Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for welcoming this development. What's important to remember is that this is not the start of the commissioning process; commissioning is already happening, but I would say, to be honest, that it's happening in a way that's non-strategic across the system. But we have a plan to ensure that we move over time from the commissioning that's happening, for example, within the...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for that range of questions. I think some are more germane to the statement than others. I think it is important to avoid duplication. I think we achieve that principally by this company having an entirely different function from, for example, the consortia, which she mentioned in her question. But it's obviously a legitimate point for her to raise. I can assure her that...
Jeremy Miles: Working with stakeholders from the education, creative and public sectors has been, and will continue to be, fundamental to the provision of educational resources and supporting materials that are made in Wales. A national network conversation was held in 2021, with a focus on practitioners. That resulted in teachers in Wales co-constructing the resources guide that was published by us last...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Llywydd. Gaining access to high-quality bilingual educational resources and supporting materials is central to our vision and mission for education in Wales. High-quality educational resources made in Wales for Wales will enhance the quality of learning and promote learner progression. That is why, in March last year, I announced my intention to set up a company specifically to...
Jeremy Miles: The Member makes a series of very important points. She talked about the importance of children's own experience of schools, and I think that listening and the hearing of the voices of young people in this is very, very important. The £40 million capital that I announced recently is intended to enable schools to make the kinds of adaptations that schools sometimes do—to fence off areas, to...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Vikki Howells for those two questions. On the first question, one of the aspects of the job, which is a great pleasure actually, is being able to visit the initial teacher education partnerships across Wales, both remotely in the past, but now also in person, and talk to the cohort of students going through the postgraduate certificate in education about their experiences and...
Jeremy Miles: I thank John Griffiths, and I know of his commitment to the principle of community-focused schools, not least because of the successes in his particular area of many schools in achieving that, and I think he just highlights two important themes in what he has just said. Firstly, that role of school staff connecting with families around a range of issues, which might not be directly around the...
Jeremy Miles: I think the Member is absolutely right to mention the importance of food as part of the summer food and fun programme—it's sometimes called 'food and fun', in some parts of Wales. I share with her her passion for making sure that schools teach young people about the whole range of purposes of food, so nutrition, obviously, but eating together. You could also teach large parts of the...
Jeremy Miles: Well, the Member made an important point about what are the biggest challenges, and I think possibly the biggest challenge that schools face is making sure that young people are in school. There are obviously very high levels of absence, which many, many schools are reporting. And the Member asked an important question about what the investment into community-focused schools and the family...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for her observations and the questions that she has asked. She makes an important point, I think, about the ability of schools on their own to address the full impact of poverty on educational attainment. Schools are in their communities, they're in their society, and there are things that schools can do, and there are things that schools can't do, in terms of addressing...
Jeremy Miles: I will close by repeating my commitment of last year: every single child in Wales deserves high standards and aspirations. I set out a road map to achieve this last week, and, today, I have provided an update on some specific actions to tackle the impact of poverty. We will not make a choice between equity and excellence in our school—we must deliver both.
Jeremy Miles: Dirprwy Lywydd, there is always more to learn. Over the last 12 months, we've looked across the UK and internationally to inform policy, drawing on the expertise of organisations like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Education Endowment Foundation. As I set out last year, we know from research and inspection evidence that schools that couple effective...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Twelve months ago, I set out a series of actions to set us on the path to address the impact of poverty on educational attainment. Attainment gaps between children and young people impacted by poverty and their peers in primary schools and at key stage 3 have reduced over time. The progress at GCSE level has been less consistent and the impact of the pandemic is...
Jeremy Miles: Well, that's a very important point. It's a part of our ongoing discussions with the inspectorate. He will know that the reforms that the inspectorate have undertaken in Wales have moved away the focus of accountability in schools from that single, summative judgment, which is where, often, some of the tensions have arisen, and we, I think, have seen some of the consequences of that...
Jeremy Miles: I agree, Llywydd, that this includes a number of the items that Members have raised today. Gareth Davies spoke about the importance of investing in oracy, and whilst I disagree with him that the solution to that lay simply in a policy approach to masks, and take the view that the challenges are much, much more profound than that, I mentioned in my opening remarks the investment that we are...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Llywydd, and thank you to everyone for their contributions to this afternoon's debate. It has been an important opportunity for Members to express their views on the annual report. As more than one contributor has said, education in Wales is changing, and we are implementing major changes and reforms in terms of the curriculum and additional learning needs and in other ways too....
Jeremy Miles: I was pleased to read that, despite the challenges from the pandemic, the report recognises that education and training providers have responded with fortitude and institutions brought closer to their learners and the communities they serve. I'm continually grateful, Llywydd, to everyone working in the education sector for all they have done and continue to do to support our learners. I'm...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Llywydd. I’d like to open this debate by thanking Owen Evans, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales, for his annual report. It’s an independent picture of how providers of education and training are performing and helping our learners to develop. The report provides a valuable source of evidence, helping to steer the development of policy at a...
Jeremy Miles: I agree with the Member on the important role of the commission and of the vision that we share in terms of the contribution of the commission to reforming post-16 education in all parts of Wales, and I will refer her to the response that I gave last week on the specific question that she’s asked.
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for her questions. I didn't quite catch the entirety of the last question, but I think I had the thrust of it, so I will do my best to respond to it. Thank you, firstly, for inviting me to attend, with her, Perthcelyn school. I found it an incredibly inspiring visit, and meeting the head and the pupils and some of the staff there, I saw a school that was committed to...
