Creating an Ofsted story: the role of early years assessment data in schools’ narratives of progress

Abstract

This paper explores the growing importance of measures of progress in judgements of schools’ effectiveness in England, with a focus on the role of the early years (settings for children aged 2–5) in providing data for these measures. Qualitative data from a research project involving three diverse school-based and pre-compulsory early years settings are used to explore how teachers and school leaders prioritise the collection of data in their every-day practice, in order to show how children make continual progress. The need for a narrative of progress as children move up through the primary school, an ‘Ofsted story’ for the school inspection service, is discussed alongside recent policy which requires a ‘baseline’ assessment at age four. We argue that there is a reification of progress in schools and early years settings, and that this changes the status of early years within the sector.

Keywords:

• Ofsted
• early years
• assessment
• data
• primary schools
• baseline assessment
• progress measures
• accountability

Notes

1.  Detailed research on this policy has been conducted by the authors on this policy since this paper was written – see Bradbury and Roberts-Holmes (2016).

2.  It is worth noting that as this policy has been implemented, the Department of Education has clarified that if schools do not conduct a baseline assessment for a given cohort, they will be judged on raw attainment when this cohort reach the end of primary school (Standards and Testing Agency and DfE 2015).

3.  There was some speculation that a value added measure which takes into account FSM status might be re-introduced in the later years of the Coalition government, with Michael Gove (then Secretary of State for Education) quoted as saying “I agree it is a good thing to have a value-added measure that takes account of socio-economic background”. See https://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=63145.

4.  Although private nurseries are also subject to the same demands as state providers, this study is limited to state provision.