Questions now from the party spokespeople. The Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Llyr Gruffydd.

Thank you, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, we are in the process of reforming the curriculum here in Wales, with many schools looking at specific areas, from the curriculum itself to CPD, and the digital competence framework, of course, is now seeing the light of day. We have over 100 pioneer schools working in different ways in Wales through the four different consortia. But, there is some concern developing, from what I hear from the sector, that there is a risk that some of these are working in ruts. The Welsh Local Government Association themselves have said that there is concern that they are working in parallel rather than working in collaboration. There has been a call for delay in order to take a step back, to take stock, to rationalise perhaps and to draw everything together before moving forward more robustly. Do you agree that getting this right is the important thing, rather than doing it swiftly?

Thank you, Llyr, for your question. I think it is true to say that, historically there has been some disconnect between the pioneer schools and different networks. That’s why we have brought them all together under a single network to try and ensure that there is greater collaborative working across the pioneer schools. We are also redoubling our efforts to ensure that those schools that are outside the pioneer network also feel part of this exciting process of co-developing the career curriculum with the teaching workforce themselves. I recently launched a new curriculum blog to allow us to directly communicate with all those in the field of education about these changes, and we will continue to review our progress to ensure that everybody feels that they are part of this important co-design of our new curriculum.

I’m pleased that you recognise that some of those schools that are non-pioneer schools feel somewhat excluded from this process. The Education Workforce Council has warned that there is a two-tier system developing that could be causing splits. So, I welcome the fact that you acknowledge that and that you intend to do something about it.

Of course, you then need the capacity in order to do this work of developing a curriculum, attending meetings, dealing with the other schools and the consortia, and so on and so forth, while continuing to do their daily work, in terms of teaching in a climate that many would acknowledge is already challenging in terms of pressures of work, and so on.

A number of teachers have recently been working hard to redraft work programmes in light of the publication of the new GCSE specification. That’s been quite depressing for some, knowing that that work could perhaps be swept aside as a result of the new curriculum, which could be introduced within 18 months in certain circumstances. Despite the difficulties there, are you confident that the capacity and the resources are in place among the workforce in Wales to deliver this programme, which is a change that will need to be made to a high quality and within a challenging timetable?

I am absolutely confident in the profession to be able to develop the new curriculum in conjunction with the Welsh Government for teaching and learning in 2021. The Member, Presiding Officer, is absolutely right to say that this needs to be resourced. Therefore, there are resources in my education budget to ensure that those schools that are participating in this pioneering work are not disadvantaged and have the facilities and resources that they need, for instance, to backfill when teachers or headteachers are engaging in this activity. What we do know is that, whilst it presents challenges, there is also fantastic opportunity for school-to-school learning when schools participate in this work. The professionals that I have met—and I have addressed in the last few weeks over half the headteachers in Welsh schools—what they tell me is that being part of this process has led to benefits for their individual school because they have learned from others and they are taking those lessons back. So, as we move towards our curriculum, we are using that opportunity to improve on our self-improving schools system, which they very much welcome. But, it has to be resourced, and I am confident that the resources are there for them.

It is going to be quite a challenge, of course, to ensure that the teachers we have today are actually prepared to deliver this new curriculum and that they are ready for that. Being part of a pioneer school is going to help many to be part of that process in a more natural way than would happen outwith those pioneer schools. But it is also important that the new teachers that come into the reformed education system are prepared for that system. Given that some schools will, perhaps, be introducing this new curriculum in 2018, how confident are you that the arrangements are in place to ensure that new teachers going through the teacher training process at present are prepared for the new curriculum?

You will know, Llyr, that a school cannot be better than the teachers that are within it. Therefore, equipping our teachers—both those who are new to the profession and those teachers who are already in the profession—with the skills that they need to deliver the new curriculum is absolutely crucial. That’s why, you know, we are embarked on a radical reform of our initial teacher education programme. We are out to consultation as we speak on the new criteria for the new ITE courses. But I expect change now. I don’t expect higher education institutes to sit back and wait for those new courses. That’s why I am greatly encouraged by the conversations that I have had at the University of South Wales, Trinity Saint David, Aberystwyth and Cardiff Met about the changes that they are making now with local schools in their area to improve the offer for our initial teacher training. We need to get it right for them. Otherwise, the curriculum redesign will be for naught.

Welsh Conservative spokesperson, Darren Millar.

Cabinet Secretary, the Cymdeithas Ysgolion dros Addysg Gymraeg has warned that there may not be GCSE textbooks available for students and for staff by the time that they need to be developed in order that they can take advantage of preparing their pupils properly for the new GCSEs and A-levels that are going to be introduced from next year. What do you say to that?

Thank you, Darren. As I said to Angela earlier, equity in the education system in Wales is crucial to me. While I acknowledge that the WJEC publishes specs and sample papers in a bilingual area, there is a concern about the availability of Welsh textbooks. I do not expect children who do their exams through the medium of Welsh to be disadvantaged in any way, and I am not satisfied that the current situation does not provide a disadvantage for those children. Myself and the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language have met to discuss this, as I have with my officials. It is my intention to set up a summit with all of those involved to look at ways in which we can address this concern, to see what we can do in Wales itself, with our universities and schools, our teaching profession, and the Welsh publishing sector to be able to address this failure in the market. It is clear to me that we cannot expect English publishers to put us at the top of the list. If they will not do so, we will need to do something different. If you would like to come along to the summit, Darren, you would be more than welcome.

I would be very happy to attend, Cabinet Secretary. I am grateful that you have taken such action to set one up. Of course, it is not just the publishers’ fault here. We have Qualifications Wales, which is yet to approve the details of the qualifications that those young people are going to have to sit. I am pleased to hear you refer to the fact that HE providers and further education providers will also be present at the summit. One of the great things that we have seen in Wales in recent years is the success of Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol in terms of ensuring that HE providers are able to offer courses through the medium of Welsh for young people to study in. What consideration have you given to extending their remit into further education so that FE providers can also benefit from the expertise that the coleg Cymraeg has?

Thank you for that, Darren. As you will be aware, I recently established a task and finish group to look at the future arrangements for the coleg. They have done tremendous work in expanding the opportunities for students to study through the medium of Welsh at a higher level. I believe that there is capacity, potentially, to do that at an FE level, and I don’t want to prejudge the work of the task and finish group under the chairmanship of Delyth Evans, but I believe there is an opportunity to better enhance the opportunities for students to study through the medium of Welsh not only at HE, but at FE level.

Of course, we’re only going to be able to achieve these ambitious plans for the future if we’ve got a workforce that is fit to deliver these courses through the medium of Welsh. What consideration have you given to the warnings that you have been receiving from different organisations in the education field who have been saying that we do not have sufficient numbers of teachers who are proficient in the Welsh language to be able to deliver these ambitious plans, and what action are you taking in order to address that shortage of teachers in the Welsh language?

You’re absolutely right, Darren. We need to make sure, if we’re to achieve our ambitions for Welsh-medium education, and indeed for enhancing the learning of the Welsh language in English-medium schools—unless we have the workforce readily available to do it. You will be aware that, as I’ve said to Llyr Gruffydd, we are reforming our initial teacher training education offer. There are incentives for those with Welsh language skills to come into the teaching profession, and we provide resources to allow teachers who are already in the profession and who want to develop their Welsh skills to go on sabbaticals to allow them to do just that. The feedback I’ve had from that scheme is very positive indeed, and we need to do more to encourage teachers to take part in that sabbatical so that we can increase the availability of Welsh language skills within that teaching profession, and give them the confidence to use those skills in the classroom.

UKIP spokesperson, Mark Reckless.

Diolch, Lywydd. Last week, ‘The Sunday Times’ published it’s ‘parent power’ tables, including the top 400 state secondary schools across the UK weighted by GCSE and A-level results. Is the Cabinet Secretary happy that the top Welsh school in that ranking was one hundred and eighty-second?

What is important to me is the progress that Welsh schools are making. Members should note that, last year, Welsh GCSE results were exactly the same as those of their counterparts across the border in England. But I’m not content to just benchmark our education system with that across the border. I want to benchmark our system with that that is the best in the world. That’s why we continue to work proactively with the OECD to ensure that the reforms that we are undertaking will allow us to reach those ambitions.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her answer, and of course next year and afterwards we may not have the opportunity to make such comparisons across the border because the GCSE grading system is changing in England from A to G to 9 to 1, and Wales is not taking that path. As a parent seeking to compare primary schools, and standards across different schools, I’ve found that a much greater challenge in Wales than I did in England, because the key stage 2 results do not appear to be published in a comparable form that allows easy comparison between schools. Is that the intention of the Welsh Government, and would it not make sense to publish such data in an easily comparable form so as to elucidate rather than obfuscate the differences between schools?

Presiding Officer, the Member has come across from a system that believed in competition. The Welsh education system is based on a system of collaboration and co-operation. It is by working together in a self-improving school system that we will deliver the education that our children need. The data that are available at the end of primary school are primarily there to inform teachers both in the primary sector and the high schools that those children will move on to how best we can support those individual children to meet their full potential. It is not there as a stick to beat the profession and beat individual schools; it is there as a diagnostic tool to assist the teaching of individual children. There is a plethora of information available to Welsh parents on the My Local School website. It looks at a complete picture of the performance of our schools. Data around achievements is one important area, but the well-being of the school, the value added in the school and the ethos in the school are equally important to the parents that I meet and talk to.

I note the Cabinet Secretary’s response, but the complete record is not available. I would quite like to look at what the key stage 2 results are for different schools across Wales, and to compare what the trend is in that and what improvements there have been, and to make comparisons, appropriately adjusted, between schools, as would many other parents. The system is set up for her and for the profession, yet somehow parents are not judged capable of making sensible and appropriate comparisons. Of course collaboration is important, as well as competition, but what on earth is served by suppressing data that should be available to allow people to make proper comparisons?

Can I also ask her, just before—because I’m not sure I’ll get very much in response to that—? When we move the GCSE results—. We’re having a new curriculum, yet we’ve chosen not to move to the 9-1 grading they have in England. Is she not concerned that Welsh students—if not now, down the road—may suffer disadvantage? Because many will seek jobs in London or elsewhere in England and, as happens now with Scottish highers, quite often even at quite significant sized companies, those results are not necessarily well understood. After the passage of years, or perhaps decades, if in Wales we have students who are graded A-G, when they are graded 9-1 in England, is she confident that that will not be a disbenefit to Welsh students?

I’m absolutely confident that the quality of the qualifications that we are offering our students in Wales is comparable with anybody’s—comparable with anybody’s. They are tough, they are stretching, they are robust and they equip our children with the skills that they need to succeed in the world of work and in further education.

Presiding Officer, the Member seems to suggest that there is no data available to parents. There is a plethora of information available to parents. There are the Estyn reports, which are publicly available for parents to look at. There is the school categorisation system, which is available for parents to look at. It is simply not true to suggest that parents have no access to information about the performance of their local school. It’s not the case. There is a wide range of information readily available to parents to see how their individual school is performing. Assessment and test results are there primarily as a teaching aid for the individual children. They are not there to provide false and competitive league tables for the Member. We believe in a self-improving school system, based on the principle of collaboration and co-operation, because we know, internationally, that is what works best.