Kirsty Williams: I have no plans to scrap private schools in Wales.
Kirsty Williams: The Member is absolutely right; if we are to achieve the goals of a purpose-led curriculum, and if we are to ensure that every child leaving our schools is a happy and healthy child, then age and developmentally appropriate RSE I believe is an important way in which we will achieve the purposes of our curriculum. Clearly, this is a sensitive subject, and the Member is right to say it is also...
Kirsty Williams: I'm grateful that the Member has acknowledged the difficulties that have been placed upon Welsh Government by the decision by her colleagues in Westminster only to give us an indicative budget for one year for education, whereas they have afforded the education system in England the courtesy of an indicative budget for three years, and that does indeed make things more difficult for us. The...
Kirsty Williams: What the Minister was referring to are the cross-cutting priority areas that the Government has. One of those includes early years. Early years is part of our education system. My priority is ensuring schools have the best budget possible. The finance Minister has announced that, now that we have some details of our revenue budget, we will bring forward the budget for the whole of the...
Kirsty Williams: Certainly. David Rees makes a very important point on the influences that children are put under when making choices about what courses to follow in school or in colleges. Often, children are listening to their peers—they're very interested in understanding what their peers are doing—but obviously parents and family are a huge influence in helping children make decisions. As part of the...
Kirsty Williams: Presiding Officer, I'm very glad that the Member has recognised, in the interim accountability measures, vocational qualifications do count towards a capped 9 score. So, there is no disincentive for schools to be able to offer these courses to pupils, where that is the right thing for those children. I'm very pleased to reassure the Member that all four secondary schools in Monmouthshire are...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Nick. I place great value on vocational qualifications being available for 14 to 16-year-olds. The Learning and Skills (Wales) Measure 2009 requires all learners to be offered a minimum of three vocational courses at key stage 4 in the local curricula offer.
Kirsty Williams: Well, it's important to recognise that we have increased investment to support the development in the Welsh in education workforce to a record amount of £5 million in this financial year. So, in 2017, we spent £4.2 million, then £4.8 million, and, as I said, this year that's risen to £5 million. This allows us to provide continuous development of practitioners' Welsh language and teaching...
Kirsty Williams: With regard to Welsh second language GCSE results, I'm sure the Member is aware that, this year, we saw the removal of the short course GCSE, and that undoubtedly has had an impact on attainment this year. But the percentages that she has quoted are misleading, due to an increase of a third in the number of learners entered for a full course exam. Many learners would have previously accessed...
Kirsty Williams: Since the 'One language for all' report in 2013, Estyn published a report on Welsh in key stages 2 and 3 in 2018, and two further reviews will be undertaken during 2019-20, looking at language acquisition in primary schools, and the teaching and learning of Welsh at A-level.
Kirsty Williams: My priorities are clear: raising standards for all, reducing the attainment gap and delivering an education system that is a source of national pride and public confidence. Our 2019-20 budget continues to be committed to the success and well-being of every learner, regardless of background or personal circumstance.
Kirsty Williams: I visited Sony UK, Pencoed with the former First Minister in 2016. Since then significant progress has been made to put provisions in place to improve learners’ coding skills, including the implementation of our 'Cracking the Code' plan.
Kirsty Williams: Powys County Council education services have recently been inspected. I have noted the outcome of the inspection. An action plan has been developed to address the issues and a new leadership team has been put in place within the authority to drive improvements.
Kirsty Williams: It pretty much sounds like a market to me, Deputy Presiding Officer, and that’s fine. The Member is perfectly entitled to have those values underpinning his approach to education policy. That’s absolutely fine. The reality of living in our country, Mark—the reality of living in this country—is that, actually, children don’t have the ability to move around—[Interruption.] The...
Kirsty Williams: What we will have instead, from this summer, is a points-based score system, where every child's achievements—every child, from the highest achievers to those for whom actually getting a D is a massive achievement for them—will be counted. And we will still have headline measures for counting English, maths, as well as science. We're not getting rid of accountability. We're moving to a...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome very much the opportunity to respond to this motion and to clarify the need for these regulatory amendments. I appreciate that the progress of education reform in Wales, as set out in our national mission, is moving at pace, and I always welcome scrutiny at every stage. Over the past year, I have made no fewer than five oral or written...
Kirsty Williams: What's really important, Deputy Presiding Officer, is to recognise the group is a group of the independent organisation that is Qualifications Wales, and the Member will be more than aware that Qualifications Wales will will start its national conversation with regard to the impact of the new curriculum on qualifications in September. Can I take this opportunity to thank members of the...
Kirsty Williams: As I often say in this Chamber, universities are autonomous institutions, and that is a matter for them, and not a matter for me. But, as I said, the Welsh bac gives students a competitive advantage in being able to clearly demonstrate these skills, and I know that this point will be reinforced at the joint Seren-Oxford event that will be held at the Norwegian church this evening. Now, just...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you for the opportunity to discuss the committee's report on the status of the Welsh baccalaureate. I was pleased that the evidence gathered by the committee showed clear merit in young people studying the Welsh bac. I was glad as the Minister for Education in Wales, and, like Lynne, I'm glad as a parent who has two children currently...
Kirsty Williams: No, it's not at all a blanket 'no'. We would expect the majority of placements to last for two years, however, all these placements come to me, as Minister, for sign-off and I know that I have signed off, for this financial year, a number of three-year placements, because that three-year placement has been designated and decided is the most appropriate length of study for an individual...
