4. Will the Minister make a statement on the updated COVID-19 guidelines for schools? OQ57324

The local infection control decision framework sets out actions schools should take to reduce transmission of COVID-19. While we learn more about omicron, staff in all education settings and secondary-aged learners and above should now wear face coverings in classrooms and in communal areas.

Minister, with so many teaching staff self-isolating, it has become a real struggle to maintain even the status quo in schools, let alone providing the enhanced provision for those who fell behind during the pandemic. With PISA results as low as they are—the lowest in the UK, and on a par with ex-Soviet bloc countries—it has become very apparent that our children can't miss out on any more education. So, a ready supply of teachers and teaching assistants is absolutely necessary to address the pressures that COVID presents. Minister, what are you doing to help schools mitigate the shortage of supply teachers in Wales, and do you think there needs to be an overhaul of the supply teacher system? How are you encouraging more people into the profession, and utilising the teaching assistants to ease pressures? 

The Member knows very well that we think there needs to be reform of the supply teacher system, because it was a programme for government commitment on which we were elected, and also it features in the agreement that we have with Plaid Cymru, to look again at the supply model in order to bring fair work and sustainability to the heart of it. That work has been progressing and will now progress further with Plaid Cymru. I'm very excited to see what we can deliver together in relation to that. 

In relation to the other challenges, she is right to say that it's not simply a funding question; it is an availability of supply staff question. That has been a significant challenge in a number of our schools. It's a variable picture across Wales, but it is absolutely a challenge in many schools. One of the sources of supply teachers each year is newly qualified teachers. This year, because of the fact that we have ensured that, I think, 400 newly qualified teachers have placements in schools, that has meant that those aren't available to the pool of potential supply teachers. But, what it has meant is that they are in fact teaching in our schools. So, I think it's a slightly more complex picture than perhaps her question presents.

Certainly, where it is a funding challenge, and that is obviously still a question for schools, we have committed as a Government that schools are able to claim against the local government hardship fund until the need expires, if I can put it like that, so that they can be supported to access supply whenever they need it and can find it. And we have also been working with local education authorities to see what we can do in terms of longer term planning to give us a slightly better understanding of needs ahead, which might help as well in making sure there's enough supply teachers available. And in certain parts of Wales, incentives have been provided where there's a particular acute shortage to encourage people back into supply teaching, to see if we can address some of the needs through that route as well.