Diolch, Llywydd. Can I move the motion in the name of Paul Davies on the order paper today in respect of the growing teacher recruitment crisis that we have here in Wales? If the Welsh Government's ambition for all learners to reach their full potential is ever to be realised, then we've got to have an education workforce that is fit for the future and equipped to deliver that aim. But we know that there are signs of a growing crisis in our schools, and there's been insufficient action to date to address it.

Wales has the lowest number of teachers it has ever had since the year 2000. The number of newly qualified teachers in Wales through initial teacher training and education has fallen from almost 2,000 in 2003 to just 1,060 in August 2017. Now, following a review in 2006, the Welsh Government has, rather shortsightedly, cut teacher training student numbers, and, in addition to these cuts, initial teacher training providers have been unable to recruit to Welsh Government targets in each of the last three years. Currently, around one in three secondary postgraduate places and around 8 per cent of primary places are left unfilled.

We know that there are certain factors that are impacting on the number of new applicants, including qualification entry requirements, better incentives to train in other parts of the United Kingdom, difficulties in new teachers securing permanent posts after qualification, concerns about the quality of initial teacher education in Wales, and, of course, concerns over workload, with 88 per cent of teachers who responded to the Education Workforce Council's national workforce survey saying that they were unable to manage their workload, and, on average, teachers working over 50 hours a week. Now, as a result of this, there have been changes in the staffing mix in our schools. The ratio of registered schoolteachers to learning support workers is now almost 1:1. All new schoolteachers are required to complete statutory induction before they're fully registered with the Education Workforce Council, and since this requirement, from a quality perspective, less than 1 per cent of the 16,000 new teachers have failed to meet those standards. I suspect that raises questions in everybody's minds about whether they are sufficiently robust.

And of course it's not just teaching staff. Headteachers as well are under pressure. According to the EWC, as of 1 March there were just under 1,500 headteachers registered, which is a fall of almost a quarter since 2003. Now, of course some of that is as a result of school closures in Wales. We know that this Welsh Government and its predecessors have a good record on closing schools—there are over 160 fewer, according to Estyn, from 2011 to 2017. But it's concerning also to note that the number of applications for headteacher posts in Wales has declined on average to fewer than six. This is compared to over 20 on average back in 2012, and many schools are saying that they're having difficulty recruiting headteachers. We know, again, that there are concerns about workload, there's concern about the lack of funding that's in place in Wales, there's a concern about the pace of change in Wales, in Welsh education, and the burden associated with managerial and administrative tasks when those heads are wanting support. And of course they raise concerns about the multiple layers of accountability that we have here in Wales—LEAs, the consortia, the Welsh Government, the governing body, expectations of parents. All of this piles pressure on headteachers and is leading to them not wanting to apply for new jobs.

In addition to that, of course, we've got great pressures in terms of recruiting Welsh-medium education teachers. Welsh Government data consistently shows that the average number of applications for Welsh-medium posts has been lower. In 2015 the average number of applications was under five compared to around 10 for all posts historically, and a similar pattern has been seen for secondary vacancies as well. Just a quarter of all the teachers registered with the EWC are able to teach through the medium of Welsh, and we're supposed to have a workforce that is going to deliver, or help to deliver, this ambitious aim of a million Welsh speakers by 2050. The evidence suggests that insufficient work is being done in order to get the mix right.

We've also got big shortages in our secondary subjects, particularly for certain subjects like English, maths, religious education and Welsh, in addition to those STEM subjects as well. That's leading to many classes being taught by people who are not subject experts, and as a result of that, the standards are beginning to slip. You only have to look at the PISA results to see us slipping further and further down the scale. So, we've got to sort this mess out, and that's why we have made a suggestion that we need a national education workforce plan that is comprehensive, that looks at recruitment, that looks at retention and that creates and establishes new routes into teaching for categories that are currently registered with the EWC. So, further education lecturers, who have got a good track record at delivering excellent GCSE and A-level results in further education, for some bizarre reason, aren't considered to be eligible to teach in our schools. Why is that? It's absolutely crazy.

In addition we've got overseas-trained teachers here in Wales who could be also be added to the teacher ranks. In other parts of the UK they're considered fit to be able to teach, yet in Wales, for some reason, we've erected barriers to prevent them from teaching in our schools. I've had a headteacher from a school in Australia, a public school in Australia, who was not considered fit to be able to teach in Wales and has been lost to the education workforce here. It's not acceptable. Then of course we've got a wealth of talent in our independent schools and colleges who also should be considered fit to be able to teach in our schools without unnecessary barriers or induction programmes that are put in their way.

I could go on, Presiding Officer, but time is short. I trust that people will support our motion this afternoon so that we can get this comprehensive plan in place and support the education reforms that we all want to see happen here in Wales.