6. How will the reform of the school curriculum improve educational outcomes in disadvantaged communities? OAQ53342

Thank you, Dawn. The curriculum is being designed for all learners. Underpinning the development work is a belief that someone’s ability to benefit from education should not be determined ever by what their background is or where they live. This priority has been an important consideration in developing the new curriculum.

Thank you for that, Minister, and you'll know that, for many children in Wales, it is the support offered by their school that is the key to transforming their life opportunities and shaping their lives generally and developing their self-confidence. Would you therefore agree that, as we develop and implement the new curriculum, and as we think about the funding of our school services into the future, then tackling disadvantage must remain a core priority of education policies of this Government? And can you give me some practical examples of how this can be done? 

Well, Dawn, you're right that the curriculum will need to be supported by the school's wider support offers; it cannot be the curriculum alone that can tackle these issues. Issues such as inequality and disadvantage go beyond the scope of the curriculum, and must be considered more widely by individual schools, by individual local authorities, and, indeed, the Welsh Government itself. Breaking that cycle of poverty and disadvantage is a long-term commitment, and I've been very clear about my personal commitment to the pupil development grant for the remainder of this Assembly term, and look to increase other opportunities, for instance such as PDG Access, which look to address issues around the cost of the school day and how that can impact upon parents. 

With regard to PDG, we're investing an unprecedented amount—over £190 million in 2018-19 and 2019-20—to support the education of children from our most disadvantaged communities. 

Minister, I'm very grateful for the response that you've just given, but will you recognise the tremendous role of the faith communities across Wales, which are working very closely, often, with schools to eliminate poverty amongst the families that they serve? There was an excellent event that was sponsored just yesterday by Huw Irranca-Davies with the Catholic Education Service, and I was amazed and impressed by the wealth of activity that just the Catholic Church in itself was undertaking with the schools that it serves. So, will you commend them, and what other work is the Welsh Government doing to engage with faith organisations more widely to help to address the poverty that some of our children find themselves in? 

First of all, can I say how sorry I was that I was unable to attend the event yesterday? But I'm very pleased that Steve Davies, the director of education in Welsh Government, was able to attend on my behalf, because we greatly appreciate the work of all voluntary organisations, faith based or non-faith based, that are committed to assisting our children. When I talk about a national mission for education, I mean that truly, because there isn't an individual or voluntary group that cannot add to the national mission and help us ensure that we raise standards in our schools and close that attainment gap. So, I'm very grateful to all those, including the Catholic churches, for the work that they are doing. I enjoy a very positive relationship with our faith school bodies, who will continue to help us develop our curriculum and, of course, play an important part in the Welsh education system in actually delivering education, as well as support services. 

Minister, I was recently invited to visit the new school in the shadow of the Port Talbot steelworks, one of the most disadvantaged communities in Wales. Whilst the new building will help combat the disadvantages of crumbling facilities, it's the curriculum and how it's delivered that will help young people escape disadvantage. The steelworks are one of the region's biggest employers, and they have asked for involvement in the curriculum in order to ensure that young people have the skills needed by industry. Minister, are you involving industry in developing the new curriculum?

Caroline, that's precisely why we have to move away from the concept of a long list of what people have to do, because, clearly, in that community, ensuring that the young people have the skills to take advantage of opportunities from local employers will be very different from the kind of curriculum for, perhaps, people in deepest Radnorshire, my own constituency, who will not necessarily be looking to work in that particular steelworks. So, we do need to be able to allow our schools and our teachers to ensure that the curriculum is delivered in such a way as to meet the career aspirations and the employability options in individual areas.

We do engage with a number of organisations with regard to industry to allow them to help inform the development of our curriculum. And I'm very grateful to some of our big anchor companies who work so closely with schools in their individual areas, but I will ensure and ask officials once again what more we can do with partners to ensure that their voices are heard, and to understand from them what they can do to help us support education in their home area.