Kirsty Williams: Well, the organisation and planning for local schools of whichever medium of tuition is a matter, quite rightly, for local education authorities. What Welsh Government has is an enabling role, and the role of encouraging those education authorities to push the boundaries. And as I said, we have set out our expectations very clearly of the increase in the number of children that we would...
Kirsty Williams: Can I thank the Member for raising this very important issue? There is no place for racism anywhere in the Welsh education system, whether that be in our schools, our colleges and our universities. We have had discussions as a Government with the university and with the students union involved, and I understand that there is ongoing dialogue between them both. All universities have to have...
Kirsty Williams: Well, you're absolutely correct in saying that these are serious allegations that have been made, and my expectation is that the university will deal with them promptly, coherently and completely, and address any issues of individual behaviour or, more importantly perhaps, to address the entire culture of an individual department or school or the university as a whole. As I said, we take this...
Kirsty Williams: What's important to recognise is that the investment that's been made available to support better mental health in our higher education sector is not simply just to be used for students. It is actually to replicate, in the same way as we're trying to develop a whole-school approach to mental health, which affects both children and professional staff—that the same is done in our universities...
Kirsty Williams: Well, what we've done, Oscar, after a period in which we were not able to commission Careers Wales to be providing a service in schools, we have those trained careers advisers back in our school settings, and, more importantly, we're currently running a Gatsby pilot in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area to explore best practice. The results of that pilot will help us develop an even better careers...
Kirsty Williams: I'm sure the Member is aware of the work that is currently being undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Estyn and individual schools to develop a self-evaluation toolkit, which will actually help us identify best practice in schools, not just in terms of academic achievements, but also in areas outside formal qualifications. Because we expect schools, yes,...
Kirsty Williams: I'm sure the Member will be delighted that, just prior to coming to the Chamber this afternoon, I was able to announce in our Seren event that the Seren foundation programme and the principles of Seren, which currently kick in for children after they've done their GCSEs, will now be rolling out for students from year 8. Some of the innovative projects that have already been undertaken in the...
Kirsty Williams: Our national mission provides all learners with high-level digital skills to ensure that young people are digitally competent and evolve into enterprising, creative and critical thinkers. The digital competence framework, which is the first part of our new curriculum reform, offers learners a set of skills to enable the confident, creative and critical use both of technologies and of systems...
Kirsty Williams: If I could give the Member just one very concrete example, she will be aware, in the consultation on the curriculum White Paper, that it is my intention, in the new curriculum, to have three statutory cross-cutting responsibilities, building on the two we already have. At the moment, we expect all lessons to contribute to literacy and to numeracy, and, in the future, digital competence will...
Kirsty Williams: Andrew, you're absolutely right: we will need to ensure that our education providers at a variety of levels will be able to upskill our workforce. Many of those currently in work will be seeking opportunities to retrain or to gain for the first time skills that they will need to keep pace with the local economy. I'm sure that you will have seen the recently published 'Digital 2030' report....
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Mick. I am committed to the public sector in Wales being living-wage employers, including the education sector. I'm delighted that, in addition to local authorities, all FE and higher education institutions in Wales are now living-wage employers and are working towards formal accreditation of that status.
Kirsty Williams: Well, you're absolutely right, Mick. In order to get an accreditation of the kind that the University of South Wales has recently been awarded, the living wage must be implemented both for directly employed staff and outsourced activity. Without that, accreditation cannot be won. Universities Wales members have committed to paying the Living Wage Foundation's living wage to all directly...
Kirsty Williams: My remit letter of 2019-20 to HEFCW sets out my expectation that I will receive confirmation this year that all Welsh universities will have received formally their accreditation. And I have looked, wherever I can within my department, to make progress in this regard. So, for instance, the staff of the Student Loans Company that operate the student loan system on behalf of Welsh Government...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, David. The new curriculum supports active travel. One of the four purposes integral to that new curriculum is that learners develop as healthy, confident individuals, able to apply knowledge about the impact of exercise on their physical and their mental health in their daily lives, and become individuals that take part in physical activity on a regular basis.
Kirsty Williams: Well, David, I can do more than just commend Ysgol Hamadryad for the approach that they have taken, because I myself joined the walking bus to Ysgol Hamadryad just last week. It just demonstrates, with a change of mindset, actually how achievable this can be. It's been affected by a number of issues. Obviously, it's a new school and therefore new habits are perhaps more easily instilled in...
Kirsty Williams: Vikki, the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 itself requires local authorities to prepare their plans for integrated walking and cycling networks, in consultation with communities. And the walk to school toolkit, which was developed by Living Streets and which Welsh Government actually funded, offers an easy and systematic way to involve schoolchildren and local communities in assessing the...
Kirsty Williams: Well, Presiding Officer, I can assure the Member that projects benefiting from Welsh Government investment under the twenty-first century schools and colleges building programme need to demonstrate very clearly that they have included provision for safe and convenient walking and cycling access to those places of learning.
Kirsty Williams: Diolch yn fawr, Alun. Welsh-medium education is currently offered in all local authorities across Wales. The Welsh in education strategic plans are a mechanism for planning and expanding Welsh-medium education, and we are currently consulting on a new approach to planning Welsh-medium education by introducing 10-year plans and ambitious measurable targets.
Kirsty Williams: Well, Alun, yes indeed. All children in Wales have that right to receive their education through the medium of Welsh, if that's what they and their parents choose. Certainly, sometimes, parents and children face significant logistical disadvantage in accessing that right, often travelling significant distances to be able to enact that right. I am acutely aware of some of the changes with...
Kirsty Williams: Well, Presiding Officer, I should declare an interest. My own family had to appeal a transport decision for my own children's ability to access their Welsh-medium education, along with another group of Powys parents. So, I am very familiar with some of the issues that parents find when trying to make that very positive choice. And I think it's particularly important that we address these...
