Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:27 pm on 28 June 2017.
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and can I thank everyone who has contributed to today’s debate, and thank the Minister for her comments? A debate that, as Russ George said, is about breaking the circle, and, as Darren Millar—our resident student—said in opening this debate, this is about social mobility. Many people want to pursue education at a later stage in their life, and there can be challenges for them doing that, so we need to make the transition from work to education as smooth as possible, particularly for adults who are finding it difficult to enrol in part-time education, and we need to see equity.
Turning to some of the contributions, as Llyr Gruffydd said, we need to change the culture. It’s not just a question of money; it’s about a different way of doing things. And, in fact, Oscar, Mohammad Asghar, said it’s about new ways of working as well, and teaching the world, not just being taught by the world.
Hefin, you made a very good point, going back to your experience of teaching yourself. You spoke about how you combatted plagiarism when you were teaching students. It took me back to many years ago, when I was first elected to this place. The now Minister for Welsh language and I were in a committee meeting. He probably doesn’t want to remember this. He picked up a committee report—Angela was there—and he threw it at an Assembly Member, and I will not mention him by name, and accused him of massive plagiarism, because it was all the bulk of what you’d written, Alun, but the name had changed at the end, hadn’t it? Yes. Those were the days, weren’t they?
We learnt today, that Russ George is 17 years off 60—it’s not his birthday; it’s just he’s 17 years off 60, which, he told us, is these days not an old age. I could hear Dafydd Elis-Thomas heave a huge sigh of relief when he made that comment. I believe that he’s this side—our side—of 60, Darren, and not the other, but he did make the comment about breaking the cycle, and that’s what this is about. That’s what this motion is about. That’s why we’ve laid it today. You said it’s a chicken-and-egg situation. It’s important for industry to go into schools and to be welcomed into schools so that young people can learn at an early age what their interests are, so that they can then focus on those.
Rhianon Passmore, you didn’t disappoint. You didn’t disappoint, did you? Sadly, you seemed to be more interested in Andrew R.T. Davies’s address book than higher education. I’m sure you can exchange numbers later, if you so wish. [Interruption.] No, that was just a joke, by the way; there’s nothing there. [Laughter.]
You know, it’s funny: you spoke a lot about Theresa May and the UK Government—it’s not that long since the Members opposite would do everything they could do to avoid talking about party leaders, wasn’t it? Do you remember that, just before the election?