Neil McEvoy: What I would like to see is a commission for education, because, with the best will in the world, you’re not going to solve the problems of the education system over the next five years. So, what you need to do is sit down with people from every political party, teachers from all over Wales, all different sectors, and discuss what people want and where we want to go. In terms of being a...
Neil McEvoy: Some interesting turns of phrase then. I think the Labour Party did abolish grammar schools when the Labour Party was a Labour Party. I’m not sure what it is now. In terms of the debate, grammar schools are clearly a bad idea. They’re divisive; you write people off at the age of 11. The evidence is there that the system didn’t work, but that’s not to say that what we have today is...
Neil McEvoy: Minister, in the last 10 years, pupil spending per pupil has fallen £500, which is almost 10 per cent. Schools are really struggling financially. They're in a position where they're going to have to be laying staff off. So, as the Minister for Education in Wales, with that backdrop and with that crisis in funding, how can you justify your Government's position and what are you going to do...
Neil McEvoy: ...brings no increase in pay. Level 1 teaching assistants can attain it—this is all from a teaching assistant who's raised concerns with me. Training takes just six weeks—just three days out of school. Only a single piece of work needs to be prepared for a child, a group or a class. The qualification you need to do it is a single GCSE in maths or English. I think, really, this is just...
Neil McEvoy: I’d like a statement from the Welsh Government on the proposed closure of two Welsh-medium schools in Pontypridd. Labour Rhondda Cynon Taf wants to close ysgol Pont Siôn Norton and ysgol Heol-y-Celyn to build a bigger Welsh-medium school miles away—miles away—from pupils. There are children as young as three years of age who will be expected to travel up to six miles to go to school....
Neil McEvoy: Diolch. I’d like to raise the experience of a school in my region and that’s Ysgol Gymraeg Nant Caerau in the west of Cardiff. In 2012 the school had 86 pupils on a site designed for four to seven-year-olds. Now, the school has 240 pupils aged between four and 11, and they’re having to turn children away. There’ve been expansions of schools in other areas, but Nant Caerau is having to...
Neil McEvoy: ...and we need legislation to stop that. I think, in Wales, we also suffer from linguistic discrimination because there are parents in this city—the capital of Wales—who cannot choose Welsh-medium education. That’s wrong. The deaf community as well, if you receive education from a tutor, there is no minimum qualification of British Sign Language for a teacher and that is wrong. Gypsies...
Neil McEvoy: ...sizes: there's a different relationship in the classroom, there's more of a community, there's more time for children, one-on-one tuition becomes eminently possible. There's a reason why private schools offer small class sizes; we know that. So, you're in a position now—you could usher in change with an aim to radically cut class sizes. A big-bang approach in this emergency, if you like:...
Neil McEvoy: No, I won’t. No. The whole thing about education in Wales is that, for me, it’s too politicised, and I think what I would like to see, really, is an all-party commission for education that is looking 20 years ahead, because everything in Wales today is very, very short term. If you look at Finland—. Well, the education Secretary is shaking her head; I don’t know why. Everything is...
Neil McEvoy: I couldn’t speak a word of Welsh until I was 32 years of age, and I started to learn Welsh when I was a teacher, because, in my school, there weren’t enough Welsh teachers available to teach children for the Estyn inspection. I went to the university in Lampeter and followed a Wlpan course over two months, and taught Welsh within a week of finishing the course. As a language teacher,...
Neil McEvoy: Deaf people have a right to access education. I’ve had concerns brought to me by constituents that this isn’t really happening as it should and there are staff at only level 1 or level 2 signing. So, Cabinet Secretary, would you please engage with British Sign Language students who have passed level 6 to work in the education sector, so that we can try and improve matters of access?
Neil McEvoy: ..., I think it was a really positive thing for the Labour Government to legislate to bring class sizes down to 30. But really, since 1999, I think what we have in Wales is a legacy of failure. Each education Minister clearly—clearly—has failed the children in Wales. I’m pretty unhappy with lots of discussion about targets so on and so forth, because quite often targets just give...
Neil McEvoy: ...this matter does relate to Cardiff council. It’s an important matter and relates to transport. The cabinet member for transport on Cardiff council is refusing to act on dangerous routes to school. Two roads come to mind: Heol Isaf in Radyr, where cars speed at up to 70 mph, and Caerau Lane in Caerau, where the road heads towards Mary Immaculate High School and children have to cross...
Neil McEvoy: ...correct, but, morally, I would say he is wrong, because there’s a world of difference between the aspirational routes in the Act and where children actually walk and how they actually get to school. So, will your Government write to the council reminding them of their responsibility to keep our children safe? I would like some kind of statement about this matter, because safer routes to...
Neil McEvoy: ...to me with concerns that some children from disadvantaged backgrounds may be missing out. That's because their difficult lives at home may make it difficult for them to consistently get into school on time to benefit from the free food, which can affect their learning. It's a sad fact that there are children in Wales who live in real poverty and go hungry. So, has the Government explored...
Neil McEvoy: ...an entrepreneurial people. The first £1 million deal on the planet was done in Cardiff, just a stone's throw from this Assembly, in the old Coal Exchange. In the past, when our children needed education, we were the first to set up schools—Griffith Jones and his famous circulating schools, which by 1761 had made Wales the most literate country in the world. Workers also established...
Neil McEvoy: ...extremely impressed by the precautions taken—very well organised. I know there are other places like that as well. In these regulations there are so many contradictions. We have segregation in school, yet on the bus everybody mixes. There's little education about masks, in terms of how often you should change your masks. I see people walking around in visors, thinking that they're...
Neil McEvoy: We're in a position now, if we're talking Gwynedd—. Abersoch—it's come up earlier, and the school has to close, the primary school, because of a lack of numbers, directly related to second-home ownership. Now, with decades of being in power—my in-laws live just up the road—with decades of being power, what has Plaid done in Gwynedd to resolve this problem? Next to nothing—bron dim...
Neil McEvoy: 4. Will the Minister make a statement on the promotion of touch rugby in schools? OAQ(5)0048(EDU).
Neil McEvoy: 5. What discussions has the Welsh Government held with Cardiff Council in relation to increasing the number of Welsh-medium school places? OAQ52971
