Kirsty Williams: We have discussed how education and CAMHS joint working can be improved, to help children and young people who require emotional support. We will continue to maximise opportunities to improve the health and well-being of children through the development of the new curriculum and through the school inspection programme.
Kirsty Williams: Any form of violence or abuse against staff in our schools is unacceptable. The legal responsibility and thus accountability for health and safety lies with employers. Schools should have a written policy setting out explicit standards of behaviour for everyone in the school.
Kirsty Williams: Through the Learning in Digital Wales programme, Welsh Government delivers a range of activities supporting digital technologies in primary schools. We provide centrally funded digital tools and resources through the Hwb platform and have significantly invested in broadband connectivity. However, schools have delegated control to select appropriate digital technologies for learners.
Kirsty Williams: Thank you for that, Dawn, and I would welcome very much indeed the approach that’s been taken by some of the councils that you’ve outlined, and there are others in Wales that have taken that. Welsh Government recognises that some of the people that we’re requiring to register are paid at a lower level, hence the nature of the regulations—that we have tried to subsidise those on the...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. If I may make a few brief remarks regarding the regulations that are before the Chamber today, Wales remains at the forefront of ensuring greater coherence and recognising the contribution that the whole education workforce makes to learner outcomes in Wales. I am sure that Members will agree that the registration of the wider educational workforce is good...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you for that, Suzy. The advantage of having this single body is that we can plan strategically and we can address gaps, as I said. And one of the gaps that we have at present, I believe, is a gap in Welsh-medium provision. We know that there is a growing demand for people who have skills in the Welsh language in a whole variety of areas. I’m particularly interested in, as is my...
Kirsty Williams: Could I thank Dafydd Elis-Thomas for his comments? I will, indeed, give due consideration to the most appropriate legislative formats that we can pursue. I think there is merit in looking at a draft Bill, and I will want to give this institution—to pay it all due respect and give every opportunity for colleagues across the Chamber to play a part in developing the policy further. Can I also...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much to Michelle Brown for her questions. With regard to the recommendations, I have indicated that I’m accepting the recommendations. The consultation will take place in the spring. To give effect to this, I will need to bring forward legislation and that needs to find its way into the timetable of general legislation across the entire Government. But as I indicated earlier,...
Kirsty Williams: Huw, you raise a fundamentally important point that we can have the best structure and the best strategic planning of these opportunities, but unless we successfully engage with young people, potential students and learners of all kinds, and the people who influence their choices, then we won’t realise the full benefit of this. We’re all guilty of it. Our children, often, are the...
Kirsty Williams: Once again, can I thank Paul Davies for stepping into the breach and for his questions this afternoon? If we start from the point of principle, I think that addresses many of the issues that you’ve raised. Establishing a single authority to oversee the whole of post-compulsory education and training, I believe, will improve strategic planning; it will help prevent duplication, which has...
Kirsty Williams: Can I thank Llyr for his questions and the shared understanding and agreement I think there is between us around the issues that we need to solve with regard to post-compulsory education. You’re absolutely right, the current system does lead to duplication and competition in a way that is often unhelpful. It does not provide, as Hazelkorn said herself in the report, good value for public...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Today I’m announcing the Welsh Government’s response to Professor Ellen Hazelkorn’s report ‘Towards 2030—A Framework for Building a World-class Post-Compulsory Education System for Wales’, which was published on 10 March 2016.
Kirsty Williams: I would like to express my appreciation for Professor Hazelkorn’s work, alongside the many stakeholders, in reviewing the current arrangements and drawing on her extensive international experience. Indeed, in her most recent co-authored book, ‘The Civic University’, she has argued that pursing a civic mission must be a way of both organising higher education and the value of...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Lee, for that. I’m grateful to you, because the constructive challenge that has been referred to in a negative way by some people in this Chamber around the attitude of some people like yourself and Jenny Rathbone has made me go back and absolutely test the evidence about this. It has led to a refinement in the policy, because we want to make sure that we’re getting it right....
Kirsty Williams: Thank you for that. I am always very conscious, Deputy Presiding Officer, when answering questions from either Rhianon or Vikki, that they have a professional expertise and experience in the classroom that I’ve never had and I’m always in danger of teaching grandmas to suck eggs, and I wouldn’t want to do that. But, like Vikki says, for many teachers this is an issue, because we know...
Kirsty Williams: I thank Michelle Brown for her questions and her recognition that this is a live issue for parents and for teachers, and I agree with her. Michelle asked about why this is only being used for infants. As I’ve explained, I would love to cut class sizes right the way across the education sector, but I have to do it in a way that is cognisant of the budgets that are available to me, cognisant...
Kirsty Williams: Could I thank Rhianon for her welcome of the initiative? I think if you look at the statistics about where we have particularly large class sizes in the infants sector in Wales, in constituencies such as yours, but also here in the capital, we have some of the highest proportion of young children being taught in classes over the size of 30. The international evidence, and one of the studies...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much to Llyr. Llyr, all I can say is if you want to argue for larger classes alongside the Welsh Conservatives, that’s your prerogative; that’s not what this Government is about. You ask, ‘Why are you referring to an Estyn report in 2003?’ That’s the last time that Estyn did substantive work on this issue. But can I tell you, there have been a number of international...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, and can I thank Darren for his questions this afternoon? If I can try to get through them all, he began by quoting the evidence of Professor David Reynolds, and I would note that Professor Reynolds made those comments without any detailed knowledge of the policy announcement. In fact, those of you who watched the ITV news last night would have seen Professor David...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Since becoming Cabinet Secretary, it has been a privilege to visit schools and meet teachers, pupils and parents right across the country. A particular highlight was the opening of the new school at Llandysul. Like colleagues across this Chamber, I’m always impressed by the dedication, the enthusiasm and the ambition expressed by the vast majority of the...
