Since devolution, statistics have shown that the Welsh education system, once the envy of many, has become—and I make no excuse in using this hackneyed phrase—a race to the bottom. We can therefore well understand the current education Minister's desire to drastically improve the standard of education now being achieved in Welsh schools, and it is true to say that the tenacity and sheer commitment that she brings to her role cannot be denied. But, one has to ask: is the new curriculum—indeed, is it another new curriculum or should we call it a modus operandi—the answer? This is especially true if it is in any way based on Donaldson principles.

I feel that we are justified in asking this question, given that these same principles were applied to Scottish education and have all but ruined its once vaunted reputation as an educational model. Educational standards in Scotland are widely regarded to have plummeted over the last decade or so. One of Scotland's foremost educational experts, Professor Lindsay Paterson from the University of Edinburgh, is fairly scathing of the so-called curriculum for excellence introduced in Scotland in 2010. He says that it has been a disaster for educational attainment because it lacked academic rigour and was a general dumbing down of the curriculum. Most worrying of all, he also points out that it has led to a widening of educational inequality.

In Wales, the ending of SATs and the school league tables was, I believe, a move in the dumbing down of education. How can we be sure that our pupils are being taught well and achieving the levels expected if we do not have regular testing? There was a time when there were full tests in every subject at the end of every school term. Yes, they were internally set and marked, but they were a very effective way of measuring a child's achievements.

Since devolution, we have seen Minister after Minister, and with each change a new set of policies introduced. What has been the result of these changes? More schools in special measures than ever before and, except for a few exceptions, lower academic achievements year on year. Indeed, in Torfaen, we have even had the educational department itself in special measures. I believe that everyone in this Chamber would agree that things have to change. But, given that it may take over a decade for the true results of this new curriculum to take effect, it is a very real gamble that we are taking with our future generations. Let us hope that it will not be a repeat of that disastrous policy introduced by an ill-informed former Prime Minister, who insisted that, what the country needed was 50 per cent of its population to be university educated; a policy that led to two decades of the virtual abandonment of vocational education, where former technical colleges, which had, for the most part, provided an excellent training facility for vocational skills, were converted to universities for anything but vocational education. 

Minister, I sincerely hope that the measures you are putting in place will be the salvation of the education system in Wales, because we cannot afford to let down our future generations for another two decades. The future of the Welsh economy will depend on the skills that young people will acquire. I believe that the Welsh Government has made a very real commitment to improve the quality of both further and higher education, particularly addressing vocational apprenticeships. I hope that the foundation of these education establishments, the schools' educational programme, will adequately equip our youngsters for both of these institutions.