Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 2:31 pm on 11 January 2017.
I’m glad that you’ve been able to shed a little bit more light on the national network of excellence for science and technology, because, of course, it was an announcement that you didn’t make in this Chamber—you made it in a press release, and we still haven’t received a written statement or a letter from you, as Assembly Members, to inform us about this important development. But, nevertheless, I do welcome the extra effort that the Welsh Government is putting in on that front.
But, as you quite rightly said, in your response to me there, we need to raise the performance of science teachers, and have high-quality science teachers. But you know, and I know, that your predecessors presided over a 45 per cent fall in the number of people qualifying to teach science between 2010 and 2015. And, in fact, that fall was greatest in biology, with over 67 per cent in terms of the reduction in the numbers qualifying. So, what action are you specifically taking to address the needs of the teaching workforce in Wales, to make sure that we’ve got sufficient numbers of science teachers in the future?