Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 1:51 pm on 18 March 2020.
Thank you very much. We are very grateful, of course, to the teachers and the other staff in our schools in this period. They are also key workers and their role is expected to change as they move forward, and we appreciate that great flexibility that is going to be needed now.
So, could I ask you about the teachers and the assistant teachers? What will be their role in the new arrangements if the definition of schools changes, or are you still expecting them to be open as much as they can be? What will be the role of the teachers? Will there be a role for supply teachers in this new system? You will know that some of them will be very eager to continue to work because they work for agencies, and perhaps they are going to be short of money. So, there is a specific role there. And what about the people who have teaching qualifications but who are not involved in the schools at present? Maybe they work in the consortia or in other areas, and you mentioned that briefly. So, could you expand a little on that, please?