Suzy Davies: ...addition to spending more time with their young children, we know that women are more likely to support children with their schoolwork, and they are more likely to socialise with other families in schools and play centres. The way that we socialise in the workplace too is built on listening and sharing by conversing. So, how are you picking up on the best things in the way that women...
Suzy Davies: Before I go on to the code itself, I wonder if I could just highlight the equality Act regulations being discussed today, because they bring extra protection to young people who challenge their school, via an advocate if necessary, on discrimination grounds. And I raise it because the ALN code has also improved its content as regards mental capacity in the new chapter 31. What's interesting,...
Suzy Davies: ...of adhering to the framework? You refer to counselling sessions, which is very welcome, but you commented in the past on counselling being unsuitable for younger children. Early intervention in education settings helps counteract the effects of adverse childhood experiences and reduces the need for support in later life, so what's being considered for our youngest children, and how does...
Suzy Davies: ...travel could play a role here, but it would be quite a step, wouldn't it, to claim that people won't still reach for their car keys when they're still having to deal with dropping children off in school or filling a boot up with shopping. The other thing perhaps I just want to draw attention to is to watch out for the unintended consequences of this move, some of which we've seen during...
Suzy Davies: ...Conservative one. Kirsty, when we met in 2007, I'd be surprised if either of us thought we'd be doing this today, although I suspect that perhaps you've always hoped you'd get the chance to be the education Minister, because it's evident to everyone, even those who might disagree with you—and that's been my party less often than perhaps the public might imagine—that the life chances of...
Suzy Davies: ...of limited classroom experience, and all teachers will need to find time to acquire the knowledge and skills to design and teach the new curriculum. None of the NQT targets, apart from physical education, I think, have been met, and they still won't be, despite the new interest shown in teaching careers during COVID that you alluded to earlier. Do you think that might be because the...
Suzy Davies: ...in this portfolio next week, but I hope you will allow me just a few words at the end for the Minister when we get to my third question. But I'll start with asking about this, which is that the Education Workforce Council has confirmed that registrations with them are down by 1,000 on last year. Many Members have been contacted by supply teachers, saying how difficult it's been for them to...
Suzy Davies: Minister, I'm pleased to hear that you have thanked everyone who has given of their time and skills to become governors in our schools, and their jobs are about to become more burdensome under the new curriculum, and more similar to the role of trustees or non-executive directors of businesses or charities. Certainly, their relationships with local communities will have to be more open, too,...
Suzy Davies: ...here. I think it's an important point to make as well that progress has accelerated during a difficult year, and I'll just come on to that in a moment. I've been lucky enough to see some of the schools that have been built as a result of the band A part of the programme within my own region, and it's absolutely right that the learning environment does affect the experience of the learner...
Suzy Davies: ...to the request made by Darren Millar regarding a statement on antisemitism within our universities? I'd have asked that myself as well, but I've got two other requests, if I may. One is for the education Minister, seeking a statement setting out some guidance to schools on graffiti on school walls, and the speed at which that should be dealt with. It's been brought to my attention that...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Llywydd. I have never been to any schools that merged, like Caroline Jones, but I have been to some that have burnt down, and that's definitely a way of getting a new school—not that I recommend it, of course. Can I thank the IAR group for tabling the debate today? As you'll see from our own amendment, there's quite a bit of the motion that we agree with, and really, it's only...
Suzy Davies: ...prejudiced. That's why I've been pleased that RVE is itself a compulsory part of the curriculum. For Caroline Jones, I just want to say that we're not talking about a situation here where about all schools just have to learn only secular RVE. That's not the case at all. The Minister has already indicated that denominational RVE is a core part of what is taught in religious schools, and I...
Suzy Davies: But my personal confidence in voluntary aided schools being able to make sensible decisions I don't think is enough. What 'having regard' doesn't do is give voluntary aided schools any steer on how to balance that duty to have regard with their relationship with their own deeds and tenets. And we need to bear in mind that it is hard to argue that you've given regard to the agreed syllabus if...
Suzy Davies: ...that arise from issues of conscience, and Welsh Conservatives will have a free vote on those. However, we agree with the assertion that, should the Government view prevail, and that voluntary aided schools still find themselves in the position of having to provide two syllabuses if requested, then the cost of that extra work must be met by the state. Otherwise, you are discriminating...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr. Thank you, Minister, for coming back to some of these points. I appreciate that your position won't particularly have changed from Stage 2 on the opportunities for a small number of schools, perhaps, to delay the implementation of the curriculum, and I do understand the arguments that you're putting forward as to why, perhaps, this amendment, you wouldn't be prepared to...
Suzy Davies: ...the thrust of these amendments will be familiar to you from Stage 2, but we have tweaked them a little bit to see if we can make progress here. Amendments 5 and 7 are to be read together, and allow schools to be able to delay the implementation of the curriculum by up to a year, provided that—and it is a big proviso—no pupil is disadvantaged by the decision. Basically, schools will...
Suzy Davies: ...yn fawr, Llywydd, and thank you to everyone who's taken part in this debate. I hope Members won't mind if I just take this chance to give a really big shout out to the Children, Young People and Education Committee at this time—to Lynne and to the witnesses who came before us with evidence from all different points of view and, of course, to the committee staff, because I cannot...
Suzy Davies: ..., why some people exercise power over others through emotional as well as physical bullying and what a healthy relationship looks like, because this part of the curriculum is not just about sex education. There is nothing stopping parents educating and influencing their children at home alongside school, of course, and we should also expect a child's cultural and religious background to be...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Well, what we've heard from you, Minister, is your agreement to use statutory guidance—and that's statutory guidance—to oblige schools to teach life-saving skills unless they've got a good reason not to. They should teach them. And I'm so grateful for this, I have to say. This means that schools can't just use excuses like shortage of funds or lack of skills in the...
Suzy Davies: ...pupils in Wales acquire that most valuable of skills, which is knowing how to save the life of another human being. Some young people, of course, have been lucky and learnt some of these skills in school already, or as members of St John's Cymru or the Red Cross or the Brownies or the Cubs or the Urdd or our cadets' groups even, just like Aneurin Metcalfe did. Just 22 years old, last week...
