Petition · past parliament

Stop plans for the Reception baseline assessment to be rolled out by 2020

Closed 65 signatures

What the petition asks

The government are introducing compulsory testing for children in reception with the aim of rolling it out by 2020.
There are different ways of assessing children,these tests will be unreliable without taking into consideration the many factors that will be at play. They are simply just too young.
More info about the ins and outs of the assessment:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reception-baseline-assessment

News report:
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/apr/11/government-unveils-controversial-plan-testing-four-year-olds-england

There is a lot of research that suggests testing at this age can be detrimental to a child's development and learning:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0141192032000060902

Timeline

19 Mar 2019 Petition opened for signatures
19 Sep 2019 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 65
Status Closed
Opened 19 Mar 2019
Closed 19 Sep 2019

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.