Ted Wragg’s Last Word is always my piece of icing on the TES cake, as he puts his finger on the pulse of some of the absurdities in our world of education.
However, I feel he missed the purpose of baseline assessments. (TES, October 2). It is true that the results may be misused as “weighting” for later league tables, but the main purpose of these assessments is to inform the reception teacher of the strengths and weaknesses of the intake.
Just 20 minutes, approximately, for each child in the very early stages of their education will prove diagnostically invaluable to the teacher and help to establish a partnership with parents.
Ignore the “spin-offs,” Ted; visit a reception class and see the assessments in action and try not to spoil my “icing” again.
Julia Matthews. Honorary research associate. University of Greenwich. London
