AS if England’s children aren’t subject to enough standardised testing already, the Conservative Government plans to introduce baseline testing for all four year-olds within weeks of them entering Reception.
Evidence and expert opinion suggests any such testing will be unreliable and is both unnecessary and potentially damaging. This sort of testing is not done for the benefit of pupils; it is done so that schools can be judged against one-another for the progress their pupils make.
School catchments vary considerably however. Meanwhile pupils make linear developmental progress no more than they all physically grow at a standardised rate.
When schools are struggling for cash and face a growing teacher recruitment and retention crisis, the estimated £10 million annual administration costs are both an offence to schools and an insult to the professionalism of classroom teachers.
More Than A Score – a coalition of parent groups, teachers, education and mental health professionals - has launched a petition opposing these tests which I urge readers to sign: actionnetwork.org/petitions/four-year-olds-dont-need-exams
We should trust our teachers, as professionals, to be able to assess the needs of the children in their care. Children need time and space to develop, not to be measured and tested every step of the way.
Cllr Jonny Crawshaw (Labour),
Wentworth Road, York
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