Education Policy Institute raise concerns about the EY disadvantage gap

[FSFRebecca]

In their annual 'Education in England' report the Education Policy Institute (EPI) have highlighted that attainment for children at the end of their early years has stalled whereas previously it was increasing.

This is the executive summary as it relates to the early years:

To measure performance in the early years, we look at the total point score of children as measured by the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). We use the total point score, as opposed to the proportion of children achieving the Government’s benchmark of “a Good Level of Development”. Measuring performance using a binary benchmark can lead practitioners to, consciously or otherwise, push pupils over the line. Our use of the total point score reduces the effect of this – thereby giving a more reliable picture of the trend in attainment. Assessment of young children’s development and attainment is particularly challenging, and because it requires some degree of teacher mediation, this introduces risks of inconsistent measurement. The EYFSP is assessed against criteria known as the Early Learning Goals, but it is based entirely on observational assessment by the teacher and does not make use of any standardised tasks. The current funding arrangements mean that there is an inherent incentive for schools to deflate their results in order to secure more funding through the Low Prior Attainment factor (there is no evidence that schools do this, but the incentive exists nonetheless). The DfE plans to introduce a new Reception Baseline assessment, which will include teacher-mediated standardised tasks, and, as this develops, we will consider whether this provides a better, more reliable, measure to assess both
attainment in the early years and progress from the beginning to the end of primary school.

We find that, in 2017, the average total point score was 34.5 (on a scale of 17 to 51). This represents no change from 2016, but prior to 2016, attainment was increasing."

Various media sources have picked up on the concerns raised within the report:

• Nursery World
• TES
• PLA
• NDNA