In terms of diversity, I've already touched upon this, but we also heard that we need to reflect the diverse history of Wales. I'm really pleased that the committee did look at this in some detail, which I don't think has happened previously in this Senedd. We are not reassured that it is definitely going to be included under the new curriculum's emphasis on locality. We called for ethnic and religious diversity to be included as a core element of the new curriculum. In response, the Government has said that the new curriculum will be broad, balanced, inclusive and challenging. But if diversity is not prescribed, then how will it ensure that every school teaches the history of our BAME communities? We have heard that it isn't happening sufficiently and we do need to ensure that it can happen if there are to be changes made. 

Again, if the new curriculum allows teachers flexibility to tailor the content they deliver to the extent described already by the Minister and her team, then there’s a risk that the next generation of school leavers will have had totally unique experiences that may not add up to a shared sense of the history that formed our nation and informs our politics. This is especially pertinent in the context of the fact that we still do not recruit enough BME teachers in our schools to be role models and key influencers in relation to the content of the curriculum.

And in terms of the Estyn review, the committee felt it was crucial to have a sound evidence base on the content and standard of current teaching. We were told by Dr Steve Thompson from Aberystwyth University that most Welsh history has been offered in the context of a British history module where there are tokenistic Welsh history elements added. We heard concerns from Dr Elin Jones that since she chaired a task and finish group on this topic in 2013, there has been a lack of progress in this area. She voiced the frustration of many of our stakeholders when she said that we have no specific evidence of what actually happens in schools at the moment. We should be concerned if there isn't sufficient evidence there. That's why I’m pleased that the education Minister has accepted our recommendation to remit Estyn to review the extent to which schools are teaching Welsh content. I look forward to hearing more details as to when this will happen and a reassurance that Estyn will have sufficient resources to do it thoroughly. We want the widest possible range of schools to be included in the review.

I will finish by saying that we are disappointed that the Government has rejected our recommendations for all students to learn a common body of knowledge about the history that has shaped our nation. As I've said, on the issue of diversity specifically, if we don't have enough teachers teaching from one perspective, then how can a school in Ceredigion, perhaps, which doesn't have enough teachers from diverse backgrounds, going to be able to teach them about the broad history that they need to learn about here in Wales? It doesn't happen at the moment. We've heard that from Race Council Cymru and EYST and we need to expand upon this in order to ensure that young people in Wales leave our schools not only knowing about their cynefin which is very laudable, but also know about Wales on a national level and how Wales has shaped the world internationally, not only from a British perspective, but certainly also from a Welsh perspective, which will enable them to see the world in an entirely different way from the way that they would've seen the world as part of the education system that I was part of, certainly.

So, I look forward to the debate. We have had quite some discussion among the people of Wales on this issue. There's great interest in this area, and I hope that we can all work towards drawing up an education system that is successful and fit for purpose. Thank you.