Digital harms and the English reception baseline assessment

Abstract

This article critically examines the UK Government's imposition of the digital reception baseline assessment (RBA) that extends, amplifies and accelerates the existing English early years neoliberal accountability architecture. Drawing on a 2-year empirical study (2024–2025) across four Reception classes in diverse socio-economic contexts, the research adopted a multimodal analysis combining video observation and field notes to analyse children's embodied responses during the assessment. Through systematic analysis of the children's physical gestures, postures, haptics and spatial positioning, the research foregrounded young children's non-verbal expressions of experience, addressing a significant gap in datafication research. Findings indicate that children exhibited signs of distress, including anxiety, tension, self-soothing behaviours and rejection of the test, with these responses more pronounced in the 2025 dual-screen, child-facing digital format. The analysis reveals that the RBA's scripted delivery, algorithmic routing and touchscreen interface generate multiple forms of ‘digital harm’, including children's emotional distress, disruption of early childhood's relational care and pedagogic empathy, and the misrecognition of children's competencies. Unacknowledged digital literacy demands and English-only design systematically disadvantage some children, potentially amplifying existing inequalities. The article concludes by situating the RBA within a broader ‘techno-crisis’ of early childhood and calls for renewed emphasis on relational, care-centred pedagogies and critical scrutiny of commercial EdTech-driven policy interventions.