The great ga-ga test

Babies will be assessed on 'crying, gurgling, babbling and squealing' under a new national curriculum for the under-fives.

Staff in every nursery in England will monitor children from birth on their progress towards a set of 'early learning goals'.

Parents' groups criticised the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, which all childminders and children's centres must adopt from September 2008.

Guidance published with the curriculum explains how childcare staff should monitor their charges' progress. Those up to 11 months should be assessed for 'the different ways babies communicate - such as gurgling when happy', the guidance says.

At this age, babies 'communicate in a variety of ways including crying, gurgling, babbling and squealing', it points out.

Staff are advised to record how babies under 11 months old 'begin to explore their own movements', mimic adults' facial expressions and 'gaze' at things that interest them. Babies are also included in a section dealing with how children learn to write.

Those between birth and 11 months should be observed for the 'random marks' they make in their food, according to the guidance.

Displaying toys and objects such as fir cones and shells in small groups or singly, helps develop the early numeracy skills of babies under 11 months, it says.

Staff should record 'the attention that young babies give to changes

in the quantity of objects or images they see, hear or experience'.

Margaret Morrissey, from the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said: 'I think it's really sad that we have reached the point now where instead of reducing children's stress we have increased it. Will nurseries be worrying more about children reaching these targets than caring for our children? It worries me that we are expecting children to reach these targets when they have not even had their first birthday.'

The curriculum guidance said ongoing assessment was integral to helping children learn.

'Providers must ensure that practitioners are observing children and responding appropriately to help them make progress from birth towards the early learning goals,' it said.

Children's minister Beverley Hughes said the curriculum should reassure parents that all nurseries were following a high-quality education programme.

'The first five years are a crucial time for a child's development,' she said. 'We know that good early years provision leads to better outcomes in a young person's future education and life chances.'

She said the guidance was intended to make sure nursery staff adopt a 'rigorous approach'. It was not designed to force babies and children into a 'rigorous' early education, she said.

'The children's experience will be free, it will be based on play, it will be rich,' she said. 'But the professionals behind that are required to have a thinking approach to the care of other people's children.'