The government’s plans to assess four and five-year-old children in their first few weeks of school from September should be postponed, according to a report from the More Than A Score campaign group.

A YouGov survey of 2,012 parents in England with children aged 4 to 11 suggests that only 15% think spending time preparing for assessments should be included in a “catch-up” programme for pupils.

The poll found that 67% of parents would prefer the programme to include their children participating in activities which were not accessible during lockdown, most of which take place outside of the classroom such as drama, outdoor play and group sports.

The More Than A Score report urges the government to pause the introduction of the RBA, as well as SATs and all other statutory assessments in Years 1, 2, 4 and 6, including the phonics and times tables checks.

Alison Ali, a spokesperson for More Than A Score, said: “Everyone’s talking about catch-up and lost learning. At More Than A Score, we say there’s a simple solution for primary schools: don’t bring back Sats and the other assessments children have to sit in five out of seven years.

“Cancelling them for two years has had zero negative impact. Keeping them out of schools will give teachers and children the time they need to bridge learning gaps and focus on wellbeing.

“Change to the system is long overdue and any focus on true recovery is incomplete without an acknowledgement of this.

“The chorus of parents, heads, children, unions, MPs and dozens of organisations working in the field agree: the time has come to turn the page on the current primary assessment regime.”

In response, a Department for Education (DfE) spokesman said: “Assessments are designed to enable teachers to track pupils’ progress, helping to make sure they stay on track to fulfil their potential throughout school.

“Our reforms are helping to ensure children leave primary school with a secure grasp of reading, writing and mathematics, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

“We have already invested £1.7 billion in ambitious catch-up activity, and are working with parents, teachers and schools to develop a long-term plan to make sure all pupils have the chance to recover from the impact of the pandemic as quickly and comprehensively as possible.”

The 2021 exams will go ahead, but the majority of tests will be pushed back to give pupils more time to catch up on their learning following school closures.

In a written statement on Monday, Mr Williamson said: “I can confirm that GCSE, AS and A level exams in 2021 will go ahead, with most exams moved back three weeks next year to give students more time to prepare and a chance to catch up on education lost due to COVID-19.

“We know that exams are the fairest way of measuring a student’s abilities and accomplishments, including the most disadvantaged.”

The summer exam series will start on 7 June and end on 2 July for almost all A levels and GCSEs. One maths and one English GCSE exam will be held just before the May half-term, giving any Year 11 pupils who are affected by Covid-19 “the best possible chance” of still sitting a paper in each of these core subjects.

Results days are Tuesday 24 August for A levels and Friday 27 August for GCSEs, allowing students to start the following academic year as normal.

The DfE said there would be back-up plans in case exams were disrupted, but that students, teachers and parents would have to wait until “later in the autumn” to find out what they are.

In response to the announcement, a group of leading education unions have urged the Government to cut down the exam syllabus and give pupils greater choice over the topics they answer questions on – a proposal the Government has rejected at this stage.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL school leadership union, said he was “dismayed” by the announcement, and said delaying the start if exams would be “of marginal benefit when compared to the loss of learning from the national lockdown and ongoing disruption”.

“It has taken the government an eternity to reach a very inadequate response to the scale of the challenge which lies ahead for students who are taking GCSEs and A-levels next year.”

The announcement comes following the fiasco around grading of GCSE and A-level students this summer after exams were cancelled amid COVID-19. Thousands of A-level students had their results downgraded from school estimates by an algorithm, before England’s exams regulator Ofqual announced a U-turn allowing them to use teachers’ predictions.

Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow, believes education would benefit from replacing traditional Key Stage Four exams with a qualification that recognises academic and technical skills, alongside personal development.

On Monday, Mr Halfon will address an audience of people from the education sector at the Cabinet War Rooms.

He will tell them an emphasis on a “knowledge-rich curriculum”, through performance measures like the EBacc, has pressurised teachers to train to the test. The MP believes that this leads to the focus being on rote learning above skills such as communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and team-working.

He is expected to say: “I fully support the need for every young person to be able to access through their schooling, a working knowledge of our cultural capital, our history and our literature.

“But it is also essential that we are developing our next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs and designers. All young people should have access to the technical and creative subjects that will give them the skills that employers are looking for.

“These are not ‘soft skills’ developed at the expense of knowledge, but the essential skills that will enable young people to interpret, manipulate and communicate that knowledge.”

Edge Foundation chief executive, Alice Barnard, said: “I think Robert is reflecting the concerns not only of parents, teachers and pupils themselves, but employers and business leaders from across all sectors.

“Technology is moving at such a rapid pace and change happening so quickly, we are failing young people if we do not enable them to develop the adaptability and the critical skills they need now and in the future.”
However, the Department for Education (DfE) has shown no signs of supporting the call.

A spokesperson said: “GSCEs are the gold standard qualification at age 16 and a passport to further study and employability – they were recently reformed so that their demand matches that in other high-performing countries and better prepare students for work and further study.

“We are also taking forward reforms from the Independent Panel on Technical Education to give students a clear choice between an academic or technical path at aged 16. T Levels, alongside apprenticeships, will form the basis of our high-quality technical education offer.”

However, the DfE is not alone in its desire to retain GCSEs. A snap poll of over 500 students carried out by chat forum, The Student Room, revealed that 62% of students want to keep the exams as they are. A few typical responses include:

“After all the effort that they went into, changing the grading system to 9-1, I think all that would have been for nothing.”

“Can we not change the education system every few years? GCSEs should not be scrapped.”

“The system is fine as it currently is. I swear T levels are also being introduced to help with the vocational aspect of our education system anyway…”