3. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to reduce the attainment gap between school pupils from different socioeconomic backgrounds? OQ58412

My oral statement on 22 March set out my intention to tackle the impact of poverty on attainment, and I have put in place a range of measures to realise this ambition.

Thank you, Minister. You'll be aware of the recent report of the Education Policy Institute, stating that no progress has been made in trying to close the gap between pupils from different social backgrounds over the past decade. According to the report, the poorest pupils are two years behind their contemporaries from more affluent backgrounds, on average. I know that you are concerned about this, Minister; you've made that clear. But, can you give us an explanation as to what has gone wrong as well as detailing your plans to tackle this problem, on top of what you've already said? I understand the challenges caused by austerity, but this doesn't explain why the situation is worse in Wales than it is in England. Could you also tell us what your analysis is of what is at the heart of this problem? Is it the fact that schools in poorer areas don't have the same resources and funding, or are there challenges in attracting teachers, perhaps, to some of these areas? How will you be targeting resources and funding to support pupils facing such disadvantage? And finally, Minister, how much will you prioritise trying to teach those who need more support in smaller groups, please? Thank you.

Well, there are a number of important questions posed by the Member. The report does recognise that socioeconomic background in Wales is different to that, generally speaking, in England—that poverty levels are higher in Wales for reasons that are partly historical. The powers in terms of taxation and expenditure aren't in our hands to tackle those core elements. We use our resources to mitigate their impacts as much as we can, but there are challenges in that regard. The report does show us some important things, but it agrees with our own analysis of what needs to be done.

In the statement in March, and then in the speech I gave to the Bevan Foundation, a programme—I would say a broad-ranging programme—of measures was being considered, and we're implementing those. So, some of those things relate to how we support the education workforce to use alternative strategies, in terms of teacher training, in terms of ensuring peer-to-peer support for school leaders and in supporting schools in recruiting the teachers needed in those more disadvantaged areas. So, there's a range of things happening in that area.

Then, in terms of supporting pupils and students directly, there are plans in place in terms of speech and literacy, including a mentoring scheme with a university to ensure that speech and literacy levels are improved. This perhaps gets to the core of the question that you asked at the end of your contribution, in that we're also looking at what's already happening on the ground in terms of setting. That is, when in the school pathway should we be setting pupils, and is there a case to look again at that? Changing that system will be challenging, by the way. But, certainly, we do need to look at that.

In terms of the question in relation to funding—I've listed some of the plans that we have in place already today—we have a lot of schemes that are targeted at schools based on the number of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. So, that's at the heart of what we're doing. And the EPI has said, for example, that much of what we did in light of COVID had been weighted specifically towards children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Minister, a report for the UK Department for Education in 2015 found that the most successful schools are supporting the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, treating each pupil as an individual with specific challenges and needs. The less successful schools tended to view their disadvantaged pupils as a group whose home environment and lack of access to opportunities limited their chances of success. The most successful schools put effective systems in place to identify needs, select strategies, monitor progress and respond quickly, whilst providing pupils with extensive emotional support alongside supporting their academic progress. Minister, do you agree that this individual targeted approach is best suited to reducing the attainment gap between pupils from different socioeconomic backgrounds here in Wales? Thank you.

I think that's part of the answer. Actually, I strongly believe that the new curriculum that we're introducing in Wales, which has at its heart, really, a curriculum tailored to the needs of individual learners and putting each learner in the best possible position to fulfil their own potential, will be a huge step forward for us. We will all speak to schools in our constituencies and regions. My own experience is that where schools have high levels of disadvantage, they're very excited about the opportunity that the curriculum brings, because they can see there's a means of perhaps re-engaging some of those young people who've found it most of a challenge. So, I think, that is very important.

I finished my answer to Delyth Jewell by referencing the work we did in terms of COVID, and I think we will discover—we're already discovering—that the impact of that obviously has not been equally felt, and there's a very significant impact on those who are most disadvantaged, and so the support we've provided has very much been about making sure that the individual learner's needs are met and reflected. So, it hasn't been about a generic catch-up programme; it's been about remotivating, rebuilding confidence, re-engaging at that individual tailored level.