Assessment: Reducing children to numbers

Our research over the past few years in early years settings and nursery and Reception classes in schools has found that the early years sector is currently obsessed with data. The collection and analysis of data have become key features of early years practitioners’ and teachers’ work, motivated by the need to track children’s progress and fulfil Government policy, such as the introduction of baseline assessment in Reception, and the EYFS Profile. But the important question is often overlooked: what does this data tell us?

Children are complex, complicated beings, so that the lived experiences of those who work with them contrast with the simplicity of assessments that require simple yes/no answers. Our research suggests that the early years is undergoing a process of ‘datafication’, that is the shift towards prioritising data collection, and that this can be a reductive process that reduces the complexity of children’s learning to numbers. This research is motivated by continued policy decisions that force practitioners to engage in more data collection – such as the recently reported reintroduction of baseline.