Lost School Time

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:52 pm on 14 July 2021.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 2:52, 14 July 2021

On that last point, in relation to INSET dates and so on, obviously, we expect schools to look carefully at when those are scheduled and to provide parents with as much notice as possible of that. On the Member's broader point in relation to the experience of the last year, clearly, schools have adapted at speed to be able to provide support to learners in a home setting, and to provide support to their parents and carers in doing that as well. And I think, over the course of the last year, the quality of resources and the consistency has improved, as you would expect, very significantly. There are things, I think, that can be learned for future pedagogy generally in terms of blended learning there, and I hope we'll be able to make sure that those innovations are captured where they've been able to bring additional flexibilities and additional assets to schools.

I just want to be clear, though, that the intention in the arrangements that I've advised heads of last week is to recognise, essentially, that bubbles have played an important part in reducing contacts between learners, but, as we've moved through the pandemic, we've learnt that they can be a blunt tool, effectively. And so, that is what lies behind the recommendation that contact groups will no longer be part of school life, and the very point of that is in order to minimise the number of learners self-isolating unnecessarily, if I can put it like that, by asking our colleagues in the test, trace and protect system to provide specific advice to schools in relation to those matters.