Reception Baseline Assessment and ‘small acts’ of micro‐resistance

Abstract

In September 2021, following the global COVID‐19 pandemic, the Department for Education introduced a national standardised digital Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) for all English 4‐year‐old children. We analyse RBA and its associated Quality Monitoring Visits, as a further intensification of the new public management of early years education to produce ‘school‐ready’ human capital. This paper reports on professionals' and children's responses to RBA by analysing the mixed‐methods data from a nationwide survey of early years professionals (n = 1032) and six in‐depth case study Reception classes with teacher interviews (n = 14) and researcher observations (n = 12). An adult thematic analysis of the responses suggests that some children and their teachers used their agency in creative ‘small acts’ of micro‐resistance. These ‘small acts’ of resistance and refusal are theorised as micro‐political contestations of a policy that is antithetical to early education's socio‐cultural approach. More research is needed to further understand the politics of young children's rights, agency, micro‐resistance and refusal.