Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 16 June 2021.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 1:42, 16 June 2021

(Translated)

Well, the Member is right to emphasise how important the role of teachers is for the system this summer, following what we heard last summer—how important it is in terms of the trust of learners and the system in general in relation to results. So, I just want to put on record my thanks to teachers across Wales for the work that they’re doing to ensure that that’s possible this year. In the four countries of the UK, the four Governments have taken slightly different approaches in looking at the system. What we’ve done in Wales is ensure that the majority of the work that’s being done happens during the term, rather than cutting into the summer period. So, we’ve emphasised more of the work earlier on in order to level it out a bit more. We’ve also provided a budget of just under £9 million to allow schools to increase capacity in order to be able to do this and to introduce flexibility into the system, for INSET use and end-of-year assessments, so that that creates flexibility in the system for teachers to undertake these additional responsibilities.