Kirsty Williams: Well, Mark, it is important that local authorities get as much education money, which is given to them either through the RSG or through special grants from this Government, to the front line. That’s where I expect money to be utilised—in our classrooms. I would urge local authorities again to look at ensuring that as much delegated budget is available as possible. One of the other...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Jayne. We recognise the importance of fostering a love of reading from an early age. Our national literacy and numeracy programme and its key policies, including the national literacy and numeracy framework and our grant-funded literacy interventions, support us in achieving this aim.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you for that. I am aware of concerns on the issue of literature in key stage 4 and that some schools have been lobbying for increased emphasis on literature in performance measures. I have already signalled that school accountability is being reviewed as part of our education reforms and our national mission to improve education standards. We introduced new programmes of study for both...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Lynne. Promoting the emotional resilience of children and young people must be understood within the wider context of their well-being. Higher levels of well-being are linked to increased educational achievement and engagement. For that reason, we are adding ‘well-being’ as a fifth objective in the next version of ‘Qualified for Life’.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Lynne. It is absolutely crucial. As we discussed in committee this morning, there is much that we can do to prevent difficult situations for our young people and children, but we will never, ever be able to prevent them from experiencing life's ups and downs—whether that's bereavement, whether that is the break-up, perhaps, of a significant relationship in their life, whether...
Kirsty Williams: Deputy Presiding Officer, earlier this year I made a statement to the Assembly announcing the Government’s response to Professor Ellen Hazelkorn’s report, ‘Towards 2030: A framework for building a world-class post-compulsory education system for Wales’. That report made significant recommendations for reforming the post-compulsory education and training—hereafter I shall call it...
Kirsty Williams: Could I thank Darren for his broad welcome for the direction of travel outlined in the White Paper? In response to many of the questions that he has raised, the whole point of having a White Paper and a consultation is because we want to canvass a wide variety of views on these areas. First of all, if I start by going backwards, I’ll start with the sixth forms and you’ll be aware that the...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Simon. Can I begin where you began with regard to ‘The Guardian’ article? I am absolutely dismayed by the misleading headline and by the factual inaccuracies that pepper that particular so-called piece of journalism. It is very disappointing and it is a gross mischaracterisation of what is going on in that particular community and, indeed, the Welsh Government’s...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much to Michelle for her questions. Costs are currently being developed and will be published at the same time as the technical consultation, which will happen later on this year. The commission will be accountable to Welsh Ministers. Parity of esteem is a crucial issue for me. One of the reasons for having one single body organising and having a strategic overview for...
Kirsty Williams: I would hope that HEFCW’s website is correct and is an accurate description of their employment practices, but I will double check with the chief executive, and confirm that to you. With regards to the size of the commission, I’m always a firm believer in the principle that form follows function, and at this stage, while we’re consulting on the form of the commission, we’re not at...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Suzy, for that contribution. As you will know, increasing the opportunities for students, school pupils and those in FE and HE to acquire language skills in the Welsh language and to be able to utilise those skills in their mode of studies is something that is very important to me. With regards to FE, we’re currently asking Delyth Evans to do a piece of work on whether...
Kirsty Williams: First of all, it’s not a committee, it’s a commission, and it will have the status of such. Perhaps the question should be: ‘Only in Wales, the answer to the problem is to have yet another body’, which is what I believe the Member is in favour of creating. We already have—[Interruption.] I think we already had, at the last count, 47 individual bodies in Wales that had some remit or...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Darren, for the opportunity to discuss the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment today, after yesterday’s questions on the 2021 assessment. I’m clear that I expect to see improvement in Wales’s 2018 PISA score, but in particular I want to see progress in the performance above the seventy-fifth percentile.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Darren. I regret your unfortunate phraseology, which I don’t think is called for in this situation, especially when referring it to a male and a female Member of this Assembly. It has unfortunate connotations. However, you are absolutely right: Wales’s current performance in the PISA rankings is not good enough. It wasn’t good enough when I sat over there, and it...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Rhun. As you heard yesterday from the First Minister, 500 remains—[Interruption.] If you let me finish, 500 remains the long-term goal of the Welsh Government for the next but one set of PISA results. Therefore, you know, we need to make progress in the next set of PISA results if we’re to hit that next target, and that’s why I, quite rightly, whilst I’m in this position,...
Kirsty Williams: It is indeed a long title, Presiding Officer, and it’s going to be quite a long statement as well. Presiding Officer, I’m very pleased that, today, we can confirm that we in Wales are able to convert the principles of equity and excellence into radical and rational reforms of student support and higher education funding. Last November, I published the Government’s response to the final...
Kirsty Williams: That is a long list of questions, Presiding Officer, so I’ll try to get through them as quickly as I can. I think the parity between modes of study is what makes this package of support so important and unique, and I believe it will be the subject of other nations looking to see what Wales has done. Indeed, Scotland are already committed to a review of their own system and are looking very...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Llyr, for those questions. With regard to setting fee levels, what I've always said consistently in this Chamber is that I will take a number of factors into consideration when addressing that point. Those factors have included the state of the Welsh Government's own finances, the impact on students, and, indeed, the state of the finances of the sector as a whole. Only...
Kirsty Williams: Presiding Officer, can I thank Michelle for her question? I believe higher education is a joint endeavour, one where the individual benefits, but also we as a society benefit too. And that’s why the universal grant of £1,000, which was recommended by Diamond in his independent review, will be taken forward. This Government believes in the principle of universalism within that progressive...
Kirsty Williams: The all-Wales attendance framework provides standards and guidance for practitioners to help reduce absence and improve attendance in Welsh schools.
