Mr Neil Hamilton: ...sent in coded messages to the committee of public safety by the speed of her knitting to identify those who were to be condemned to the guillotine. So, it shows at least that she has had a decent education that she understands the point of my barb. But, we started the debate with the entertaining spectacle of my friend, Darren Millar, standing on his head. It is difficult to see why the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: .... She'll recall that a short time ago, the leader of Neath Port Talbot council described the improvement consortium in his area in less than glowing terms. He said that it was set up to improve schools but the opposite had happened: the schools that needed improving haven't, and those schools that were doing well have dipped in improvement. The Association of School and College Leaders...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...is the opportunity to improve my Welsh skills. But that’s enough reminiscence from me. I agree with everything that’s been said in this debate so far. It’s certainly true that Welsh language education is the main source of new Welsh speakers, as the Welsh Government’s Welsh language strategy says. It is vitally important that Welsh should be acquired as early as possible in life...
Mr Neil Hamilton: The Education Act 1996 says that pupils should be educated in accordance with parents’ wishes, and that the Secretary of State should have regard to the general principle that pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents. That legislation has, of course, been overtaken since devolution, but the principle behind it, I think, should be pretty non-controversial. I...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...to exudes because there is a significant difference between different parts of Wales where there are significant shortages in some places and surpluses in others. For example, in Cardiff High School this year there were 635 applications for 240 places but in our own region in Powys 25 per cent of secondary places are empty. Across the border in Shropshire, there are one third of schools...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...debate, because in her response to the county council’s consultation, she has said—I’ve got her contribution here somewhere—that, Every child in Wales should have the opportunity to access school education through the medium of Welsh, and pupils in Llangennech currently have that opportunity through attending the Welsh stream. It would be counter-productive to the aim of increasing...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...hate to think that we would create antagonism where it needn’t exist by adding fuel to people’s fears that are unnecessary. We had a most unfortunate situation in Llangennech last year in the school, and what I saw there worried me a great deal, because I do want to see more bilingual education and I do want to see more Welsh language-medium education, but the parents of that school...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...believe that we need to have more flesh on the bones before we can support it. The purpose of our amendment was to draw attention to what I believe to be a fundamental tenet of policy in respect of education, that the wishes of parents ought to be given the greatest possible consideration. Now, I agree that that may, in certain instances, be in conflict with the other objectives on which...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...comments in political debate, I find it absolutely extraordinary that the Welsh Government is now proposing to take them seriously. We know that teachers—[Interruption.] We know that political education in schools is important, but it's also important that there should be balance, and children should be taught to be critical. Given that the Times Educational Supplement, in 2016, did an...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...Government’s policy. All I’m saying is that in the implementation of that policy we should be sensitive to local opinion, in particular the opinion of those who are more intimately affected by educational decisions. What is happening in Llangennech is the opposite. Simon Thomas, in the course of his speech, referred to the school governors being in support of this proposal, but the...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...Now, we can all—[Interruption.] Well, matter of fact—and I think the false indignation coming from the other side proves the point that I'm trying to make here, that, because they control the education system, it is being used as a tool of propaganda. There is nothing, for example, in the topic of wind energy that calls into question the efficacy of this even to deal with the problems...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...detained here this afternoon on a nice, sunny day. She and I have many political disagreements, but no-one can deny the spirit and commitment that she brings to her office as Cabinet Secretary for Education, and I certainly pay tribute to all that she has achieved in the years that she's been in this Assembly on her favourite topic, and I mean that as a genuine compliment. I've raised...
Mr Neil Hamilton: Diolch, Lywydd. Two weeks ago at First Minister’s questions the leader of Plaid Cymru raised the dispute that’s going on in Llangennech over the conversion of their primary school from bilingual to Welsh-medium instruction only, and described the atmosphere in the village as toxic. The First Minister appealed for calm. Since then, the leader of Plaid Cymru has interpreted calmness in a...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ..., as far as I’m aware, except in this one instance. I think that it is a mistake to make the best the enemy of the good, from the point of view of those who want to see more Welsh-medium-only schools. Clearly, if there is massive local opposition to this particular proposal, that should cause us to stay our hand. Let’s try persuasion. Let’s move a little more slowly in this one...
Mr Neil Hamilton: I'm deeply shocked by these amendments. The enthusiasm with which Llyr Gruffydd advocated them reminds us of the ministries of propaganda and public enlightenment in former eras. Education should be about teaching children to question, think and use their judgment, and yet what we're invited to do here is to impose some kind of received truth upon children, whereas there is in fact hotly...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...emollient and understanding about the fears of the parents. They may be wholly unmerited. I agree absolutely with what Simon Thomas said about the merits of bilingualism. I have in the course of my educational career studied French, German and Russian; nobody needs to convince me of the merits of being able to speak more than one language. My regret is that when I was in school I had to...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...cause for self-congratulation. Having said that, I do acknowledge, obviously, that the Minister has achieved something worth while—she has arrested a long period of decline in standards in Welsh schools. With Wales languishing below the other countries of the UK after 20 years of the existence of this Assembly, I don't think that any education Minister could rightly expect to be pleased,...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...challenge, which deals with issues such as cultural diversity, fair trade, future energy, inequality and poverty. These are all highly political topics, which need to be taught in a balanced way if education is not to degrade itself into mere propaganda. There are serious debates, for example, about the causes of poverty in other parts of the world: why is a potentially rich country...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...as a family. My daughter wasn’t diagnosed until much later in life, at seven and a half. I had to take the local authority to a tribunal before they would carry out a statutory assessment of her educational needs, even though by this time she had been diagnosed with Asperger’s. A battle also ensued over support worker provision, and eventually she was awarded two hours a week, with no...
Mr Neil Hamilton: .... It obviously worked. But what I want to say is that all parents ought to have that kind of choice. They are the ones who should decide for themselves, as she does for her children, the kind of education that she wants for them. That’s what this is all about. Of course, we can’t replicate that in a state education system. There has to be some kind of administrative decision-taking...
