Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:50 pm on 8 February 2023.
The report to which she refers in her question is an important contribution to the discussion and to the debate, and it certainly reflected, at least in broad terms, our own understanding of the challenges that we face in parts of the system. She will recall, perhaps, in the many reports that she's read, the speech that I gave to the Bevan Foundation last year and the statement that I made in the Chamber, which outlined a very extensive programme of actions that we are taking to close the attainment gap in Wales. The most recent of those, she may have seen in the press a few weeks ago, was the announcement of our cohort attainment champions, of heads who've shown particular success in their schools in closing the attainment gap and making sure that every single young person in their school has the opportunity to flourish. They are now working with other heads to share that best practice in the way that we just heard earlier is so important. That is one of a range of interventions.
We are also, as she may know, commissioning research into mixed ability teaching, and also what more we can do to encourage teachers to some of those most disadvantaged areas so that we make sure that young people have the support that they need. I am, in fact, planning on making a statement to the Chamber in the coming weeks that will set out in detail progress against the whole range of items that I set out last year, and I'd be very happy to answer any further questions at that point.