5. Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: School Improvement and the Information Landscape

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:49 pm on 24 January 2023.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Vikki Howells Vikki Howells Labour 4:49, 24 January 2023

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you, Minister, for your statement. I agree with your comments about the purpose of evaluation, improvement and accountability within the education process. They're all important procedures so that schools can improve their offer to and their outcomes for learners. I want to focus on your comments around national monitoring and sampling. As a former secondary school teacher, I'm familiar with how this has operated in classrooms in the past, and your statement with reference to sampling assessments and using these to monitor progress suggests, perhaps, a different model to what schools may be familiar with. Can you say a little more about how you expect this sampling to work in practice and what discussions you might have had with the sector ahead of your plans for a pilot scheme in 2025-26?

For my second and final question, I was interested to read the social funding research study. One of the lines there that struck a chord with my former career is the comment that Welsh Government doesn't collect any data on learner well-being in a standardised way. So, can I ask what work is being done to put this right?