The following amendments have been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Rebecca Evans, amendments 2, 3 and 4 in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth, and amendment 5 in the name of Caroline Jones. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendments 2, 3 and 4 will be deselected.

We now move on to the Welsh Conservatives debate on GCSE and A-level results. I call on Suzy Davies to move the motion. 

Motion NDM7153 Darren Millar

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Notes this summer's GCSE and A-Level results in Wales.

2. Regrets that the GCSE A*-C results in summer 2019 were worse than in summer 2007.

3. Further regrets the fall in the percentage of learners securing A*-C GCSE grades in English, maths and Welsh second language.

4. Notes that Welsh Government research has found that performance against key indicators for years 4-9 have deteriorated.

5. Calls on the Welsh Government to acknowledge its failure to significantly improve GCSE and A-Level attainment in Wales and apologise to pupils, parents and schools for letting them down.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and, of course, I move the motion. First of all—and I know you will all join me in this—can I offer my congratulations to all the students, teachers and staff for the commitment and work that they've put into this year's exams? This debate is no criticism of them. It is about holding Welsh Government to account on how they're making—sorry, and how they're making it perhaps a little more difficult for us to do that. Let me congratulate also all those who passed non-A-levels and non-GCSEs too. Time and time again, we stand up in this Chamber and we talk about parity of esteem between academic and vocational qualifications, but the focus is pretty much always on the former. So, let's begin with this as an example of uncertainty dressed up as good news.

The Welsh Government amendment to our debate abounds with whataboutery, exactly as it did in last year's debate on this subject, but there is one statistic of which it looks like we should be proud, and that's a modest increase in the number of students attaining A* to C in science subjects. Now, Members will recollect that the number of entrants for GCSE sciences is increasing, partly due to the deliberate insistence that some students move from BTEC to GCSE, as the BTEC course limited students to a maximum attainment of a GCSE grade C equivalent. Yet it's not possible to establish how many of those students who would formerly have entered a BTEC course got a C or lower at GCSE, and, conversely, Qualifications Wales tells me that it is not possible to break down the figures for those who did take the BTEC this year to see how many of them attained the C equivalent. In short, at this stage, we can't tell whether moving students from one qualification to the other has made any difference to the standard of attainment or, indeed, whether staying on a BTEC course may have been better for particular students. The reason I'm raising this particular smoke and mirrors right at the beginning of this debate is not just to highlight that obfuscation surrounding what looks like, at first instance, good news, but to challenge you, Minister, on your failure to act on the status of qualifications that bring out different strengths in pupils.

In 2014-15, 19,775 pupils obtained a BTEC qualification. In 2017-18, which is the most recent figure I can find, only 8,425 learners sat BTECs. I want to know what that says about your ministerial confidence in so-called vocational qualifications. There is no point, as you did last week, advising Nick Ramsay that all schools in his area are offering an appropriate number of vocational courses, when your decisions have done nothing to convince parents and pupils that vocational qualifications are valuable. And inflating those non-general exam figures further by including the skills challenge from the bac is something of a sleight of hand, which I think needs pointing out.

With teachers as well as parents now looking to the GCSE and the A-level as the only gold standard, there is an even greater risk that those who could reach excellence by teaching to different aptitudes will be denied routes to achieving their potential. And, anyway, let's face it: waving apparently shiny science results in our faces doesn't disguise the fact that there was again a fall in the proportion of learners securing A* to C grades in English language, maths and second-language Welsh. You can't be pleased about that, Minister. These are the gateway qualifications to just about any next step into training, work or further and higher education, and it is the very point that I raised in the debate on the motion to annul the School Performance and Absence Targets (Wales) (Amendments) Regulations 2019, back in July. These are the regulations that remove the requirement for school governors to set targets for these subjects and the need to report on the percentage of pupils who achieve these targets in the years pre GCSE. Now, unfortunately, as that piece of secondary legislation was part of a suite of changes, it wouldn't have made sense to pull out that regulation, but you've singularly failed, Minister, to answer the point about the crucial nature of those particular key skills. It's why we've tabled point 4 of the motion.

The assessment of pupil performance in years 4 to 9 may well be about identifying how to help each pupil improve, and I do understand that, but those scores also act as a warning. Today's year 9 pupils are not in as strong a position as this year's year 11 pupils were in two years ago—not in English, not in Welsh, not in maths, and not even in science. And let's remember that this year's year 11 results in those key skill areas, those key qualifications, are down again on last year's already grim results, the worst in 13 years. And now, as governors are able to avoid setting targets even for these key skills earlier in the pupil's journey, that link between standards and the journey towards exam results is becoming less visible, less transparent and very useful for Governments to hide bad news.

Now, Members might be wondering about point 2 of our motion and the reference to 2007. It's not just random, I promise you. I've just brought your attention to the drop in attainment in the most important GCSEs again this year. But Welsh Government has countered, in its amendment, with the claim that, overall, results have improved this year, which, actually, they have by about 1 per cent, but, as there was a fall last year of about the same amount, I guess that they're only the second worst in 13 years. 2007 was the last year when the percentage of young people attaining A* to C grades was the same, pretty much, in Wales and England. And, as we can see from the Government's amendment, they love a comparison with England. Now then, since then, pupils in England, since 2007, outperformed those in Wales every single year on A* to C grades at GCSE, although both nations did see improvements.

In 2015, a drop in the English results meant that both nations were pretty much in the same place, and, since then, both nations have reformed their GCSEs. Both felt the disruption, but guess what? England's performance is stable—actually, rising modestly. In Wales, we have dropped all the way back to our 2007 levels. You cannot get away with saying that these are different exams when England has clearly managed its changes without the damage to attainment. And incidentally, Minister, you're very brave to mention Northern Ireland in your amendment. You know as well as I do that pupils in Northern Ireland put in yet another phenomenal performance in this year at GCSE, with around 80 per cent achieving A* to C, and they've been doing it for years. Why aren't we looking more closely at their system rather than Scotland, where state schools are now offering fewer subjects and where results for Highers have fallen for the fourth year running?

Now, comparing results leads me to the point raised in Plaid's second amendment, and Qualifications Wales has urged the same caution about comparison. Can I invite Members to consider this? All exam boards, regardless of which nation they're teaching to, work hard to ensure that the standards of challenge in their exams, as evidenced by grades, are broadly in line. So, in short, a C in a WJEC exam should be as good as a C from an AQA exam. The difference in content of those exams for quality assurance purposes does not matter as between boards, as long as there is consistency in the level of challenge. And surely that has not changed. The content of our new GCSEs may be very different—they may test different knowledge, they may test different skills—but the standard of challenge should still compare, within margins of error, not just with the standards of other nations, but with the standards of our previous GCSEs. Our poorer GCSE results compared to England and Northern Ireland don't arise from our exams being harder than theirs. So, you cannot hide your failure, Minister, by claiming that you cannot compare what we have today with what has gone before. We should always be able to compare standards year on year, and attainment data is part of that process.

Just briefly, to deal with the other amendments—we will support amendment 3, if we get the chance. Just one caveat on the third point of that Plaid amendment: Welsh Conservatives have always said that we want teachers to be free to teach, and it's why we're not laying into the curriculum at this point, but school leaders will need to know that we will insist on very robust, high-level accountability structures in exchange for trusting them. That is miles away from the current invasive management, but we cannot be completely hands-off. We have a Government to hold to account on its performance, let alone the interests of learners and, indeed, staff to represent.

We also support the Brexit Party amendment, not because we believe that specific accountability measures should be readopted, but because it talks of a trend. I hope my earlier remarks make clear our concerns about upholding and improving standards in English, Welsh and maths, and, indeed, achievement as between a general and vocational qualification.

Finally, amendment 4. This deletes part of our motion, so I'm afraid we can't support it, but it does come from the same place. Half our pupils are not achieving their potential, be that at A-levels, GCSEs or other qualifications, but they're also not achieving their potential for self-fulfillment, for economic advancement, for contributing to the prosperous, confident and strong, active society on which our nation should be built.

Ultimately, it is Welsh Government that must accept responsibility for all that. After 20 years of Labour in Government and all those years of underfunding compared to England, everyone who has been through your education system can look at your amendment. They can see what you think they should be grateful for and what you urge them to call success, and I think that is a pitiful deception, I really do. They deserve an apology, as Plaid Cymru, as the Welsh Conservatives, are asking. They and their children deserve better Government.

I have selected the five amendments to the motion. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendments 2, 3 and 4 will be deselected. I call on the Minister for Education to formally move amendment 1 in the name of—

Amendment 1—Rebecca Evans

After point 1, delete all and replace with:

Congratulates pupils, teachers and school staff for their hard work and strong set of results.

Welcomes that:

a) A-Level results this summer remained at a historic high;

b) compared to English regions and Northern Ireland, Wales improved A-Level ranking for all grades and, for the first time ever, is rated first for A*;

c) overall GCSE results showed improvement this summer;

d) the increase of over 50 per cent in science GCSE entries since 2016, and increases this year in the percentage of pupils gaining A*-A and A*-C grades in science subjects;

e) the number of pupils achieving A*-C in Welsh second language full course increased by 12.5 per cent;

f) the number of pupils who sat GCSE English literature increased by 22.8 per cent, with over 2,800 more achieving A*-C grades compared with 2018.

Amendment 1 moved.

Formally.

Thank you. I call on Siân Gwenllian to move amendments 2, 3 and 4, tabled in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth. Siân.

Amendment 2—Rhun ap Iorwerth

Delete points 2 and 3 and replace with:

Believes that it’s not possible to make meaningful comparisons with GCSE and A-level results from previous years for a number of reasons.

Amendment 3—Rhun ap Iorwerth

Add new points after point 4, and re-number accordingly:

Notes the Estyn findings that pupils who attend half the secondary schools in Wales are unable to reach their full potential by the time they leave school.

Believes that the pupil-teacher relationship is key to academic attainment and that schools must be sufficiently funded in order to raise standards.

Calls for improvements to teachers’ conditions of employment, and abolish bureaucracy and unnecessary intervention, in order to strengthen academic achievement.

Calls on the Welsh Government to provide sufficient funding for our schools and move spending towards preventative services within its next budget, in order to create the conditions that will enable our pupils and teachers to succeed.

Amendment 4—Rhun ap Iorwerth

In point 5, delete 'to acknowledge its failure to significantly improve GCSE and A-Level attainment in Wales and apologise to pupils, parents and schools for letting them down' and replace with 'to apologise that the current education system does not allow half the pupils in Welsh schools to achieve their full potential'.

Amendments 2, 3 and 4 moved.

I move the amendments. Thank you. I must say that I was extremely disappointed in reading the Conservative motion, which focuses on this year’s GCSE results mainly. I was even more disappointed in seeing the Government’s amendment, which again focuses on GCSE and A-level results. The Conservative motion gives a negative spin on the results. The Government’s amendment puts a positive spin on the same set of results. Anyone who is involved with education will know full well that meaningful, credible comparisons can’t be made by looking at one set of crude results for one year and setting them against another set from another year. As one who has been a chair of governors, a cabinet member for education and chair of GwE, I know that this is foolish and meaningless and everyone in the sector understands that too.

We need to look at attainment over a period of time, and even in trying to make comparisons, so much has changed since the year that the Conservatives have chosen, namely 2007. The specifications themselves have changed, access patterns for examinations have changed, the grades that count towards the performance measures have changed—and so on and so forth. What’s important is that we move away from a system of accountability that drives the education system in a negative direction from a pupil’s point of view—for example, a system that encourages a focus on those people who are on the boundary between C and D at the expense of those who are either above them or below them, and move away from a system that puts pressure on learners to take exams time and time again to get better results, or even doesn’t allow some pupils to take exams in order to avoid lower grades.

I see the Minister agreeing. I know that she agrees on this. We need to move away from a system that sees pupils as data rather than people and pushes schools to operate as factories rather than educational establishments, but unfortunately that’s exactly what this discussion does. It focuses on the weaknesses in the system. We also need to move away from a system that has increased the stress and workload of teachers significantly and has placed significant stress and pressure on pupils too. I welcome the move by Government towards a system where the emphasis is on assessment, namely assessment that provides valuable feedback, both to the teacher and the learner, rather than focusing on external accountability, and that is a significant and positive step forward. That’s why I was disappointed to see the direction of travel of that amendment.

Our amendments do highlight what needs to be done in order to raise standards. Yes, pupils leave half of Welsh secondary schools without reaching their full potential. Yes, we need urgent changes. That’s the fact that can’t be spun. That’s where we need to focus. And the greatest change required in order to raise standards is to ensure sufficient levels of funding that allow appropriate staffing levels that ensure that pupils receive additional support and preventative interventions when needed.

I received a letter from a governing body of a Gwynedd secondary school just yesterday. This is a cri de coeur. I will quote from the letter, because it states much better than I could what the problem is: ‘I write to express our grave concerns and dissatisfaction about the insufficient funding of schools on a continual basis. We urge the Welsh Government to address this funding crisis. We believe that there must be urgent change and that appropriate funds need to be provided to our schools and educational professionals and pupils. The future of our children is at stake. We have one opportunity to put pupils through the education system, and through cutting funds, the Government is failing our pupils. Cuts mean over the years that staff have lost their jobs and it’s likely that more will need to be cut in future. The impact of redundancies means an additional workload on current staff and the other impacts of insufficient funding is that fewer resources are available for pupils, there is less choice in subjects, classes are larger, there is less support for the children who need it, less support for parents and families, and fewer opportunities for children to take part in extra-curricular activities. This cannot continue and we cannot allow this to go without challenge.’

That letter explains the situation very clearly. So, support the Plaid Cymru amendments. Don’t be drawn into a debate about GCSE results. Face the reality that we need more funding for our schools.

Thank you. I call on Mark Reckless to move amendment 5, tabled in the name of Caroline Jones.

Amendment 5—Caroline Jones

Add as new point at end of the motion:

Believes that Welsh GCSE and A-Level learners are being harmed by recent changes that water down school accountability and calls on the Welsh Government to reverse this trend.

Amendment 5 moved.

I formally move amendment 5, which Caroline Jones has put down. I congratulate Suzy Davies on opening this debate, and Siân on her speech just now. I agree with what Siân Gwenllian says about the need for more funding. I think that we have the finance Minister here and a budget coming up, and we have had a significant increase in education spending in England announced, and I do hope that we will be seeing that come through to Wales as well, and in particular, that we will see people who may be considering coming into the profession—that starting salaries and progression will be raised.

I sympathise also with what Siân said about the need for multi-year meaningful and credible comparisons. I think this debate really is rather difficult in terms of the motion from the Conservatives and the amendment from the Government. There is just lots of cherry-picking of very different things to either make the Government look bad or good, and I don't think it really helps us assess how the trend has been developing.

It's a shame, I think, in the Conservative motion—. Suzy did say it in her speech, and I credit that, but as well as noting the results, I think that we should congratulate the learners involved. I think it would have been good if that had been in the motion, but it was said. The regret on the GCSEs being worse than summer 2007—I though that that was just very weird when I read the motion. I didn't understand what the point was that the Conservatives were trying to make. If, as Siân says—or was it Suzy—the results are the second worst since 2007, I would have thought that that would have been the point to emphasise in the motion, rather than just the point that they are less good than those in 2007.  

Will you take an intervention?

I would be delighted to, Suzy.

The reason that 2007 was chosen was that it was at a time when the English and Welsh results were comparable. I went on to say in some of my contribution that, while both nations have actually improved in that time, until this year, England has done better than Wales. But this year, Wales has gone back to that starting point.

I think that is the core trend. I agree with you and broadly what the Conservatives have been pushing in that area—that in education in Wales, the results seem to have got significantly worse over that period, and that has been the substantial trend. If there is some improvement this year, I think that we should recognise that, but I think the trend is still the dominant matter.

With the Welsh second language, I won't ask for another intervention, but Welsh second language—is that the same as Welsh short course? Because my understanding was we're moving away from—[Interruption.] They're two different things. I will try and understand that more clearly. But we are seeing significant changes in this area that makes it harder to make the comparisons that we seek to do in this motion.

So, we note the Welsh Government research around key indicators. In some ways it's good to hear the Welsh Government's doing some research, particularly if it's being published, but there shouldn't be so much need for it, because we should have published and comparable data that we can all engage with in a consistent way. I've spoken before to the education Secretary both in the Chamber and elsewhere about my concerns about not publishing quality comparable statistics. I focused on 2014-17 when I was told that, actually, Estyn was publishing these results, and I was pleased to see that was the case, on school inspections, but that's now stopped, and I don't understand why that is. I was also disappointed to see the level 2 inclusive measure taken away as a requirement, and the schools being able to set their own targets and measures, and feared that would lead to them marking their own homework and not having the same reliability of comparison. But I do want to engage sensibly in this by making these points. I'm not arguing there should be a private market in education. I'm not saying schools shouldn't co-operate and work with each other, but I do think we need clear, published, reliable, trusted data about how well schools are doing in order to help drive improvement up.

Finally, on the Conservative motion, I thought it was slightly hopeful of them to expect the Government to be apologising to all pupils for letting them down, but I think it's right that we haven't seen significant improvements. But it's worse than that—we saw a significant deteriorating trend even if there was some improvement this year. One thing I would like to congratulate the Government for in its motion is point (b), which strikes me as very impressive, if indeed Wales is voted first for A* at A-level. That really is a significant achievement. I don't know how issues with exam boards—perhaps we have exam boards that may be different; I don't know whether that's an issue or whether there are other factors—but on the face of it, that is an impressive thing that I would like to congratulate the Government on at least in its own narrow terms. I wonder whether the Seren programme that I've also spoken about quite frequently—whether those two things may be linked in any way. I'm certainly very keen to see the top end of the attainment area being stretched and given a real opportunity to deliver. But overall, we'd like to see clearer and better comparisons available to ensure proper accountability for schools, not to deliver a market, but in order to drive up standards. I don't think it's helpful to characterise it in that type of language, and I look forward to hearing what the education Minister's got to say in response.

Education is the key to success in one's life, and teachers make a lasting impact on the lives of their students. Education is the passport to the future, enabling our young people to reach and to achieve their full potential. However, the Welsh Government is failing our young people to achieve that.

In the last 10 years, GCSE results have not improved. Wales trails behind other parts of the United Kingdom in both the international PISA results and tables and the key results such as GCSE A* to C grades. It is shocking that GCSE results are worse than they were in 2007. Also, the key stage 2 and 3 results have deteriorated for the first time since 2007. This decline in educational standards places a barrier in the way of pupils, hindering their potential earnings and impacting on their lives and careers. Research shows that an investment in maths and English skills provides a substantial social and economic return. Learners who have achieved English and maths qualifications secure earning premiums ranging from 5 per cent to 8 per cent.

However, Estyn's annual report says that in half of schools, provision for the development of pupil literacy, particularly writing, and numeracy across the curriculum is inconsistent. They went on to say that there are too few opportunities for pupils to develop their skills progressively in authentic contexts. Further, teachers do not have a firm grasp of how to make sure that their provision of skills is appropriate and leads to progression. The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has outlined that nearly 45 per cent of school leavers in Wales could not achieve five good GCSE results between 2015 and 2020. These shortcomings in education standards translate themselves into poor employment chances. Wales has the lowest take-home pay of all 12 regions of the United Kingdom. Take-home pay in Wales is £60 less than the UK average. Thirty-six per cent of employees in Wales were in the low-skilled jobs in 2018-19, compared to a UK average of 32 per cent. Over a fifth of Wales students lack the required reading skills to function in the workforce. Without sufficient progress in these areas, the Welsh Government will continue to fail to provide our young people with the support they need to have the best possible chance of a secure future.

The Welsh Government has a long-standing commitment to protect school funding, yet the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers’ latest figures estimate the funding gap between pupils in England and Wales to be a staggering £645. School funding has not been protected. Between 2010-11 and 2018-19 school funding has fallen by nearly 8 per cent in real terms. Extra funding on education in England has resulted in an extra £1.25 billion for Wales over the next three years. The Welsh Government must commit to tackling the historic underfunding of schools. The declining standard must be reversed, Deputy Presiding Officer, if future generations of pupils are not to be let down. It is a very famous saying of Benjamin Franklin, an America President, who said, ‘An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.’ It is about time for the Welsh Government to deliver this investment in Wales. Thank you.

We are in danger of comparing apples and pears. In my constituency, in the secondary schools serving my young people: 65 per cent of pupils at Llanishen High School got five As to Cs, including language and maths; 76 per cent at Bro Edern; 86 per cent at Cardiff High School. So, which one did better? Well, superficially, Cardiff High did, but what proportion of this school has special educational needs? How many free-school-mealers are there? Well, far below average is the answer. So, I just want to focus a little bit on the achievements of a school where I'm a governor, St Teilo’s, where 61 per cent of pupils got five GCSEs, including a language and maths, and that is only just 1 per cent below the national average. That is in a school that has over one in five pupils in receipt of free school meals, 3.5 per cent of children have a statement of special educational need, and 3.5 per cent are pupils being looked after by the local authority, which is the highest in Wales. So, comparing like with like, the school is the second highest performing in its family of schools, which is the 20 per cent to 30 per cent free-school-meal benchmarking group. And this is where we should be making these comparisons. It's about whether schools of a similar nature are doing as well as other schools who are facing some of the challenges that we know young people face that impact on their education, and, clearly, poverty is one of them.

So, I think that St Teilo's is doing brilliantly, because, for children in receipt of free school meals, they've increased their performance every year for the last five years, and they currently stand at 36 per cent, which is much higher than the average in the family of schools they’re in. And looking to the future, this summer, two thirds of the children in year 10 who are in receipt of free school meals attained a grade C or above in English literature, meaning there was no gap in performance between the most affluent and least affluent pupils. That, I think, is a real achievement, and I thank the pupils and the teachers at St Teilo’s for that fantastic performance.

Will you take in intervention, Jenny?

Yes.

I think congratulations are due to St Teilo's School—that's excellent news. Can you explain then why, overall across the whole of Wales, the number of A to C grades, particularly in those key subjects, has gone down, if schools like St Teilo's are actually bringing the averages up?

I think we need to hear from the education Minister. I think it's very important that we have set what's called the level 2 plus benchmark—that we need all pupils to achieve five GCSEs where possible, including language and maths. I think that's absolutely right. You can see how, in previous years, when that wasn't the benchmark, there was less attention placed on the language and maths. I think it's absolutely right that we are now putting that emphasis. So, I think that that is one of the ways in which we ensure that young people, where possible, achieve what we think they need to make their way in the world.

But I don't understand why the Conservative Party have pitched the motion in the way they have. I don't understand what is so important about 2007. For me, it has lots of importance for all sorts of reasons, but nothing to do with the exam results. What was it that was so significant about 2007? As Siân Gwenllian has already mentioned, things have changed hugely in that period, and we are in danger, as I say, of comparing apples and pears. 

So, I think that there's been some really significant achievements by Welsh pupils that we really do need to celebrate. The numbers achieving the five As to C, including language and maths, has gone up, and that's fantastic, and the A* and A pass rate has remained stable. As Suzy Davies has acknowledged, the performance in science continues to improve, and that's really, really important, because otherwise our understanding of the way the world works is going to be much more difficult. 

So, just looking at the A-level results, Wales is outperforming the rest of the UK, and this doesn't seem to get mentioned by the Conservatives. So, we are now the first for A* compared to the English regions and Northern Ireland, and that's really, really good. So, why are we not celebrating that?

I think that one of the things that we need to consider is, if we're going to put more money into education, where is that money going to come from, given that we continue to have less money to spend than we did in 2010. So, is it going to come out of health? Are the opposition parties going to say, 'Yes, we need to take money out of health'—which is where we spend half the budget at the moment—'and put it into education'? Let's have that debate. I'm very happy to have that debate. But, simply saying, 'We've got to spend more money on this', without identifying what we're going to take it from, given that we do not have a rising budget, is something that we need to have an adult discussion about. 

I'm pleased to be able to take part in this afternoon's debate. Following the summer examination results, there was justifiable praise for Welsh learners, who, under considerable pressure from poor funding settlements and significant reforms, had worked hard to achieve their grades. We've all been there ourselves as learners, the pressure can be overwhelming, and the trepidation and anxiety that come with receiving your examination results can be enormous.

In my own constituency, there was a very strong performance at Ysgol y Preseli at A* to A grades, which I'm proud to say is significantly above the national average. However, not all schools in Pembrokeshire delivered improvements, and whilst I understand that improvements have been made at several schools across the county in achieving A* to C grades, Pembrokeshire County Council have made it clear that further work is still required to support Milford Haven School and Haverfordwest high school.

Of course, at this stage, the outcomes are still provisional, at school level only and could be subject to change. However, even at this early stage, perhaps in responding to today's debate, the Minister could tell us what immediate interventions the Welsh Government is planning, to work with individual schools to explore ways in which they can improve standards. I'm sure the Minister would agree that there's no one-size-fits-all approach to improving education standards in Wales and the support needed in one school may be very different for another. Therefore, I think it's clear that the Welsh Government could do more to develop a more bespoke approach to working with schools across Wales so that the package of support offered is tailored to the individual school.

Of course, there are a whole host of reasons why some of our learners aren't quite reaching their full potential. According to the NASUWT, one of those reasons is because the Welsh Government needs to address the continued funding gap with schools in England and the spiraling workload of teachers and school leaders. We all know that the funding gap faced by schools across Wales means that there is a lack of resources for our education providers, and that, understandably, undermines the ability of schools to secure the best education standards possible. Members will be aware of the Children, Young People and Education Committee's recent inquiry into school funding, which found that the £109 million schools budget gap in 2019-20 will rise to £319 million in 2022-23 and that at least half of all secondary schools in Wales are in deficit. And that figure is rising.

Schools across Wales are right to say that there's a real difficulty in maintaining and improving standards against a backdrop of increasing pressure on resources. In giving evidence to that inquiry, the Pembrokeshire Association of Secondary Headteachers made it clear that secondary schools are reducing the number of teaching staff, reducing the breadth of the curriculum offered, partially at key stages 4 and 5. They also said there was a need to increase the number of pupils in classes to enable fewer teachers to deliver to the curriculum. They went on to say that there will be reductions in the amount of time dedicated to leadership and management, which will increase the workload of those members of staff and reduce their capacity to focus on improving school performance. I'm sure the Minister is under no illusion that it's not only Pembrokeshire's secondary schools that have to take these steps, and so it's crucial that the school funding issue is addressed in order to ensure that schools are fully resourced and best equipped to provide for our learners.

However, school funding is only one piece of the puzzle, and we know that Wales's 2019 results are set against a backdrop of significant curriculum reform. In January, before the draft curriculum was published, the previous head of Qualifications Wales admitted that the new curriculum could mean an end to GCSEs in the longer term and more reforms in the short term. How, or to what extent, those qualifications will change is still up for discussion, but needless to say that that was met with opposition from some in the education profession. For example, the Association of School and College Leaders have been quite clear that, and I quote,

'it is important to understand that these results come at a time of enormous change in the Welsh education system which has included a huge overhaul of GCSE specifications.'

They went on to say that,

'It is vital to get this right so that we are in the best position possible to implement the even more ambitious reforms which are planned to the Welsh curriculum over the next few years.'

Moving forward, the Minister has consulted on plans for the new curriculum, and perhaps she'll take the opportunity this afternoon to tell us a bit more about the Welsh Government's plans in this specific area.

Dirprwy Lywydd, at the heart of this debate is the desire to see Welsh schools flourish and its learners reach their full potential. As far as my own constituency is concerned, where schools have been given significant support, there has been improvement, and that's to be welcomed. But more can and should be done to ensure standards are improved in schools right across Wales so that our learners finish their education journey equipped with the skills they need to get on in the modern world. So, in closing, Dirprwy Lywydd, I hope the Welsh Government will reflect on some of the concerns raised by the education sector and I urge Members to support our motion. 

I'm also pleased to contribute to this afternoon's important debate—important because what could be more important than discussing education? What could be more important than the future of our young people? The results that we've been talking about this afternoon are not the be-all and end-all of education, but they are a key indicator of where we are as a country in terms of educating our young people, and a measure along the way to where we would like to be. 

Other Members have mentioned many of the things I was going to mention, so I won't go over old ground. Paul Davies has mentioned Pembrokeshire and the results there; in Monmouthshire, I'd like to congratulate the pupils across Monmouthshire, who worked so hard, and their teachers, who worked hard, and gained good results. I know that the Minister, from your previous answer, was in King Henry VIII Comprehensive in Abergavenny, I think, on the day of the results, so you could see first-hand the delight. We all cast our minds back to when we were in that position, opening our results, and it's a time in your life that is never to be repeated later, but I'm pleased that the Minister was in my constituency for that day. 

I do have to say—and this was mentioned by Siân Gwenllian earlier—in terms of the Government amendment, I was disappointed by that amendment. It does highlight some interesting statistics, but it does make things seem as though everything is rosy in the garden, and I don't think it really does reflect the real desire that's out there in schools amongst the pupils, teachers and further afield to reform and to progress and to raise standards. And there's always going to be scope to raise standards, no matter how good the Government might say things are, or how good things might be perceived to be. At the end of the day, particularly as we approach leaving the European Union, Wales and the UK are going to have to compete, increasingly, on the world stage and we'll have to keep up with other countries that are seeing their educational standards rise, and we must make sure that we keep pace with that.

I would echo the earlier words of Paul Davies that, yes, some schools have done very well, but what about those schools that haven't done so well? It's important that good practice is spread from the good schools to the less-well-off schools, and it'd be good to see a restatement, a reappraisal, of the strategy of the Welsh Government on how the Minister sees that panning out and how good practice can be spread, because there's always work that can be done there.

Funding has been mentioned and we know that the recent UK Government's spending round will see an extra amount of money—£1.24 billion—coming to Wales as a result of extra investment in schools in England. I think it was Jenny Rathbone who mentioned where's this money going to come from and let's have a debate about how we divide the cake in Wales. Well, okay, it might not be everything, but it is a very good sum of money that's going to come to Wales, so we do need to have a debate about how that money is spent. And, let's make sure that that money goes to the front line of public services and doesn't get sidetracked or siphoned off into other areas. It must go to the education front line. Of course, money is not the whole answer—the Minister has made this point in the past—and I think too often we can give the impression that if we throw money at something, then that's going to solve it. But, of course, money is only half the answer, and indeed the NASUWT, as my colleague Paul Davies mentioned, has put that funding gap per pupil at £645. I know that's been disputed in some quarters, but that's the NASUWT's verdict and whatever that funding gap is then it's important that we seek to close that funding gap.

We welcome the fact that there's been an improvement in GCSE and A-level results since 2018. I was going to mention the year 2007, but it caused so much anxiety earlier. Suzy Davies explained why 2007 has been used, in that it's the last date at which there is an ability to compare the data sets. So, that's why that date was set. But, if you go back, yes, to last year, then there's been an improvement. If you go back further, then the results are less clear cut. So, I think we need to remember that behind these statistics that have been quoted this afternoon, it's more than about statistics; there are people, young people, human beings behind the statistics. The future is behind those statistics. Because when you're putting money into education and you're planning your education strategy, then what you're actually doing is you're building the future of this country. And we all want to see in this Chamber—. I think we're all united in the view that we want to see an improvement in the standards today so that, in the future, Wales can do even better on the world stage and we can all get on with the job of building a brighter future for our young people and a brighter future for Wales.

Thank you. Can I now call the Minister for Education, Kirsty Williams?

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Back in August, I had the privilege of celebrating examination results with the learners at Coleg y Cymoedd on A-level day, and, as Nick Ramsay just said, with the pupils at King Henry VIII Comprehensive School in Abergavenny on GCSE day—a day when that school was celebrating its best ever set of GCSE results. And I'm sure that all Members across the Chamber will want to congratulate learners across our nation for the tremendous achievements and take this opportunity to thank and to praise our teachers for their hard work, particularly those who have worked so tirelessly to adapt to changes in delivering new GCSE qualifications. I'm very pleased that Jenny Rathbone mentioned St Teilo's in her constituency and Ysgol y Preseli in Paul Davies's constituency—both schools that I've had the privilege to visit and it's great to see them continuing to do so well.

But I have to admit, Deputy Presiding Officer, that I had wondered whether the Conservatives were looking at the correct set of summer results when drafting their motion, because I do think they have taken the opportunity to devalue the achievements of our learners this year. Hopefully all Members will join me instead in welcoming the record achievement of the top grades at A-level, with 9 per cent of grades awarded at A*, more than a quarter awarded at A*/A, and more than three quarters awarded at A* to C. I hope they will also welcome the fact that Wales is indeed now ranked higher than any English region and Northern Ireland for the achievements at A* grades, and those results are the product of many years of hard work from learners and teachers, and should be recognised.

Mark Reckless asked the question about whether we can attribute some of this success to the Seren network. Of course, this is the first year that the students will have been through the entirety of the Seren programme, and I think there is definitely something there that has driven those excellent results. Alongside those results we have seen a record number of offers from Cambridge University to our Seren students for entry in 2019, an offer rate of some 30 per cent, which is significantly above other parts of the United Kingdom. And when you think of the demographics of Wales as compared to the demographics in richer parts of the United Kingdom, I think we should say 'well done' to those children and to their teachers.

With regard to GCSE, we have seen an improvement in overall summer results since last year. I have, however, been very clear that over the past few years several important changes within the system make it difficult to draw similarly meaningful comparisons, but that does not mean that there's been a drop in standards or rigour; in fact, quite the opposite. This Government is supporting all of our learners and we will never lower any of our expectations for any of our young people. It is just the reality of the changes that have been made, and not just changes to the individual specification of courses, but we have seen a radical change in entry patterns over the last couple of years. I will make no apologies for taking forward a reform programme that is determined to deliver the best for learners in Wales. And that's one of the reasons why our reforms are necessarily wide-reaching and transformative, because I believe that they will ensure that learners right across Wales are supported through the education system to reach their full potential.

For example, steps taken to end the inappropriate use of early entry are beginning to drive changes in the size and nature of cohorts, and schools have also simultaneously adapted to changes in the exams themselves that have been phased in over the past few years. Welsh second language is a prime example of this, and this was another issue that was raised by Mark Reckless. This is the first year that learners have sat the new full-course GCSE option, following the removal of the short-course option. Entries are up by a third and changes quoted for attainment rates are misleading in that context, as most of those learners would previously not have sat a full GCSE; they would have been entered for the short course. Looking at the impact of these changes, we see increases in the actual numbers of learners achieving an A* to C grade in Welsh second language, up by some 12 per cent. The new GCSE has more emphasis on speaking, listening and using the language, which means that more young people are developing the language skills that Wales needs now and in the future. The summer series also saw improvements at A* to C in maths, numeracy, Welsh, physics, biology, chemistry, double-award science, DT, geography and PE.

Now, moving on to teacher assessment, this year's results need to be considered in the light of recent policy changes. We have shifted the primary purpose of teacher assessment back to individual learners for more formative use only, to guide decisions about how best to progress people's learning and not to make school-to-school comparisons or form part of any accountability system. Therefore, this year's outcomes, I believe, should be a more accurate and a more objective reflection of learners' progress, and comparisons with previous years I do not believe are meaningful. We know that there have been unintended consequences of some of the elements of our school accountability system, but I do not accept that recent changes amount to a watering down.

Our national mission sets out our vision for an accountability system that is fair, coherent, proportionate, transparent and based on our shared values for Welsh education. There will be a clear ability for Members to be able to see capped 9 scores, literacy scores, numeracy scores, science scores, as well as a distinction between male and female learners and between FSM and non-FSM learners. The new evaluation and improvement arrangements will help bring about the cultural change that is ultimately needed to support the realisation of our new curriculum. And at the heart is robust and continuous self-evaluation for all tiers of the education system, along with professional dialogue to support learning and improvement and embed collaboration, because Nick Ramsay is right: it is that school-to-school work that really drives things forward, builds trust and drives self-improvement and raises standards for all learners. And our plans are about making sure that the way in which we assess the performance of a school represents the performance of the school in the round, not just examination results. Outside accountability will continue to be a feature of the system. Schools will continue to be inspected, and more regularly than the 13 years that we've seen highlighted across the border today. And parents and guardians will continue to receive reports on the progress of their learners.

Now, Paul Davies asked what specific actions we're taking as a result of this summer series results. We do need to work with our exam board, with Qualifications Wales, with our regional consortia and our practitioners of English teaching, because there is more work to do with regard to English, and I hope to make an announcement to the Assembly shortly on a new approach to schools that are causing concern and how we can support those schools to make more rapid improvement and rapid progress.

With regard to the funding gap, it's not some quarters that have challenged the figures that have been quoted here. The Institute for Fiscal Studies made it very clear, only a matter of weeks ago, that once you take London out of the equation, the funding gap between English and Welsh schools has been virtually eliminated. With regard to the CYPE report, I have accepted all the recommendations in that report, including the primary recommendation with regard to an investigation into education funding, and I will give Members more details of the nature of the work that I am committed to undertaking when I respond fully to the committee's report, which I believe is in the next few weeks, when it is debated here in the Chamber.

But, if you're intent on talking Wales down, like some people appear to have been in this Chamber this afternoon, then you fail to recognise the shift that is undoubtedly happening in our education system—a genuine transformation based on co-production across all tiers and with key stakeholders. It's rooted in good practice, it's rooted in research and it's rooted in evidence. Deputy Presiding Officer, I do not—of course I don't—support the Conservatives' motion, which simply misrepresents and talks down the progress of our learners and our educational professionals. I know—I know—there's no room for complacency, and I know that we can do better. But, spurred on by the OECD's view that Wales is leading the way, and working together with the sector, we will continue our national mission to raise standards and deliver an education system that is a source of national pride and enjoys the confidence of the people of Wales.

Thank you. Can I call on Darren Millar to reply to the debate?

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Well, Minister, I'll give you a five out of 10 for that response, because—[Interruption.] I'm trying to be charitable. Because there's no doubt that there have been some positive steps in terms of trying to address the accountability issue in Welsh schools and our education system, and that's why we, as a party, welcome some of the work that has been announced in the past.

We particularly welcomed the stopping of unnecessary and inappropriate early entry for examinations. That's absolutely the right thing to do. But of course what we haven't stopped yet is the fact that some pupils are not being entered for examinations at all, and that, of course, is why the A-level results, perhaps, may have improved. Qualifications Wales warned of this last year. They said the number of entrants for A-levels had gone down and it was because weaker students were not being appropriately entered for their exams. I'll happily take an intervention.

The Member may be aware that there is a significant demographic change, so actually there are simply fewer of those pupils of that age in the system. And we've just heard from Suzy Davies of the need to value and have parity of esteem between academic qualifications and vocational qualifications. It is about the right students doing the right qualifications, and if those A-level students are going to do vocational qualifications, which we suspect they are, you've just undermined the very argument that your spokesperson was making earlier. 

Can I suggest that you take your anger out on Qualifications Wales? They're the ones I was quoting, and they're the ones who are saying that weaker pupils, weaker students, are not being entered for their examinations. 

Now, when we look at the independent analysis of the Welsh education system, the best comparator we've got, of course, are the Programme for International Student Assessment results, internationally. And Wales is at the bottom of the UK league table. It's in the bottom 50 per cent of nations worldwide in terms of the quality of our education system. 

We all want to see Wales reaching the top, and there are some fantastic schools in Wales that are working hard and achieving great results for their pupils. I should mention, of course, St Brigid's School in Denbigh, where my son got a decent clutch of GCSE results this summer. I want to congratulate, of course, all pupils across Wales who also achieved well. My former school in Abergele, Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan, which got the best results it has ever achieved. But it doesn't take away from the fact that we still have too many pupils not leaving school with qualifications and that, frankly, is not good enough.

Now, there's been much speculation as to whether we can compare these results with those results in 2007. One of the other reasons 2007 was used, by the way, was because it clearly demonstrated the fact that the results were worse this year than in 2007—that there's been no progress. And if there's been no progress over that period I think we should, frankly, be ashamed of ourselves here in Wales for not securing any improvement for our children and young people.

The Minister tried to dismiss the funding gap between England and Wales, saying that if you take London out of the picture, then everything looks pretty rosy. But, of course, the fact remains that for every £1 spent in England—and that includes those pounds that are spent in London when you work it all out in terms of the devolved responsibilities—for every £1 that's spent over there on a child, Wales receives £1.20 to spend here. So, there ought to be a funding gap, actually, but it ought to be 20 per cent more being spent per child in Wales, instead of this funding gap of £645 less. I'll happily take the intervention.

So, sticking with that argument, are you then prepared to discuss reducing the budget for health in order to put more money into education?

If you'd have listened earlier on, Jenny Rathbone, to the response that Nick Ramsay gave you, we have extra money coming into the system as a result of the good management by the UK Government of public finances. We've got £1.25 billion coming to Wales for education over the next three years, and that £1.25 billion could be invested to close that gap and eliminate it completely. So, you've had the money—you've had the money, so it's the way you carve it up currently that means that you cannot invest it in our schools.

So, we need to eliminate that funding gap. That then will give schools the opportunity to invest in the staff, invest in the technology and invest in their pupils to get the results that those pupils deserve. That's what I want to see, that's what we want to see on these benches, and that's why we're lamenting the fact that the results have not improved over the past 12 years in the way that we would have hoped. So, I hope that people will support the motion.

Thank you. The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? [Objection.] Object. Therefore, we defer voting under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.