Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:53 pm on 3 March 2020.
Could we have a statement, Minister, with reference to comments about the new education curriculum by a number of academics and educationalists? Chief amongst these are the Welsh Local Government Association and the National Association of Headteachers Cymru. Both contend that the challenge in implementing it is enormous. This follows on from the Association of Directors of Education in Wales also joining the WLGA in saying that pupils will not be taught enough of what really matters. Would the Minister also make a statement on the Estyn observation that transforming the whole education system is a complex and long-term undertaking and one that is estimated to take at least a decade? Given such comments, is it any wonder that teacher recruitment to primary schools has fallen by 10 per cent and to secondary schools by 40 per cent? Indeed, recruitment in subjects such as chemistry, ICT, maths and physics have fallen by as much as 50 per cent. Given these statistics, how can it be said that this new curriculum will teach people for the modern world when we cannot recruit teachers to embrace this new curriculum? There is no doubt that many teachers are puzzled at what to teach in the areas of learning and experience in order to meet the requisites of the four purposes. How much of the current curriculum can be used? Could we also have a response from the Minister, given that individual schools can decide how to implement the new curriculum to deliver on the four purposes? So, we have the propensity to arrive at a mixture of results across Wales, which could have an adverse effect on enhancing divisions in our society.