Every child showed strain

Researchers watched 22 four-year-olds take England's Reception Baseline Assessment on a touchscreen. All 22 showed some sign of discomfort or distress.

What the test is

The RBA is a statutory check of maths, literacy, communication and language, taken in a child's first six weeks of school. The digital version landed in 2025.

Filmed and analysed

Teams from Leeds Beckett and UCL video-recorded children across four classrooms in 2024 and 2025, then studied their gestures, posture, movement and speech.

Finger-sucking and gripping chairs

Observed behaviours included rocking, stiff posture, turning away from the screen and asking the teacher for reassurance again and again. One boy cried mid-question.

“I don't know how!”

The diagonal drag problem

In a story-sequencing task, only 6 of 17 children managed the diagonal drag-and-drop. Several could explain the beginning, middle and end out loud but lost it on the screen.

Testing swipes, not knowledge

If the finger movement defeats the child, the score reflects touchscreen familiarity rather than understanding. Marks go missing for the wrong reason.

“It's producing results that reflect a child's familiarity with a touchscreen rather than what they actually know.”

Teachers stuck to a script

Administrators must follow fixed wording and cannot deviate, so no one could calm an upset child or show them how the screen worked. Researchers say co-engaging would have helped.

Guidance pulling both ways

The DfE tells early years settings to limit and carefully plan screen use, while requiring 20 minutes of screen-based assessment. SafeScreens wants the digital RBA paused.

“Government guidance on screen use must be coherent.”