I’m sure the Cabinet Secretary will agree with me that today’s PISA results are disappointing—for the Government, parents, and, most importantly, the children of Wales. The 2006 results showed that Wales was below average in maths and reading; 2009 revealed that we had performed lower in all areas compared to 2006; 2012 results showed that we had fallen further in maths and science, and although the score had increased in reading, it was still lower than the figures for 2006. Now, we have the 2015 results, and despite a slight improvement in mathematics, Wales trails behind Northern Ireland, Scotland and England in all three areas. It is particularly disappointing that Wales has fallen further still in reading and science. And, again, I’m sorry to add, Wales falls behind its own record in 2006. Furthermore, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are above the OECD average in all three areas, but Wales falls below average in every single category. Some might draw the conclusion that consecutive Welsh Governments have failed and, more worryingly, that this Government is continuing to do so.

Other countries are improving, so why can’t Wales? It strikes me that not only should the Welsh Government go back to the drawing board, or at least think about it and consider the future for children in Wales, but while it does this, it should open its mind to new ideas and a fresh approach. The Labour Party opposite are so stuck in their educational dogma of the 1970s that they cannot see how destructive their policies are to the children of this nation, and that they are devoid of new ideas. The Government must divert from its current path of mediocrity and fear of competition. Only last week, the Cabinet Secretary responded to my colleague Mark Reckless, stating that he had—and I quote—

‘come across from a system that believed in competition. The Welsh education system is based on a system of collaboration and co-operation.’

But competition is exactly what Wales needs. The education system should be based on an ethos—[Interruption.]