Teachers would prefer a baseline assessment to be carried out in Year 1 rather than Reception, a survey from the National Foundation for Education Research has found.

In its response to the government’s primary assessment consultation, the NfER - which was one of the three approved providers of baseline assessments in 2015 - said that carrying out the assessment in reception, in line with government proposals, would “maximise the credit” given to schools for the value they add.

But its survey of 653 teachers and headteachers shows that 54 per cent of teachers would prefer a baseline assessment at the start of Year 1, while only 32 per cent opted for a baseline assessment in Reception year.

Headteachers were more likely to be in tune with the government, with 46 per cent preferring reception and 40 per cent backing Year 1. 

The government wants to introduce a new progress measure for primary schools, alongside measures showing how many children have reached the expected standard in maths, reading and writing.

Currently, progress is measured from the tests and teacher assessments which are carried out at the end of key stage 1 to Sats results in key stage 2.

But the government has proposed moving the baseline for measuring progress to the beginning of reception - meaning that the key stage 1 assessments could be scrapped.

Union doubts

A previous attempt to introduce baseline assessments had to be abandoned last year after it was found that the assessments from the three government-approved providers were not comparable.

And there has been widespread opposition to the baseline assessment from early years organisations and the NUT and ATL teaching unions, which said they were “time-consuming”, “potentially damaging to pupils” and produced no useful information.

The NfER has said that the alternative option of starting in Year 1, which was not addressed in the consultation, would align the starting point for any baseline with the beginning of the statutory school starting age and the national curriculum.

The NfER says that it believes the most appropriate starting point would be in Reception and that all children should be assessed against the same tasks in the same way.

In addition, the foundation calls for any new multiplication tables check to be administered in Year 5 rather than with the rest of the Sats in Year 6, and for writing assessment to be moved to a “best fit” model.

The consultation closes tomorrow.

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