2. What action is the Welsh Government taking to improve educational outcomes in the south Wales valleys? OAQ53947

The Welsh Government, regional consortia and local authorities are collectively supporting schools in the south Wales Valleys—and, indeed, throughout the whole of Wales—to improve educational outcomes, in line with the priorities in 'Our national mission'.

Thank you, Minister. As we know, the life opportunities of people living in areas like Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney are determined by many factors, but especially their educational and training opportunities. The Learning and Work Institute Cymru has recently published a youth opportunity index, showing that young people in my constituency, and across the south Wales Valleys, have the least access to opportunities. For too many young people, it remains the place of their birth which determines their opportunities and outcomes in life, and not their own abilities. What further action can you take as education Minister to help end this unfairness?

Well, Presiding Officer, given that the question is about schools in the south Wales Valleys, can I give a warm welcome to Tredegar Comprehensive School pupils, who I think have joined us in the viewing gallery this afternoon? Tredegar comprehensive is the old school of Alun Davies AM. I'm not sure whether the children have a suitable role model in Mr Davies, but it's something to aspire to. And I do know that some of the pupils who are with us today are ex-pupils of Deighton Primary School, which, again, is Mr Davies's old primary school, whom I had the pleasure of meeting when they were in the primary school. 

But returning to Dawn's question, can I agree with you, Dawn, that it's totally unacceptable for children's success to be determined by their social or economic circumstances? And underpinning all of our work is the belief that someone's ability to benefit from education should not be determined by where they live, what their background is or what their parents' income is. As I said in my first answer, we are investing unprecedented amounts in the pupil development grant—over £190 million last year—to improve outcomes for some of our most disadvantaged learners, and we're also looking at different types of opportunities. We have committed a total of £1.5 million to fund shared apprenticeships across the Valleys taskforce area, and our junior apprenticeship programme offers year 10 and 11 pupils the opportunity to study full time for a future career in a college setting, from the age of 14, and that is specifically targeted at those children who may have low aspirations or are in danger of being not in education, employment or training. 

Minister, you cannot improve educational outcome without providing the necessary number of teaching staff required by the schools. Recent figures show a shortfall of 40 per cent in reaching your own target for new secondary school trainee teachers. You have also missed your target for primary school trainee teachers for the third year running. Minister, what action are you taking to address the crisis in teacher recruitment in Wales, please?

Teacher recruitment is challenging not just within Wales, but, actually, it's an international issue. The statistics that the Member refers to relate to the academic year 2017-18, and, since then, we have undertaken a major reform across initial teacher education. And whilst we have missed our targets with regard to full-time recruits to these programmes, applications to our graduate teacher programme for a route to qualification as a teacher is oversubscribed. 

You are aware of my concerns about your over-reliance on supply teaching firms. These firms usually charge schools exorbitant rates for providing teacher cover and only pass a small proportion of that on to the teacher commissioned. Now, I know we've discussed this before, but the question also needs considering from the point of view of providing teacher continuity for pupils. Of course, there'll be times when supply teachers are required, but I've received anecdotal evidence that supply teacher agencies pay no mind to ensuring that the teachers that are on their books stay the course during a specific teacher absence. A supply teacher recently contacted me to say that these consultants do not care about continuity of cover at all so long as they get their commission. Minister, are you aware of this issue and the consequences, and can you please tell us what you intend to do to remedy it? 

Well, as the Member will be aware, we have a reform programme with regard to the practices of supply teacher agencies. The new framework will be on stream before the start of the new academic year, which will provide for minimum rates of pay for those staff employed by those agencies, better employment rights, guaranteed access to training. The Member makes a very good point with regard to continuity. Continuity of supply staff in schools is beneficial not only to those individual members of staff, but, crucially, to the pupils that they teach. And this is one of the benefits that we have been able to quantify as a result of our cluster supply model that we have constituted over the last two years, and we will continue to do what we can to ensure that, when supply is needed—and the Member is right; from time to time, it is needed—those that are providing that are well trained, well qualified and supported, and are able to deliver impactful lessons to students.