5. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the use of digital technologies in Welsh primary schools? OAQ(5)0118(EDU)

Through the Learning in Digital Wales programme, the Welsh Government provides a range of centrally funded digital technologies for primary schools. We provide digital tools and resources through Hwb and are significantly investing in broadband connectivity. However, schools have delegated control to select the most appropriate digital technologies available for their learners.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. Cornist Park primary school in Flint, in my constituency, has been recognised as a digital pioneer school, where the headteacher, Nicola Thomas, has put digital technologies at the centre of their teaching and learning and has supported pupils to be able to take the lead on this themselves. Pupils have led on projects, which include raising awareness, research, and to do with them taking up roles as e-cadets. They’ve even held a drop-in session in a local bank to educate customers on how to be safe online. Minister, will you join me in recognising Cornist Park school as an example of best practice and urge other schools across Wales to put digital technologies at the centre of their learning?

I very much agree with what the Member for Delyn has said. Cornist Park community primary school has made great progress since being named as a digital pioneer school, and was also, of course, the winner of the Welsh Government’s national digital learning awards in the e-safety category in 2016. This, of course, has now been turned into a case study for others to understand and to share that best practice. I think that Cornist Park primary is a great example of what our ambitions are for all schools across Wales: to embed learning of this sort in the curriculum, and to enable all children and all learners to experience that. I’m particularly anxious that we do place a focus on e-safety. One of the great advantages of these days, these times, is the expansion of what we’re able to do online, but, at the same time, we need to ensure that everybody who accesses new services online can do so safely.

Minister, I was pleased to receive reports from Ysgol Pontrobert that they’re now able to access the Hwb digital learning platform after receiving a long-awaited broadband upgrade. However, the ‘Evaluation of the implementation of the Learning in Digital Wales Programme’, which was published six months ago, noted that nearly a third of schools did not register any log-ins on Hwb, and made a series of recommendations for the Welsh Government to improve this, including developing a communications strategy targeted at teachers and parents and setting targets for the adoption and usage rates of Hwb. Are you able to provide an update on the progress that the Welsh Government is making in implementing the recommendations of this report?

I’m sure the Member will join everybody in welcoming the fact that we now have achieved the connectivity that he referred to in his question. I think he asked a question on it some months ago, and we’ve achieved our ambitions on that now. The Cabinet Secretary was talking about how we move one step further and invest even further resources to ensure that schools do have access to the fastest broadband speeds available to us. Can I say this in terms of the overall programme that we’re following with Hwb? It has clearly made an enormous difference for schools and for learners across the whole of Wales. We want to see this expanded, and we want to see it continuing to drive forward and to provide the opportunity for everybody—all learners across Wales—to access the sorts of information and the sorts of digital skills that are essential in everyday life. We are making progress in terms of delivering on the recommendations that have been made for us, and I will be very happy to update Members more fully on that in terms of a written statement in the next few weeks.

In order for pupils to make the best use of digital technologies, we need to ensure that teachers are adequately trained in this area. Indeed, staff at Cwmdare primary school in my constituency recently made use of BT’s free Barefoot Computing training to do just this. How can the Welsh Government ensure that all staff in Welsh primary schools gain the right skills to help pupils prepare for the digital age?

I’m very pleased to hear that Cwmdare primary is taking advantage of the free Barefoot Computing resources. Members may wish to know that the Welsh Government has worked closely with BT to review and develop the resources in line with the Welsh curriculum and the digital competence framework. We’re also working with BT to promote the volunteer workshops where volunteers will go into Welsh primary schools to teach trainers and to train teachers on how we deliver the Barefoot resources. In addition to this, we are investing £500,000 a year in the regional consortia to train schools in using digital technologies, with a particular focus on the tools and resources available through the Hwb platform. We have also developed a self-assessment tool, which will be updated to provide for the training needs of schools and teachers, as identified by digital pioneer schools. The updated tool will enable teachers to assess their skills and confidence in delivering elements of the digital competence framework and to identify their further professional learning needs.