Readiness for what?

Parents, reception teachers, union leaders and academics rejoiced when the Department for Education (DfE) announced that the ‘Reception baseline assessment will not be used as a starting point to measure pupil progress’ (DfE, 2016). Ministers had realised the tests were not comparable as each baseline test generated different types of data.

However, there could be darker clouds on the horizon, as the DfE explained, ‘Over the coming months we will be considering options for improving assessment arrangements in reception beyond 2016 to 2017 and will make an announcement in due course’ (DfE, 2016).

There have been whisperings that ministers are considering introducing ‘school readiness indicators’ (Vaughan, 2016). Caution is also required when considering the school readiness indicators as academics around the world and those working with children have long debated the concept ‘readiness’ and how to measure it (Meisels, 1999). Although there may not be a shared definition of readiness, there is a consensus between practitioners, teachers and academics that children’s readiness and ‘school readiness’ are difficult terms to define and consequently measure (Brown, 2010).