8. 6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: PISA

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:12 pm on 14 December 2016.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 5:12, 14 December 2016

I do regret you using the word ‘disrepute’. This morning, I travelled to three schools across my region to celebrate Christmas with the kids there and the teachers and the excellence that’s going on in those schools, but you cannot—. [Interruption.] What are you saying about time? You cannot deny the lamentable record of Welsh education when it is benchmarked between 72 countries across the globe and 0.5 million—. And I read out the quotes—this isn’t opposition politicians who have set these benchmarks and set these goals. These are Leighton Andrews, the former Minister, and Huw Lewis, the former Minister—your colleagues themselves. So, it is Labour who have failed; it is not the profession, it is not the pupils. And as my education spokesman spoke earlier, when you look at the record of Labour in Government, you can go back to the source of the outset of devolution and Cabinet Secretary Jane Davidson and the goals that she set. [Interruption.] I’ve given an intervention—we’re on six minutes—so we heard what you had to say. Instead of pointing the finger at the opposition, I’d ask you to point the finger at your front bench and your First Minister and question him more about whether he’s got the solution for Welsh education. I hope that you will support the motion on the order paper that actually points to what is going on when Wales’s education is benchmarked internationally.