Kirsty Williams: ...learning needs. This ambitious legislation was co-constructed with key stakeholders and tested through the Bill scrutiny process by Members of the Senedd. The Additional Learning Needs and Educational Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018, otherwise known as the ALN Act, became an Act of law in January 2018 and is the centrepiece of the wider ALN transformation programme. Since 2018, I've been working...
Kirsty Williams: Mr Reckless, you talk down Welsh teachers, Welsh students and the Welsh education system as much as you want; I disagree, sir. I have every confidence in our young people, our children, our lecturers, our teachers, our exam board and our independent regulator to ensure that students that leave our education system this year will have qualifications that are equally regarded as anywhere else,...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much. Can I just say this is absolutely not a question of us being kind or being soft on students in this cohort? It is a question of being fair to them. Their education has been affected in a way that none of us could have imagined in February of last year, so this is not a question of being soft or kind; this is about creating a rigorous system that allows them to be awarded...
Kirsty Williams: ...constraints on that, except the broad principles about them being equitable and fair and building confidence. And we will look to have a verification of moderation processes, whether that be at a school based level or whether that be at a cluster based level, but we want a national verification that the school—the individual centre—has everything that they need in place to give...
Kirsty Williams: ...any other colleagues, often is far from the optimum situation that we would want to find ourselves in. And it's really very, very challenging, as it is very, very challenging to be out there in our schools and colleges at the moment. I don't think we should under-estimate how difficult and challenging it is. I simply cannot predict how the months ahead may go, but if the disruption that we...
Kirsty Williams: ...looking to design a system that is familiar to teachers. Now is not the time to create newfangled and new ways of doing things, when we all recognise the immense strain that individual teachers, schools and colleges are under at the moment. So, carrying out assessments, tasks of this kind and continuous assessment—these processes are well-known to schools and well understood by schools....
Kirsty Williams: ...an earlier point. Well, the policy of Plaid Cymru is to get rid of exams, and that's a perfectly legitimate policy to have. It's not a policy I share; I believe exams are an important part of our education system. If I thought it was possible to run exams in a fair and equitable way, that's what I would've done this year. It's not an easy decision that we've made today to scrap them. So,...
Kirsty Williams: ...to Governments across the UK as to the appropriate use of the vaccine, and it's simply too early to tell at this stage, but, clearly, vulnerable members of society, whether they be working in education or outside of education I'm sure will be a priority. What we're also looking at are alternative testing regimes to support education and help minimise the disruption and that's much more in...
Kirsty Williams: In some schools and colleges, COVID-19 has required pupils to self-isolate for weeks at a time. Some schools have, at times, even temporarily had to close. Other schools and colleges have been much more fortunate to date, but we cannot, I cannot, be confident as to what will happen for the rest of the school year. And it is this ongoing uncertainty and ensuring fairness, equity and well-being...
Kirsty Williams: ...possible to the uncertainties of the coming year. Again, this is an exceptional year, but exceptional in a different way to qualifications in 2020. This year’s exam cohorts were not only out of school and college during the summer term, but they have also already experienced inconsistencies in their learning experience during this term.
Kirsty Williams: .... And let me be clear: cynefin is not simply local but provides a foundation for a national and international citizenship. As part of the mandatory statements of what matters in humanities, all schools will have to include learning on the appreciation of the diverse nature of societies, as well as understanding diversity itself. In the summer, I appointed Professor Charlotte Williams to...
Kirsty Williams: ...am happy, Presiding Officer, to clarify that the new curriculum will contain mandatory elements, including the statements of what matters for each area of learning and experience. Therefore, every school's curriculum will be required, by statute, to include learning in each of the statements of what matters. And within the humanities area, this must include cultivating a sense of...
Kirsty Williams: ...are assessed in 2021. Qualifications Wales will also be providing further advice about how assessment should be completed in 2021, given the continuing disruption of COVID-19 to those exam classes' education. I will look at both pieces of advice and then will make a decision immediately after the half-term break. I think it's important that that decision is taken whilst children are in...
Kirsty Williams: ...I will, acting Presiding Officer, try to cover at least some of the issues raised in the motion this afternoon. I am acutely aware of how difficult this period has been for everyone involved in education, both staff and learners alike. But we have taken a number of measures to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. You will all be aware of the tough decisions that we've had to take in...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you, Joyce, and thank you for the recognition of the excellent partnership working between my department and local education authorities that allowed for the very swift distribution of many thousands of pieces of kit and equipment and Mi-Fi devices in the first phase of the pandemic. We continue to work with local education authorities to ensure that planned tech spend is getting kit...
Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Joyce, for that important question. Clearly, digital education services have come to the fore during the crisis, and we will continue to work with individual schools and local educational authorities to provide the digital resources children need.
Kirsty Williams: Well, Suzy, you have just outlined beautifully the disruption that is happening on a daily basis, in some parts of Wales, to children's education. In the light of experience of this first half term, we have worked with TTP teams and health protection teams to reflect on the feedback given by headteachers to develop new guidance so that we can reduce the number of pupils and staff who are...
Kirsty Williams: Additional guidance has been published in collaboration with Public Health Wales and test, trace, protect on the role of contact tracing when a positive COVID-19 case is identified in an education setting. This includes the identification of close contacts to limit, where possible, the number of pupils and staff who are asked to self-isolate as the result of a positive case.
Kirsty Williams: You'll be aware of evidence contained within the TAC paper that talks about the contribution to reducing R from closing schools in their entirety and closing secondary schools in particular. Throughout this pandemic, I have tried to minimise the disruption to children and maximise education. It is very worrying for those children in years 9 and above that this decision has been reached, but,...
Kirsty Williams: Well, the Member is right—examinations are an important and mainstream part of how we run our education system in Wales, but I am sure the Member will also agree that these are extraordinary times, and what an examination system cannot do is solve the issue on its own of the extreme disruption that there has been to children's education. Indeed, if the Member was to look at his own region,...
