Thank you, Presiding Officer. I’d like to open this debate today by thanking Meilyr Rowlands for his second annual report as the chief inspector of education and training in Wales. As well as providing evidence on performance and standards, the chief inspector’s report will inform policy development and help us drive improvements in our education system. The report is clear that we are making progress in some areas, however many challenges still remain.

As Estyn reports, further improvement is required. I welcome the inspector’s findings that show that there has been continued progress with early years provision, with literacy and numeracy, with children’s behaviour and attendance and that the performance of disadvantaged learners is also improving. The report is right to highlight that the quality of teaching is the biggest influence of how well learners learn and discusses what is required for improving teaching. That is, better professional learning and staff development, and I couldn’t agree more with the chief inspector. Teachers and leaders in Wales share an individual, professional and national mission to help all of our children succeed.

I have been clear that I believe that teachers should be lifelong students themselves, with an ongoing commitment to their professional growth, learning from one another, continuously improving and studying and implementing best practice. To support this, we’re working towards ensuring a consistent all-Wales approach to professional learning, delivered on a regional basis. This will ensure that all practitioners, including support staff and further education practitioners, are able to develop the skills in pedagogy and leadership to realise the requirements of our new curriculum.

The introduction of revised professional standards for teachers and leaders is an important part of that work. My officials have been working closely with the profession and key stakeholders to develop and test new professional standards that will inspire, challenge and support every practitioner from initial training through to school leadership. Many schools have already made substantial progress in supporting peer-to-peer learning. The revised professional standards will reflect that commitment to continuous improvement and collaboration by supporting practitioners to strive for sustained excellent practice at every level and every step of their career.

Professional standards must also be in step with our reform of initial teacher education and the new curriculum. They will set the bar for entering into the profession and support practitioners to ensure that they have the skills, knowledge and behaviours necessary to meet the challenges of the revised curriculum and to develop leadership capacity at all levels.

The report summarises the Programme for International Student Assessment 2015 results for Wales. It is of course a source of great disappointment to me that Wales’s results were again lower than that of the three other UK nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average. However, what makes better reading is the OECD report that was published just last month and debated in this Chamber just last week. As you know, Presiding Officer, on becoming Cabinet Secretary, I invited the OECD to come to Wales to challenge and test our reforms and they have concluded that we are making progress and that we have the right long-term vision in place to keep improving. So, it is my job to keep that momentum going and to accelerate it where necessary. I will continue to be guided by international best practice and hard evidence. The Estyn report will play a key role in highlighting areas in need of improvement and supporting the implementation of our wide-reaching reform. Our focus must continue to be making sure that we properly implement our national mission of education reform to drive up standards and help every learner, regardless of their background, to fulfil their full and true potential. Thank you.