Last month, at the height of the pandemic, we were asked by the STA (Standards and Testing Agency) to review Test Items for its third attempt at Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) in September 2023.
This was a surprising invitation because our national research into the 2019 Pilot of Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) with a combined a survey of 1,285 teachers’ views and six in-depth case studies of schools found that:
‘Baseline assessment is at odds with what we know about child development. Instead of building confidence and trusting relationships through active play, children are forced to sit still for up to half an hour to complete an inappropriate screen-based, tightly-scripted literacy and numeracy test. For some four-year-olds, trying to settle into their first experience of school, it creates inappropriate stress, emotional upset and uncertainty. Contrary to claims that children don't know they're being tested, we found that children are well aware that they are taking a scripted computer test, and that they have a sense of whether they've performed well or badly. There is a danger that they will then label themselves as good or bad learners’ (Roberts-Holmes et al, 2020, p.60).
Despite many such criticisms from parents, professionals and the 7,000 schools who refused to implement Baseline, the Government has not listened, showing early years professionals a lack of respect and trust.
The fact that DfE and STA seem committed to proceed with RBA seems to be part of a wider ‘catch up’ agenda, with its focus on making up lost academic ground. There is a danger that this wider ‘catch up’ agenda with its school readiness targets, such as RBA, could potentially cascade into PVI nurseries with unintended consequences.
We suggest that the DfE and STA need to catch-up with the reality of children, parents and communities who are suffering enormous social-emotional and mental health impacts, debilitating debt, poor housing, food insecurity and closing nursery provision, particularly in poorer areas. We now know that the pandemic has greatly exacerbated existing economic, social and educational inequalities.
The Pandemic is amplifying inequality
The Children’s Commissioner report (Longfield, 2021) on the state of children’s mental health services 2020/21 warns of damage to children’s mental health caused by the pandemic which could last for years unless mental health services are improved and expanded. Similarly, in July 2020, a survey by NHS Digital found that the prevalence of clinically significant mental health conditions among children was 50 per cent higher than in the previous survey from 2017, suggesting that this significant and rapid increase is a consequence of COVID-19 (BMJ, 2021), whilst the rates of self-harm among young children have doubled over the past six years.
Commenting on this data Keith Hawton, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford said, 'I do think it’s important that it’s recognised that self-harm can occur in relatively young children, which many people are surprised by. I think it indicates that mental health issues are perhaps increasing in this very young age range' (Marsh, 2021).
Child psychologists have noted that ‘children’s mental health and their right to play and have fun with their friends [should not be] forgotten in a rush to catch them up to educational targets that adults have set for them’ (Weale, 2021).
Rather than rushing ahead with an inappropriate test and performativity catch-up agenda, such as RBA, we urge the Government to listen and trust early years professional judgements that relationships, child-led physical play and good mental health need to come first.
Now is the time to trust early years professionals
With the suspension of national performance measures and OFSTED inspections, now is the time for the Government to listen and trust early years professionals, families and communities in a process of democratic accountability (Cameron and Moss, 2020). We believe that the Government needs to catch-up with the early years professional, who in a recent discussion with one of us, shared this quote from Malaguzzi:
‘Stand aside for a while and leave room for learning, observe carefully what children do, and then, if you have understood well, perhaps teaching will be different from before.’ (Malaguzzi in Edwards, Gandini and Forman, 1993, p.77).
Despite its devastating effects, the pandemic provides the Government with an opportunity to focus on wellbeing and mental health and away from its impoverished school readiness agenda. A reframing of assessments towards collaborative and democratic ‘learning stories’ that happen every day individually and collectively and that are open for surprise through ‘pedagogical documentation’ and the sharing of experiences, interactions, and projects is necessary to regenerate early childhood education in England.
A democratic accountability understands children as curious researchers and co-constructors of knowledge who are capable of developing informed critical attitudes. A democratic accountability understands early years professionals as working closely with families and communities by opening up new spaces for possibilities and dialogue through recognising and listening to educators', children's, and families' personal and collective meaningful stories.
Rather than catching-up to 'recover' pre-determined learning outcomes, now is the time to trust educators' professional judgements to make meaningful pedagogical choices.
Guy Roberts-Holmes is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, Siew-Fung Lee is a Post-doc Researcher and Diana Sousa is a Lecturer (Teaching) in Early Childhood Education at the UCL Institute of Education, London. Guy Roberts-Holmes and Peter Moss’ new book ‘Neoliberalism and Early Childhood Education: Markets, Imaginaries and Governance’ is published by Routledge April 2021.
References
- BMJ 2021; 372 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n258 (Published 28 January 2021)
- Cameron, C. and Moss, P. (Eds) (2020) Transforming Early Childhood Education in England: Towards a Democratic Education. UCL Press. Available at: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/128464
- Edwards, C. Gandini, L. and Forman, G. (1993) The hundred Languages of Children. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex
- Longfield, A (2021) Available at: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/cco-the-state-of-childrens-mental-health-services-2020-21.pdf
- Marsh, S. (2021) Self-harm among young children in UK doubles in six years. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/16/self-harm-among-young-children-in-uk-doubles-in-six-years
- NHS Digital (2020) Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2020: Wave 1 follow up to the 2017 survey. Available at: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england/2020-wave-1-follow-up
- Roberts-Holmes, G., Lee., S-F., Sousa, D. and Jones, E. (2020) Research into the 2019 Pilot of Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA). London: UCL IoE/National Education Union. (neu. org.uk/media/9116/view).
- Weale, S. (2021) Call for 'summer of play' to help English pupils recover from Covid-19 stress. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/13/call-for-summer-of-play-to-help-english-pupils-recover-from-covid-stress
Further information
Neoliberalism, with its belief in competition, markets and self-interest, its reduction of everything to economics, and its pervasive managerialism has sunk its roots deep into Early Childhood Education and Care - especially in the UK. This book considers its detrimental impacts upon young children, families, settings and the workforce. Through an exploration of possibilities for resistance and refusal, and reflection on the significance of the coronavirus pandemic, Roberts-Holmes and Moss provide hope that neoliberalism’s current hegemony can be successfully contested.
Join a free UCL online book launch and discussion on Tuesday 4th May 1.00-2.00 pm.
https://ucl.zoom.us/j/91790860206?pwd=WldNR3ZiT2YxQUdSMG5EOEVpckdjUT09