Two in three teachers have faced technical problems in delivering the Reception baseline assessment (RBA) this year, a survey has found.

The RBA has been statutory for schools since September 2021, but from this month it became fully digital.

A number of teachers have indicated in online teachers’ groups this month that difficulties were caused by the RBA assessment itself - specifically, the test repeatedly disconnecting - and said the issue was not with their school’s connectivity.

One teacher said they lost connectivity 10 times with a single pupil. Another said that, no matter how well prepared they were, most people in their online group had faced “functional issues”.

In a statement, Ofqual told Tes that it was aware of “connection issues with the Reception Baseline Assessment”, had followed up on these issues with the Standards and Testing Agency - which is responsible for developing and delivering the RBA in primary schools - and will “continue to monitor the situation closely”.

Teacher Tapp’s data shows that, of 462 early years foundation stage and key stage 1 teachers surveyed on 17 September, 67 per cent had technical problems administering the test and 33 per cent had staffing issues.

Alongside the technology and staffing cover problems, 13 per cent of respondents said they faced other issues administering the exam and only 21 per cent of teachers had no problems at all.

James Bowen, assistant general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “This matches some reports of technical difficulties administering the Reception baseline that we’ve heard from our members. What is most frustrating is that these sorts of issues should have been identified and worked through in advance.

“These sorts of technical challenges can be a source of huge frustration for school staff and create additional burdens on them.”

‘Inaccurate representations’

Introduced in 2021, the RBA was designed to provide the Department for Education with school progress measures to show the development schools are making with their pupils, from Reception to the end of key stage 2.

Daniel Woodrow, headteacher at St Gregory CEVC Primary School in Suffolk, attributed the problems to the RBA technology: “Our school wi-fi was strong and secure on the devices we were using and there were no issues with any other apps or websites.”

Mr Woodrow said the progress measures would result in inaccurate school and pupil data going to the DfE.

“One of the issues with the test is that if something does go wrong, and you’re logged out and then logged back in and an answer has been recorded incorrectly, you’re not able to go back and correct that - or we haven’t found a way of being able to do that - and so there’s not a way of correcting false data,” he said.

The failure of the technology could result in a more favourable - but inaccurate - picture of the school, explained Mr Woodrow.

“There will be quite a few of our children who are working at a particular level, and the baseline assessment says they’re not, they’re working below that,” he said.

“So, theoretically, our progress figures in seven years would look stronger, but they would not be accurate because of it.”

Impact on maths understanding

Laura Williams, EYFS lead at St Gregory, said the interactive nature of the RBA was distracting pupils from answering questions - for example, when they have to move items across iPad screens in maths questions.

“It’s taken away from the children’s understanding of the maths because they’re too busy faffing around,” she said.

Tes learned that the Standards and Testing Agency was aware that some schools experienced technical issues with the RBA service earlier in September, and that it then implemented improvements but has found that most schools are not experiencing any significant difficulties.

A spokesperson for Ofqual said: “The Standards and Testing Agency has notified Ofqual that some schools had been reporting connection issues with the Reception Baseline Assessment. We have followed up on these issues with STA, which has provided us with assurances that schools can still access the test. However, we continue to monitor the situation closely.”

A spokesperson for the More Than a Score campaign group said: “Teachers, heads and parents have always known that it is impossible to get reliable data from four-year-olds. Introducing a digital requirement has clearly not helped.

“This is just the latest development in the rollout of a statutory assessment which is a waste of everyone’s time, especially Reception teachers settling in a class of new starters.

“Since [the RBA’s] introduction, the DfE has never been able to provide details of how a test taken by four-year-olds in the first weeks of school will ever be a reliable progress measure when compared to four days of exams in Year 6.”

A Teacher Tapp spokesperson said: “This question was put to EYFS and KS1 teachers only, so although a smaller sample, it provides a good representation of what is happening in primary schools. The question was specifically around the Reception baseline assessment, so it would not be appropriate to send it to all primary teachers.”

You can now get the UK’s most-trusted source of education news in a mobile app. Get Tes magazine on iOS and on Android