Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:44 pm on 22 June 2021.
I thank the Member for that question. In relation to what the next academic year looks like, she'll be mindful of the announcements I made yesterday in relation to categorisation and in relation to school performance measures and their suspension for the 2021-22 academic year, and also in relation to the approach that Estyn will be taking to inspections over the course of the next year, which I hope—and it is certainly intended to—create space in the system to enable teachers, in the way that she wants, to be able to focus their energies on supporting students, both in responding to COVID and in terms of their progression, and also preparing for the new curriculum. In addition to that, there will be support that is available to support teachers themselves in that process, as part of the Renew and Reform programme that I announced a few weeks ago.
In relation to students who don't get the grades that they need, in the same way as every year, there will be support available to those to provide them with advice for the options that they have as a consequence of their results. But I want to be very clear that I think it's very important that we acknowledge that the system that has been put in place, in very, very challenging circumstances, is one that is designed to achieve both fairness, but also consistency, so that learners and employers and the education sector at large can have confidence in it.