent labelling or streaming of children or judgment of early years providers, and that teachers receive a series of narrative statements informing them how the child performed on the day but, as my noble friend Lady Blower noted, the current legislation does not make explicit what will happen to that data. Furthermore, she informed us of the unsettling effect that such testing has at the start of a child’s education.

The teachers’ guidance document notes that the RBA assessment should sit alongside the important activity that takes place during the first term of reception. If the Minister agrees to review the timeline so that assessment could take place during the most appropriate time for the school and the early years pupils in the first two terms of reception, it would assist many schools and pupils to concentrate on other important activities that could take place at the optimum time for the school and the pupils after the most disrupted 18 months of learning in our experience.

My noble friend Lord Knight made many apposite points, including about the efficacy of taking up scarce teacher time that could be better used in direct classroom learning. Parents may be concerned about the pressure and disruption that RBA will place on very young children, many of whom have had a very disrupted early years experience due to the pandemic.

Can the Minister assure the families of children undergoing these assessments that every effort will be made to ensure that they are at ease and that the assessments are not disruptive to school integration? How will the impact of catch-up time for lost learning be factored in? Some children starting reception and undergoing these tests will have just turned four, whereas some of their fellow pupils will have already turned or will soon turn five. How will this large age discrepancy be accounted for in the assessment? I support the Motion.