New targets for 5 year olds

Ruth Kelly announced today new targets to assess five-year-old children in England in the Childcare Bill.  She said an extra 30,000 children must be "reaching a good level of development" every year but promised that the targets didn't mean formal assessments.  She also noted that "parents don't want their toddlers sitting exams or undergoing any form of assessment." According to the BBC:

"Instead teachers and childcare professionals simply observe children - looking, for example, for enthusiasm for learning and good communication skills.  We want to see an increase from 48% of children reaching a good level of development at age five to 53% by 2008.  It may not sound much put like that but it means an extra 30,000 more children ready to learn at age five every year."

The education secretary added that the government also wanted to see "faster gains in our most deprived communities".  So there's not going to be any exams for the children, but I guess we'll see nursery schools going into special measures soon because 'children arn't reaching a good level of attainment, especially in the deprived area.'