ABSTRACT
This chapter considers issues around baseline assessments. It addresses changes in the government's plans for baseline assessments in England over recent months. The recently appointed Secretary of State for Education has, to the relief of teachers, indicated a pause in the introduction of new assessments in primary schools in England. Department for education (DfE) announced its intention from 2016 to require all children in reception class in England to be tested on a baseline assessment, conducted in English and within six weeks of starting school. Many professionals recorded their opposition to the government's policy to make baseline assessments mandatory in England in 2016. Following the government's initial announcement in September 2015 of its plans for mandatory baseline assessments, the author started a small research in five primary schools in the West Midlands together with four colleagues at Newman University. They also intended to assess selected individual children on a more appropriate diagnostic language assessment, PLAI-2.
