<p>Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople</p>

Part of 2. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 30 November 2016.

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Photo of Mark Reckless Mark Reckless UKIP 1:55, 30 November 2016

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?