‘Slimmed down’ assessment or increased accountability? Teachers, elections and UK government assessment policy

Abstract

AbstractSince coming to power in 2010, the UK Coalition government in power has implemented a range of reforms in relation to assessment at all stages of education in England. This paper focuses on two assessment reforms relating to children aged five and six years old, and considers their evolution from manifesto commitments to practice in classrooms. These reforms are the introduction of the Phonics Screening Check at age six, and the revised Early Years Foundation Stage Profile at age five. The main focus is on the coherence of these policies, both over time and as part of an overall government strategy on assessment in early years and primary education. It is argued that, despite claims of reducing bureaucracy, these assessment policies are driven by an agenda of increasing accountability in the first years of primary school.Keywords: assessmentaccountabilityearly yearsphonicspolicy AcknowledgementsThe author would like to thank Stephen Ball and Carol Vincent for their helpful comments on this article.Notes1. Also included are words which involve digraphs (sounds using more than one letter, such as 'voo'), split digraphs (where the two letters are not consecutive, such as 'fape') and phonetically consistent words with two syllables (such as 'dentist').2. These 'points' indicated increasing levels of difficulty, and ranged from such diverse areas as 'Dresses, undresses and manages own personal hygiene with adult support' to 'Takes into account the ideas of others' and 'Retells narratives in the correct sequence, drawing on language patterns of stories' (DCSF, Citation2008). Although these decisions were made in June, the teacher was required to collect evidence in the form of observations, photographs and samples of work throughout the academic year from September.3. A significant issue in relation to the EYFS Profile (and other assessments) is the problem of reconciling the dual aims of individual assessment and assessment of the school's performance. My previous research indicated that as the EYFS Profile results functioned as a baseline figure for calculations of 'value added' by the school, and that in an atmosphere where 'progress' in assessments is a priority for all schools, there was a temptation for schools to deliberately deflate their EYFS Profile results (see Bradbury, Citation2013).4. Although the Citation2010 election brought about coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, and thus we might expect to see the influence of both parties on education policy (as elsewhere, notably in the introduction of the Liberal Democrat policy of the 'pupil premium' for students on free school meals), in this case the introduction of the Phonics Check appears to be a policy of entirely Conservative origin.5. Further discussion of the voices included and excluded from these debates would be purposeful, but is not included here for reasons of space.6. Note that this research has not been published in an academic journal as of the time of writing, but was widely reported in the press; information here is taken from a University of Oxford press release.