10. 10. UKIP Wales Debate: Grammar Schools

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:30 pm on 21 September 2016.

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Photo of Neil McEvoy Neil McEvoy Plaid Cymru 5:30, 21 September 2016

No, I won’t. No. The whole thing about education in Wales is that, for me, it’s too politicised, and I think what I would like to see, really, is an all-party commission for education that is looking 20 years ahead, because everything in Wales today is very, very short term. If you look at Finland—. Well, the education Secretary is shaking her head; I don’t know why. Everything is short term. If you look at Finland, they’ve got class sizes of 15. So, if you’re going to introduce smaller class sizes, in essence, great, but by one or two? You know, what is the point? I think the expenditure there needs to be questioned, because, if you’re going to reduce class sizes by a dozen, fantastic; let’s get on with it, let’s be radical.

Modern languages: we’ve got a great opportunity in Wales to bring everybody up bilingually from the age of three onwards. Why not? Every child should learn Welsh from the age of three. They should learn a European language as well—Spanish, French. When they get to the age of, maybe, teen years, why not learn a language from an emerging economy? They do it in Holland; why can’t we do it here? But, to get the skills needed, again, you need, roughly, I’d say, a 20-year plan.

I’ll draw my remarks to a close now, but I just want to say one thing, because everybody is talking about education. I’ve heard it all round the Chamber, including from me, but I’ll pose a question rather than answer. And the question is: what we actually want from our education system? Until we know that—. And I don’t just mean higher standards and, you know, political rhetoric. What do we actually want in terms of education? What do we want from those children coming out the other end? And until we answer that question, until we know exactly what we want and where we’re going, I don’t think we’re going to be successful.