Four and five-year-olds to face basic literacy and reasoning tests within weeks of starting school
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| A Whitehall source said the tests for young children would give schools a clearer idea of pupils' progress. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian |
Compulsory national testing for four- and five-year-olds in England from 2016 is to be introduced as part of sweeping changes being proposed to early years and primary education.
The tests will take place in the first weeks of reception class, when most children will be aged four, and will be designed to give teachers and schools a clearer idea of each child's abilities at the start of their formal schooling.
The tests are to be carefully crafted to estimate a child's "baseline" abilities in very basic literacy, reasoning and cognition, rather than testing their knowledge as in a traditional examination.
A Whitehall source said: "This has been mooted for some time and is a logical step. It will help teachers identify where each child starts from, and which children are likely to need the most help.
"It will also give schools a clearer idea of how much progress their pupils are making, because they will know better where they have started from."
To counter the likely criticism from parents, unions and academics concerned at the additional stress for pupils and teachers, the Department for Education is likely to abolish the current key stage one tests that take place at the end of year two, when most pupils are aged seven.
The timing of the "phonics check", a test of reading progression that currently takes place at the end of year one, is also being reconsidered.
The decision to introduce tests at the start of the first year of schooling comes after a DfE consultation exercise last year, which first included suggestions of a brief baseline test.
The government is expected to shortly announce the results of the consultation and officially reveal the new reception class test, which was first reported in The Times.
In response, a spokeswoman for the DfE said: "We have consulted on our proposed primary school assessment and accountability measures and we are considering our response."
In addition, national tests for 11-year-olds are to be reformed to bring them better into line with the new national curriculum, with levels replaced by a new grading system. Plans to tell parents their child's ranking have been quietly shelved after opposition.
The tests in reception and for 11-year-olds will allow the DfE to more accurately chart the progress from start to finish made by classes of pupils within each primary school.
But testing children at such a young age is fraught with difficulty and likely to be time consuming, given that the tests often need to take place on a one-to-one basis.
The timing of the tests will be difficult for children born in summer, given that they may start reception only a few weeks or even days after their fourth birthday – and so may struggle compared with children who may be nearly a year older.
Russell Hobby, head of the National Association of Head Teachers, which represents many primary school leaders, said he saw no problems with reception tests, providing they were carefully managed.
"The notion of testing four-year-olds in exam hall conditions is clearly ludicrous. A properly designed teacher assessment is the model here," Hobby said.
"The government needs to recognise that this is a step into the unknown. Although all primaries assess young children, these are not currently used for accountability, which changes everything. We call upon the government to pilot and evaluate any assessment before making any final commitments."
News of the tests is likely to spark further controversy over the amount of testing that children face in England's state schools.
The coming week is expected to see a series of announcements around education and early years coming from the DfE and No 10.
Separately, Sally Morgan, the chair of schools inspectorate Ofsted, is said to be stepping down in September, having received a brief extension to her term of office which was to have expired next month.
