International Citizenship

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 2:11 pm on 23 October 2019.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 2:11, 23 October 2019

Rhun, there are no adequate words to express the horror of the discovery of those individuals in the back of that lorry. It is a truly shocking thing to have happened, and then to have that reinforced by the comments that you have referred to—I have not seen them myself, but I can well imagine what they have said. As I said in answer to your original question, we are moving to a purpose-led curriculum that articulates the kind of citizens, the attributes, the type of people that we want to emerge as a result of their time in the Welsh education system, and I want them to be those ethical and informed citizens of Wales and the world.

Your comments come on top of the question that was raised by your colleague Bethan Sayed around the report today into racism in our universities. We have a problem here in Wales and we have to use all aspects of Welsh Government public policy to be able to address that. There is a huge responsibility on education to ensure that these views are challenged when they're expressed, and we can give children the opportunity to understand and to develop empathy and respect, and the reasons why those 39 people felt desperate enough to climb into the back of the lorry in the first place.