Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:23 pm on 6 December 2016.
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The wide-ranging educational reforms introduced by the Welsh Government in areas including the curriculum, qualifications and teachers’ professional development have been welcomed by teachers and fully supported by the OECD. I welcome your categorical assurances that we will hold firm to this agenda, not deviate from the path we’ve set ourselves and give reforms the opportunity they need to bed in. PISA may be the international benchmark, but it is widely regarded as being a crude educational measure, bearing, in many respects, little relation to the skills required for GCSE. GCSEs are quite rightly the focus of teachers and students at the age of 15, and these are the measures that, in reality, lead to the qualifications that have a direct impact on our students’ futures. So, while PISA grabs the headlines today, it’s GCSE results that make a real and measurable difference. My question is: how can we merge these two often-competing progress markers together to continue improving and delivering the very best for our students?