The next item is a statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education: National Academy for Educational Leadership. And I call on the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams. 

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I believe that the key to building success in any organisation is good leadership, and nowhere is that truer than in an education system. Time and time again, evidence shows that a good school leader is essential in transforming a school environment so that its students and teachers can flourish. A common trait amongst great leaders is that they communicate a clear vision—a vision that establishes a clear sense of direction and destination. In Wales, our national mission is unambiguous: together we are working to raise standards, close the attainment gap and deliver an education system that is a source of national pride and public confidence. To deliver on this mission, Wales must nurture our leaders. So, last week, I was delighted to launch the National Academy for Educational Leadership, a vital component in supporting and reforming the way that we support our leaders.

Deputy Presiding Officer, I’d like to begin by thanking everyone who has worked so hard to establish the academy. In particular, the task and finish group, led so very ably by Ann Keane, has made an invaluable contribution. They have identified the academy’s vision and principles and have engaged with the profession to identify what is needed and why it's needed. They have provided the academy with sound foundations for the future. But I am keen that everyone involved in Welsh education sees the academy, whose headquarters will be in Swansea, as a fundamental part of the education landscape. It will be there to support all leaders at whatever stage of their careers—whether they are just thinking of taking the next steps into formal leadership or are experienced leaders. It will give them the confidence, support and the development so that they can achieve and be the very best. It will support all leaders across Wales, whether they are working in local authorities, schools, colleges, within English or Welsh-medium settings, or, indeed, other educational organisations, making leadership in Wales world-leading.

One way in which it will do this is through an endorsement function. Last week’s launch included a call for providers to submit their provision, in the first instance for the newly appointed and acting headteachers, and I expect that up to 300 individuals will be within the first group to be targeted. This endorsement process will be one of the key functions of the academy, ensuring that the provision available to our education professionals is high quality, accessible, and meets the ambitions in our national mission action plan. Above all, the academy will be looking to ensure that the provision is underpinned by international evidence of what makes effective leadership. And as a result, all leaders can be confident that the leadership development that they invest their time in will have a positive impact on the outcomes of children and young people.

The academy may be a small organisation, but its influence and impact needs to be—and, I believe, will be—extensive. The academy already embodies our coherent and collaborative approach to leadership development—even the way the organisation has been created has been collaborative. Academy quality criteria also include a requirement to engage serving leaders in the design, development and facilitation of provision. Whilst collaboration is a feature of much of the provision currently available in Wales, it will also provide more consistent opportunities for leaders to be engaged in all aspects of leadership development.

The academy will draw on and reflect the practice of inspirational, experienced and effective leaders already working in the Welsh system, as well as internationally. And the academy associates programme embodies just this. It is a development programme that is being co-developed by the first cohort of inspiring leaders, and represents a real opportunity to ensure that the programme stretches and challenges some of our highest performing educational professionals. I met the first cohort of associates recently, and their enthusiasm for the mission of the academy, and their role within it, was very inspiring.

As befits a flexible, innovative and small organisation, the academy will need a great online presence. It will enable a virtual community to develop, as well as making research and international evidence accessible to all. And this will continue to grow as the academy matures.

I have said before that the evidence is clear that the quality of an educational system depends not only on the levels of its professional capital but also on the levels of its leadership capital. And we have acted on this, and throughout the development of the academy, there has been a real consensus on the critical role of leadership, and it has been a valuable opportunity to collectively refocus our attention on leadership.

The development of the academy is an integral step forward, alongside our new professional teaching standards, reforming initial teacher education, and curriculum reform, in our collaborative approach to leadership development. Deputy Presiding Officer, I am truly excited that the academy is now in place, to support our leaders to make a difference to the lives of children and young people across Wales.

Thank you, Minister, for your statement, and for an advance copy of it. It is all about leadership, in terms of making sure that all of our children have the very best opportunities to thrive during their time in school and the education system here in Wales. I know that this is something that you are passionate about addressing, in terms of the deficiencies in the system. And I too want to thank Ann Keane in her role as chair of the task and finish group, indeed along with the other members of that group, for her work.

I'm interested to note that the new academy is going to be based in Swansea. It's good that it's not going to be based within the Cardiff bubble, if you like, and that it's actually going to be elsewhere in the country. But I wonder why that decision was taken, and whether there were any bids from other parts of Wales, in terms of being the host of such a prestigious organisation. I'm sure that many others will be interested to know why Swansea was the successful bidder.

I assume now that there is a budget in place for this organisation; I haven't seen any details of that budget. I don't know how many employees—you kept referring to it as a relatively small organisation, I noticed, during your statement. But I would be interested to know what sort of budget this organisation has at its disposal, in order that those resources can be effectively spent on the things that we want them to be spent on, i.e. making sure that there's adequate professional development and support for school leaders and others in the education system here in Wales.

I noticed that there's also a focus very much on headteachers and senior members of staff in our schools. But, of course, the educational leadership that we have in our country goes beyond just headteachers. There are many organisations, like further education colleges et cetera, that may be able to benefit and, indeed, there may be an exchange of support from FE colleges and the universities sector, which may be of benefit for this new organisation. So, I wonder whether you can tell us how you expect them to be able to engage with the new national academy and what benefits you expect to be able to derive from their expertise. One of the features of recent Estyn reports has been the good leadership in our FE sector in particular, and I'm passionate about making sure that they have the opportunity to support the development of good leadership also in other parts of the education system. 

I wonder also—. I notice that there's an emphasis on the co-development, if you like, and collaboration with leaders in terms of developing the role of the new academy. But I wonder to what extent people will actually have the time, frankly, to be able to have an input into the development of this new organisation, given that most of them will have a day job to do, and they already feel very squeezed in terms of their time. All of the headteachers that I speak to, frankly, seem to have very little time other than to firefight in their schools at the moment, because of the work pressures that there are. So, I wonder if you could tell us how you're making sure that they have the capacity to engage in a meaningful way with the new academy in terms of developing its programmes, because I think it's very important that they're given some space to be able to do that in a meaningful way. 

I'm pleased to see that there's going to be an emphasis on an accreditation scheme, if you like—a quality mark scheme—for some of the tools that are already out there, and that they will be assessed against an evidence base to show that they are effective tools for leaders to be able to use in their professional development. Can you assure us, then, that those things that don't meet the mark, if you like, will be scrapped, and that we won't see Welsh taxpayers' money wasted on certain things, which we've spent money on in the past? Because I know that many people are frustrated sometimes that a lot of money is being spent on professional development, which has not delivered on the promises that have been set out at the start.

And just one final question: I know that this is an independent organisation, but it's obviously very important that there's an accountability structure in place with the organisation, which is ultimately accountable to this National Assembly. So, can you tell us what the arrangements for accountability of the new academy will be? Will it be subject to inspection by Estyn? How do you expect this National Assembly to be able to interface with the organisation? And do you see a role for local education authorities and the regional consortia in being able to do that, or are there other mechanisms that you feel should be at our disposal? Thank you. 

Can I thank Darren Millar for his positive welcome of the development of the academy? He's quite right to say that this has been a priority for me since coming into office. If we look back at a series of educational reforms in Wales, there has been a glaring gap, I believe, in the focus on leadership support within the system. It was identified in the 2014 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report, and on coming into office I was determined to do something about that. And I was very glad to see, when we invited the OECD back, that they were urging us to get on with the job of creating the academy. It is crucial if we are to transform Welsh education that we have a greater focus on the quality of leadership. So, I'm grateful for his welcome. 

My understanding of the decision to place it in Swansea was a recommendation that was made to me by the task and finish group. I've made it clear that my desire was that the organisation should be set outside the bubble, so to speak, and the task and finish group spoke to a number of locations, I understand, looking for good-quality accommodation at a decent price, and the recommendation came back for an office in Swansea. I believe that they will be up and running fully in that office a little bit later on.

We expect the academy to have a small staff of around seven to eight individuals. So, this is not a top-heavy organisation. Again, that's on the basis of the work that has been done by the task and finish group to look to create a form after they had decided on what the function should be. So, form follows function, and the recommendation was a small staff group was required.

With regard to financing—of course, subject to any votes in this National Assembly—but in the draft budget papers that have already come before Members, we've identified £1 million for the next three years to support the work of the academy.

Darren, you're absolutely right that this academy needs to be for all people involved in education in Wales. There are already some very, very strong programmes that support FE leadership, and you're quite right, strong FE leadership has been a characteristic of many, many of the Estyn reports that have come through. And there is an opportunity to learn from what has worked well in FE, as well as what has worked well in HE, but eventually, I want the academy to encompass leadership roles in education right the way across the board, and I would include in that educational leadership roles at all levels in school. So, not just headteachers or the senior management team, but actually, middle leadership—so, the heads of department, heads of subject, not just the top echelons in our school community. We're also looking at FE as well. I would also include in that local education authorities. I would like it to stretch to regional consortia, and I'd like it to stretch to Welsh Government as well, including my officials who are engaged in education roles within my department. So, actually, I want the academy eventually to be able to provide opportunities across the piece. But of course, as a new organisation, we need to crawl before we walk, before we run, and the priority has to be supporting those who are new to leadership at the moment and our existing leaders. Once we've got that right, the academy will look to expand the provision it is able to go into next. It's early days and we need to get the basics right before we move forward, but I want it to be for everyone.

Darren, can I give you an absolute reassurance? One of the most important jobs the academy will do will be to quality assure provision. There are vast varieties of programmes out there, and we need to know, and leaders need to know, that what they're investing their time in, and what we're investing scarce public resources in, are programmes of professional development that are evidence based and work. And that will be a crucial role. I have no problem in assuring you that if those programmes aren't up to the mark, I don't want my professionals taking part in those programmes; they will not be quality assured. What's really important is that assurance process will include our academy associates. So, these are people who are already at the highest point in their career, but even then, have identified that there is more that they can learn about running great organisations. And they will be an integral part of advising the academy on what those provisions will look like, so that they really meet the needs of professionals. But crucially, in meeting the needs of the professionals, it will impact on our children.

This leadership academy is there for a purpose, and it's not just for the individuals who participate, but it will be to allow those individuals who participate to have an impact back in their institutions on the standard of teaching and learning, and ultimately, the outcomes for our children.

Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary as well for her statement this afternoon, and reiterate the thanks to Ann Keane and others who brought us to this point and, of course, extend our best wishes to those who are now charged with moving this work forward over the coming period?

As you say, leadership has been recognised as one of the weaker aspects of the Welsh education system for several years, so it's crucial that we do get this right. We know—Estyn tells us, and you've told us what the OECD have been saying—that successful leadership is a key factor in achieving the best possible outcomes for learners. So, the leadership academy is very welcome in that respect, and Plaid Cymru have been clear all along that we want to ensure that all leaders, and potential leaders, have access to good-quality professional development, so that we can start addressing some of the issues such as a lack of succession planning.

Many of us will be governors, I'm sure, who've been in a situation where we've tried to recruit school leaders, and we've found the pool to be inadequate, quite frankly, from my experience, certainly, in the past, and growing that pool is essential. You didn't really address—well, you didn't at all, I don't think—the point around the fact that leadership has to be a more attractive proposition. We're in a climate with contracting budgets, reducing capacities, increasing workloads and, really, I'm not sure whether it is the attractive proposition that we would like it to be, these days. So, I would ask again about ensuring that there is the capacity in terms of resources available to release people to undertake some of this training, to give them that space to allow schools to bring in cover or to pay for some of these opportunities, if there is a cost, but also in terms of time—that teachers are afforded more time to be able to take advantage of professional development, so that we can start truly realising the potential that a number of these individuals have.

I'd like to ask about the NPQH—the national professional qualification for headships. There's been some debate about it in the past. Clearly, you've expressed your intention that it is here to stay, or at least that's my understanding, and I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm wrong. I'm just wondering whether the academy now has a role in that discussion as well, and where they see it sitting, because, clearly, some people see it as a barrier, others see it as a useful reflective learning opportunity. So, it would be good to see how you see that fitting in to the medium-term work of the academy.

Now, on September the seventeenth—no, September last year, that's what I'm trying to say, you announced funding of over £1.28 million to establish school business manager pilots in 11 local authorities, a very welcome step, hopefully to address many of the administrative burdens that some of these leaders find themselves having to grapple with. I was wondering if you could give us an update on those pilots and how you see those, or when you would see those, potentially, being rolled out to other areas, or when you would think that you'd be in a position to make that call, as to whether they are, actually, a valuable addition to the support that leaders in our schools have.

You mentioned that the academy would have a broad remit in terms of the cohort of people that it would target—not just schools, but local authorities, consortia, et cetera. Would that extend to the youth service? I'm just asking the question whether it would extend that far, reflecting, of course, for example, the remit of the Education Workforce Council in that respect.

It's going to have, as you say in your statement, a very strong online presence, and a virtual community is going to be one of the cornerstones of this provision. I'm just wondering how that'll link into or dovetail with other online platforms and resources available to many of these teachers and leaders, such as Hwb, such as the Education Workforce Council's professional learning passport, as well, which draws much of this together. Is the vision that the academy becomes some sort of focal point for all of these and draws these together, or is it a means of feeding material into many of these? Does it bring that coherence to the myriad of provision that is out there, or does it add to some of those platforms?

Finally, how are you going to measure the impact and the potential success of the academy? What, in your mind, are the milestones, the targets or the aspirations that you have and how will you be able to demonstrate that it is actually having the impact that we all want to see?

I thank you very much, Llyr. I think, to begin with, I would acknowledge that being a school leader is a challenging, time-consuming, sometimes difficult, job to do, but it is also an extremely rewarding job to do. The impact a school leader can have on the lives of the children and young people who travel through their institution can be absolutely immense. Most recently, I was talking to an ex-headteacher who had gone out for a celebratory birthday meal with some of her own children and was served by an ex-pupil. She stopped to have a conversation and that pupil said, 'I can't believe that you remembered me. I didn't know whether you would remember my name,' and went on to tell them about what they were up to in their lives and how that person had made a difference to their lives. There are few professions, very few professions, that will have a lifelong impact on an individual, but being a headteacher, and being an excellent headteacher, is just that.

It's also crucial, as the OECD and Estyn have identified, in terms of the teaching profession: being managed by a leader that is not good adds to your workload as a teacher, adds to your stress as a teacher, and doesn't help you be the best that you can be. But good leadership in our schools raises everybody up.

One of the focuses of having the academy is to say to people who are thinking about leadership, but at the moment don't want to take that commitment and that step, because it's such a challenging role, the academy is there to say, 'We will support you. You won't be on your own. This is a career step that you can take safe in the knowledge and the confidence that there is a structure and an organisation that will provide you with the support to be the very best that you can be, and to make a success of your journey into leadership. We'll support you to do that.'

So, you're absolutely right: there's a range of things that we need to do to make leadership more attractive. You'll be aware of our written statement last week, about a more sophisticated way in which people manage performance in schools, the establishment of the leadership academy, new leadership standards—together as a package, it's all about making leadership an attractive proposition.

You talk about the NPQH. As somebody who foolishly agreed that I would hand sign all the certificates for the successful NPQH participants this year, I had a nasty shock yesterday when they handed me a box with approximately 140 of them in. If I'd have known that, maybe I would have had my signature printed on them. But I was very pleased last night to sign every single one of those certificates for those who have successfully completed their NPQH in the most recent cohort. So, there's no lack of appetite for participation in that programme—no lack of appetite at all.

My officials and the regional consortia have worked really hard together to offer an enhanced NPQH programme for this academic year. But moving forward, you are correct, Llyr, that it is my intention to keep NPQH, but moving forward my officials are currently undertaking procurement for further delivery of the programme, and I will have further information once this process has been completed, which I will be very happy to share with you.

We're very keen, my officials and I and the academy, to ensure that the NPQH reflects the new leadership standards that have come in from the Government, and is a well-thought-through development programme that will support those aspiring to headship even better. So, it is staying. Already, ahead of the academy, regional consortia have been working together to ensure there's a more consistent approach, depending on where you are in Wales, and the leadership academy will have a crucial role in ensuring the NPQH, and what lies behind that qualification, is fit and robust.

I must admit, Llyr, I haven't given any consideration to the inclusion of youth work at this stage. But as I said in answer to Darren, I am looking to make this a leadership academy for all those who have a role in educational leadership, and I'm sure that there will be discussions about whether the youth service at some stage would want to participate in such a programme. What I am clear on is that good youth work alongside really great education can have a fantastic impact on children and young people's lives.

With regard to space and time, you'll be aware that we are in the process of rethinking our professional learning opportunities across the board, with a new national professional learning offer hopefully—no, not hopefully; it will be ready in September, and that will give further details on the availability of staff of all levels to participate in national leadership programmes. But what we saw from the associates, the people who applied to be associates, there is again no lack of appetite for people wanting to take up these opportunities. There were more applicants to be an associate than we had spaces for, and I think that puts us on a really good trajectory of establishing the academy as something that is really worthwhile, and people wanting to be a part of it.

The website is up and running, although I think Members might find it difficult to Google from this computer, because I've just tried to do that on mine and the Assembly's system has blocked it. So, it's one of those websites, one of those weird websites, that, for some reason, the filters here don't want you to have a look at, but, when you get home tonight and you're on your own computers, please do have a look at it. And, again, that digital online presence gives us an opportunity to reach all parts of Wales. I don't want anybody to be logistically disadvantaged because they are leading a school in a more remote part of Wales. That online presence and making sure that there are online resources, online communities, allows everybody to participate on a more equal basis. But I would urge Members to have a look, and maybe the Deputy Presiding Officer could have a word with the technicians here and maybe we could unblock that site, Deputy Presiding Officer.

Okay. I will, if Members promise to answer questions—or Cabinet Secretaries promise to answer questions quite quickly and Members ask questions quite succinctly. Michelle Brown.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary.

Recent Estyn reports have noted that, in terms of quality leadership in schools, there has been a lack of succession planning, a limited number of well-tailored professional development opportunities for senior and middle-level leaders and teachers and that school leadership is not being considered an attractive profession. Estyn inspections identified only a small number of schools as having excellent practice in leadership and planning for improvement. I'm sure that these statements are not news to you; you've acted on them to create the academy, and I welcome the creation of that academy, because its focus on developing and supporting leadership is a good step. However, this broad welcome must come with some caveats. Any initiatives must be cost-effective and also effective in terms of the results that they deliver. In terms of ensuring effectiveness, I very much welcome the appointment of former chief inspector of schools, Ann Keane, to, amongst other things, oversee the instigation of the academy. Ann has a great breadth of experience acquired from working as a teacher herself, including in schools in England. She's also delivered extremely detailed and helpful material during her time with Estyn.

In terms of funding and costs, Estyn's roadshow report in October 2017 stated that there was uncertainty around whether the academy can have sufficient leverage without managing all leadership development funding. So, that's one thing that I would like to ask you: how is that funding going to be managed and how is it going to be controlled? The attendees were concerned about sufficient funding for leadership development and suitable management of it. However, on the other hand, there's also a concern about taxpayers receiving value for money and the costs of the academy being proportionate. We don't want funding of this programme to take significant funding away from front-line teaching services, and I'm sure the Cabinet Secretary would agree with me on that.

The Cabinet Secretary discusses the need for the academy to have a big online presence. What are the forecast costs associated with achieving the online presence the Cabinet Secretary has in mind? I'd also like to ask the Cabinet Secretary what mechanisms of scrutiny and review does she have in place to ensure that the costs associated with the National Academy for Educational Leadership remain proportionate and deliver value for money. A concern that's also been raised is the relatively small number of women in senior leadership roles in the education system, which is surprising, given the number of women who actually go into teaching. Will the academy address this and how do you see the academy addressing it?

It's also intended that the academy endorses provision from providers. I'm assuming that you mean there that it's going to be training, professional development, et cetera. I think that is a good idea; it makes sense. But how is she going to ensure that leaders and teachers wishing to take advantage of that provision have the time to make the most of them? And how are you going to ensure that leaders and teachers have the time out of their working day to develop their leadership skills? Or is this something that they're going to be expected to do in their personal hours, as is so often the case with CPD? Thank you.

Can I thank Michelle Brown for her observations? It's important for Members to understand the way in which the leadership academy has been set up, as a company limited by guarantee that is arm's-length from the Welsh Government, because I wanted to be able to create some kind of independence, on a day-to-day operational basis, from Welsh Government. We announced last week that the organisation will be led by a new chief executive, Huw Foster-Evans. Huw is somebody who will be known to many people here as a—. He started his career as a classroom maths teacher and moved up through the ranks. He's been a headteacher, understands very well the workings of regional consortia, local education authorities, and is extremely enthusiastic with regard to the potential for leadership. Having spoken to him following his appointment, he sees leadership being the core on which we will deliver our educational reforms. The board has an independently appointed chair as well as a number of board members, all of whom have recent experience in business and in education, that will oversee the day-to-day running of the academy. I expect to receive regular reports from both the chair and the chief executive about the work and, of course, I'm sure Members here and, as you are a member of the children and young people's committee, that the committee itself will want to have an in-depth look at the work of the academy and will want to meet those personnel. An invitation was issued, I believe, for people to come along to the event last week, so people could have met at the official launch. I know people's diaries are incredibly busy over lunchtime and that's almost impossible. Llyr was there and I hope, Llyr, that you would say to colleagues who weren't able to attend that there was a real sense of excitement and anticipation and enthusiasm for what we are doing. 

Equality issues in education are really, really important ones, Michelle. It's really interesting; you say about lack of female leadership roles. Well, many, many, many, many of the headteachers I meet in leadership roles—headteachers of schools—especially in the primary sector, are female, and that reflects the nature of the primary school workforce, but we need to see greater diversity in our teaching profession across the piece. I want those at the front of our classroom to reflect the nature of the classroom itself. We are a diverse community with a diverse population and I would like to see a greater diversity in the teaching profession and, of course, the leadership academy, I'm sure, will want to give advice to me about what needs to happen if we're to encourage that diversity and we're able to take action with that. Again, one of the things I expect the leadership academy to do is to feed into public policy advice, to give advice to me, as the Minister, about what more we need to do to support the very premise that you painted: a diverse, successful set of school leaders and a school leadership system that people aspire to be a part of; they want to be a part of that system—rather than seeing leadership as a career-ending opportunity, rather a career-enhancing opportunity. So, that's very important to me, that we get that diversity.

The usual accountability and assurance measures will be put in place, and the chief executive and the board will be held publicly accountable for the way in which the budget of the organisation is spent. As I said in answer to Llyr Huws Gruffydd, as we approach September we will be in a position to give greater detail to Members about the new national professional learning programme that is available. We're already working very, very hard with the OECD to develop our system of schools as learning organisations, and we have to recognise that the old ways of doing professional learning, which often involve coming out of your classroom for an entire day, coming to sit in a hall, being lectured at by the stage, on the stage, and then going back to your classroom and it having no impact on your practice—those days are over. Often, the very best professional learning opportunities come when the children are actually in the room. They come by liaising, not with another school, but actually with your colleagues within the school, or having the opportunity to work across a cluster, and our new national professional learning opportunity programme will reflect that when we launch it in the autumn.

Cabinet Secretary, we all know that the challenges of taking forward education in schools serving our most deprived areas are a major issue for us here in Wales—and further beyond our borders, no doubt. We've discussed in the past the importance of leadership in those particular circumstances, Cabinet Secretary, and we all know it's very important generally, but, in considering these matters, part of our discussions previously was about the particular attributes and characteristics that are necessary to be part of that leadership team and to perform effectively in those schools serving our most deprived communities, and you set out how there would be a bespoke approach and a particular concentration and focus within the generality of what you've described today. So, I just wonder, at this stage in the development of the academy and our new regime for leadership in education in Wales, whether you could update the Chamber on how everything that you've described today will also include this bespoke provision for those particular leadership skills and characteristics.

Thank you, John. Well, great leadership and great leadership development impacts upon all of our children, but I would argue that it impacts disproportionately on those children from a poorer background. Undoubtedly, leadership in different settings requires sometimes a tailor-made specific programme for support. So, it's not for me to dictate all the time to the academy, but I do envisage a situation where we will be looking at supporting leaders, leadership, in a range of educational settings. And, if our national mission is to raise standards and close the attainment gap, which it is, then paying attention to what it means to be a leader in a school in a really economically challenged area with significant social issues that impact upon the life of that school and the well-being of the children and the ability of those children to access the curriculum, that is going to need a certain skill set to make the most of it. So, I would like to see that reflected.

Alternatively, we're seeing new forms of education all the time. What does it take to be the leader of a through school, for instance, where we've had, traditionally, a separation between primary and secondary? We're seeing a growth in the number of through schools. What does it take to be a leader in those circumstances? What does it take to be the leader of a cluster of primary schools? If you find yourself the head teacher of two, three, four primary schools in your local area, which is now happening in an attempt to keep rural schools open, what does it take to be a leader in those circumstances? What does it take to be a leader in a school where you've got very small class sizes and you're trying to teach a number of children across a wide age group, plus you've got a teaching responsibility on top of your leadership responsibility? So, there are many, many different characteristics of leadership. So, if it's generic, there are specific things that we can do to support leaders who find themselves working in very specific circumstances.

I was remiss not to talk about business managers. This is one of the ways in which we can take the burden off headteachers whose passion is for teaching and learning and not necessarily working out how you can fix the boiler or fix the leaking roof or where you can get the cheapest paper and toilet roll from. That's not what we want headteachers to be spending their time on. They tell me far too often they're spending far too much of their time doing that kind of thing and not focusing on teaching and learning and pedagogy. We're already investing in business manager pilots. We'll wait to see the results of those pilots, but, again, it's about supporting leadership in a variety of policy programmes so that people want to be a leader in a Welsh school, and I really hope that people will want to be a great leader in our schools in some of our more challenging communities. Because it's not just financial resource that can make a difference for those children, it's about deploying our very best human resource too.

And, finally, Rhianon Passmore.

Thank you. Many of the points that I wanted to make have already been stated, but I want to welcome the statement today. As a former teacher and lecturer, and a former cabinet member for education, I very much welcome this ongoing reform in terms of the potential that this new academy has. I'll go straight to my questions. How can the Welsh Government then ensure that the educational leadership academy and its online work will be accessible throughout Wales to education professionals on a consistent basis, and how does the Cabinet Secretary envisage that best practice will cascade from the academy in Swansea through the doors and windows of the classrooms across Wales? And, yes, the educational leadership academy has the potential, along with a suite of other Welsh Government pedagogical measures, to place excellence in leadership across Welsh education as one of the greatest assets of the Welsh people and, I believe, ultimately, the Welsh nation.

Thank you very much, Rhianon, for your welcome to the academy. Obviously, our online resource is absolutely crucial to making sure that the academy is accessible, as is one of the crucial roles of our first tranche of associates of the academy. So, these are people that have applied to be part of the academy, they are from the length and breadth of Wales, and part of their role is to be out in the educational communities from where they come to be able to disseminate information about the academy, and to work with their colleagues who are not associates, but to be able to inform them of the work of the academy and encourage them to be a part of it. So, we don’t just have a digital presence; we will have a human presence on the ground—some of our most outstanding teachers from the secondary sector, the primary sector, Welsh medium and English medium—and they are out there at the moment developing their own skills even further, but actually out there spreading the message of the academy and feeding back to the chief executive and the board about what it is leaders need from the academy to support them, as well as developing future programmes, so that we can be much more proactive in career development for people who aspire to leadership.

Thank you very much, Cabinet Secretary.