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Lord Tope: I simply wish to put on record, if it needs to be put on record again, that there is indeed widespread support for baseline assessment. Certainly, my party wholeheartedly supports it. But we are quite right to be wary of its possible dangers. The Minister says--I hope he will repeat it in a moment--that there is no intention that it should be used for selection or for admission purposes. I accept that that is not the intention but I fear that it may be what will develop. We look at what is coming with test results, league tables and baseline assessment. There is a danger--I put it no more strongly--that this may be leading some schools perhaps toward introducing it as a means of selection. We are wary of that and this amendment seeks to address it.
Lord Henley: Let me first make it quite clear that we have no plans to bring in primary grammar schools, as the noble Baroness, Lady Farrington, suggested. Obviously, we allow the possibility for primary schools to select, if they so wish. I feel that it is very unlikely that many would do so but the power is there and was always there.
Having said that, I am grateful to noble Lords on the two Front Benches for their support for baseline assessment. This is one of those occasions on which there is general agreement from all three parties and, dare I say it, all round the House on the virtues of baseline assessment and its usefulness.
I also ought to repeat the assurance that I gave at an earlier stage--it should hardly be necessary to repeat it, as I spoke from this Dispatch Box on an earlier occasion--that we have no intention that baseline tests should be used for primary selection. In fact, that would be impossible in that baseline assessment takes place after the child has entered the school. Therefore it could not be used for selection.
However, that is not to say that it would not be possible, should a school want to go down that route--I feel that it is exceedingly unlikely and it is not a route
that many schools would want to follow--that they could not use the test, should they so wish. But that is not the function of those particular tests. The function is just what it says: baseline assessment. That is what it will be.The noble Baroness, Lady Ramsay of Cartvale, asked whether the information could in future be used for selection by means of baseline assessment taking place at an earlier stage--she quoted from my letter--on nursery school pupils. I should like to look at that point and possibly come back to the noble Baroness in correspondence between now and another stage.
There is one last point that I should like to pick up now in response to the noble Baroness, Lady Farrington. She talked about the tests having certain functions in terms of screening for special educational needs and so on. One must be very careful about thinking that baseline assessment can play so useful a role in that field. She accepted that it was not suitable for diagnostic purposes of special educational needs and I am sure that we all agree on that. I feel that we should probably all like to say that it is not necessarily suitable for screening for special educational needs but, like the noble Baroness, I suspect that there might be occasions when it may help for that purpose to throw up some problems earlier rather than later. But the important point to remember is that it does not have a special educational needs function. There are other mechanisms in place for that. Therefore, although she recognises that it does not have a diagnostic purpose, it possibly does not even have a screening purpose, though it might help on some occasions.
Lord Addington: Before the noble Lord sits down, perhaps I can pursue his last point in relation to recognition of special educational needs. Does not the Minister agree that it might be worth considering including some form of initial warning programme into the tests? A large amount of time and money is spent and many children suffer when problems such as dyslexia are not resolved early. The Government should look at bringing in some form of test at some point.
Lord Henley: The function of the baseline assessments is different to the requirement the noble Lord is talking about. The noble Lord, Lord Addington, knows that children can be statemented from a much earlier age--indeed, from two onwards--and it is right that that should happen. As I said, it is possible that there may be occasions when it may help a bit, as the noble Baroness, Lady Farrington, said, on the screening. But that is not the function of the test.
The function of the test is to get the baseline assessment right. Other mechanisms should be in place to ensure that there is early recognition--we all recognise its importance--of special educational needs. However, I am not sure that these tests should necessarily be designed to do that. If the experts who
advise us on these matters say otherwise, and one could devise them in such a way, then so be it. However, I would not want to distort the tests in that way.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: I was trying to express from these Benches that we recognise that there is a difference between baseline assessments and the types of testing necessary for the detailed analysis of special educational needs, notwithstanding the fact that statemented pupils who may have quite severe learning difficulties may well be identified in advance of primary school age. However, we are concerned with the 18 per cent.--often referred to as the "Warnock" children--who have special educational needs and for whom a statement is not necessary, but provision is.
My understanding of the legislation as it is drafted--perhaps the Minister will correct me if I am wrong--is that it does not require that the baseline assessment necessarily takes place after the child has started school; it could take place earlier. Given that there is a wide degree of support within the education profession from many schools and governors because of their experience, across political parties and from those with no political affiliation, and given that the Government's stated intention is that baseline assessment should not be used in order to select pupils at primary school age, cannot the Government accept amendments that would prevent such use? Such amendments could identify the purpose of baseline assessment as being those that the Government and SCAA have stated clearly. It would be helpful if the Minister could respond, at least to say that he will take the matter away and consider it.
Lord Henley: I repeat what I said earlier. Our intention is that baseline assessment should start after admission. The noble Baroness knows that my door is always open. Of course I shall take away this matter and consider whether the drafting needs to be tighter. There may be some who believe that there are occasions when earlier baseline assessment might be possible. I can only repeat that our intention is that it should not be part of the admissions process.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: I know that the Minister's door is always open. However, if it is open always to give the same answer, the open door can serve little purpose.
It is with deep concern that I record that many people will be greatly troubled by an apparent government refusal to rule out the use of baseline assessment for selection purposes. I noted the Minister's words carefully and shall read them again tomorrow in Hansard. I believe he said, "there may be some who would".
To start a system of selection by ability at primary age would patently be divisive and destructive. It is something with which we cannot possibly agree. However, I shall read the Minister's words carefully and hope that it is possible to obtain stronger support for ruling out selection at primary school age. In the meantime, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
8.45 p.m.
The Lord Bishop of Ripon moved Amendment No. 136:
The right reverend Prelate said: In moving Amendment No. 136, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 150. Clauses 33 to 35 relate to baseline assessments of primary school pupils. As has been said, there is widespread support for that. Clause 36 refers to performance targets. The intention of Amendment No. 136 is to link together baseline assessment and performance targets. It seeks to extend the definitions in Clause 32 to cover also Clause 36. The intention of Amendment No. 150 is to require that regulation should provide for annual targets in primary schools to be set by reference to the baseline assessment scheme for the school.
The general feeling is that baseline assessments will enable some kind of measure of what might be termed "value added" to be made. I do not believe that expectations of value added should be set low; indeed, I believe that expectations need to be high, whatever the setting of the school--it is particularly true in inner city schools. Nevertheless, it makes sense that the targets which are set under Clause 36 should bear some relation to the baseline assessments or at least should be prepared to take into account those assessments. With that brief introduction--I do not want to detain the Committee at this late hour--I beg to move.
Lord Morris of Castle Morris: Perhaps I may speak to both Amendments Nos. 136 and 150. I found some difficulty in threading my way and wrapping my mind around those amendments. I shall be grateful if either the right reverend Prelate or the Minister will correct me if I have gone wrong.
As I understand it, baseline assessment is defined only for Chapter 1 of Part VI and, by substituting "Chapter" for "Part" the term "baseline assessment" can then be used in Chapter 2 on performance targets, which is the point of Amendment No. 136. Amendment No. 150 requires primary schools to set annual targets,
One might hope that targets would be set in relation to numerical outcomes on baseline assessment schemes; that is, how many children each reach a set series of standards. Clearly, a school would not wish to set targets for the results of baseline assessments--by which I understand that schools should not themselves set the standards The net result is that the targets would be on a common basis.
If I understand that correctly, then the amendment is a probing amendment to find out whether "baseline assessment" can be used in relation to the construction of targets. Do baseline assessments count as,
That is a phrase used in Clause 36(2)(b). I shall be grateful for any correction or agreement that my understanding of the amendments is correct.
Page 28, line 39, leave out ("Chapter") and insert ("Part").
"by reference to any baseline assessment schemes adopted for the school".
"the past performance of pupils in the particular examinations or assessments"?
3 Mar 1997 : Column 1594
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