Under observation

Early years practitioners have given a mixed welcome to the Government's move to abolish baseline assessments on four-and five-year-olds during their first seven weeks at primary school in England, and introduce a profile scheme to be completed at the end of the Foundation Stage.

They approve of the move to streamline the current system, under which more than 90 accredited baseline assessment schemes are operating throughout England. But that is tempered by concern that it could be used as a 'stick to beat' Foundation Stage practitioners.

The new national Foundation Stage Profile Scheme will employ ongoing observation and assessment to look at each child's progress towards all six of the Early Learning Goals and their learning needs. The scheme, which was announced in the recent education White Paper and consultation documents, is sponsored by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The National Foundation for Educational Research is developing the scheme in partnership with Birmingham LEA. They have devised assessment schemes currently in use. The new scheme will be introduced in England in September 2002 at the start of the next school year. (See box below for details of baseline assessments in the rest of the UK.) A group of reception teachers in Birmingham contributed ideas for scaled criteria and assessment activities, which are to be tested in randomly selected schools across England next month and again on up to 5,000 children next summer. The assessments are based on observations and professional judgement, supplemented by assessment activities for optional use with individual or small groups of children.