What's the problem with the reception baseline assessment?

David Meechan unpicks the issues around the reception baseline assessment, he shares his research with us, as well as his personal experience as a parent, including requesting his son's withdrawal from the assessment and having to work with solicitors on this matter. David discusses his view on data, which should 'drive inclusion and promote access', rather than data being part of a reductionist model. David explains that the baseline assessment is in fact reproducing faults of an old system, rather than coming up with transformative or innovative ways of measuring children's progress. At the end David gives insight into his research findings around some positives teachers have taken from making the most of the reception baseline assessment, and he gives tips for teachers currently conducting the assessment.

Episode breakdown:

• 01:20 - How David's work started on the reception baseline
• 02:40 - Requesting his son's withdrawal from the assessment
• 04:45 - Inconsistencies of withdrawal from the assessment
• 06:20 - Moral issues with assessment and testing
• 08:20 - Research into the baseline assessment
• 11:30 - Signing away a child's data footprint
• 12:47 - The datafication of early years
• 16:00 - Are the children's best interests at heart?
• 17:30 - Taking teachers out of classrooms
• 18:58 - Key findings from David's baseline research
• 20:40 - Treating children as a means to an end
• 24:25 - Making the most of the reception baseline assessment
• 26:00 - A holistic approach to the baseline assessment
• 27:30 - Reliability of the baseline assessment
• 29:00 - Reducing lived experiences to abstract numbers
• 31:05 - Positives taken from the baseline assessment
• 33:00 - Giving value to assessment
• 36:55 - Tips for teachers conducting the baseline assessment

Hear and read more on The Voice of Early Childhood website: www.thevoiceofearlychildhood.com