Covid still looms large for new Education Minister
Education editor Abbie Wightwick assesses the challenges that new Education Minister Jeremy Miles will be tackling over the next five years
WALES’ new Education Minister Jeremy Miles will have to grapple with immediate issues caused by Covid as well as historic concerns which have been on the back-burner since the pandemic hit.
The need to carefully balance the sometimes competing pressures from education unions and the public will continue.
The minister will need to urgently consider what schools, colleges and universities will look like as summer progresses, and what mitigations still need to be in place come September.
With England ending the requirement for masks in schools this month, there could be pressure to follow suit.
A decision on whether and when school should be made compulsory again will also need to be taken.
One immediate and pressing matter will be navigating this summer’s cancelled exam grading.
The process is already creating concern, with teaching unions and schools complaining about workload and some teachers warning the system will be unfair to learners once again.
No-one wants a repeat of last year’s results fiasco which forced then Education Minister Kirsty Williams to do a U-turn and make a public apology.
There is also the large matter of the new curriculum being rolled out from 2022 at the same time as schools deal with the major disruption caused by Covid and school closures.
The new curriculum is a major part of Welsh Government education policy and cannot be seen or allowed to fail.
Critics across the border will look for ways to compare Wales’ education unfavourably with that in England.
Behind all this there is the ever-present problem of school deficits. Funding was an issue before the pandemic struck. That has not gone away.