Education minister addresses the big questions as brief a thorny business
FALLING attainment, worsening behaviour and attendance, lack of funding and controversy over plans to shorten the school summer holidays – Wales’ new Education Minister has a large in-tray to get through.
In her first six weeks in the job Lynne Neagle has been going through the 16,000 responses to the Welsh Government consultation on cutting the school summer break from six weeks to five or four, and going around Wales talking to headteachers and school leaders.
All the big questions which faced her predecessor Jeremy Miles remain unresolved. There are also concerns over delivery of the new curriculum, Welsh Government education reforms, worsening pupil behaviour, violence in schools and the legacy of Covid, with pupil mental health and attainment affected.
In the past few months since Wales posted its worst-ever Pisa scores comparing results of 15-yearolds around the UK and the globe, other reports have raised worrying criticisms of Wales’ school system and reforms.
The Chief Inspector of Schools for Wales warned the quality of teaching was not good enough, and in March, the Institute of Fiscal Studies published a report blaming lagging attainment on Welsh Government education reforms and policies, rather than poverty or lack of funds.
As she gets to grips with her new role, Ms Neagle, a former Senedd Education Committee chairman, who has campaigned and worked on mental health issues among young people and knows the education agenda inside out, will want to show that the Welsh Government’s education reforms are working.
She admitted that while some schools were “flying with the new curriculum”, others were not. And while debate rages about plans to cut the school summer holidays, she said she would follow views from the latest consultation.
Here the new Education Minister answers the big questions:
Q. Wales delivered its worst-ever Pisa results last year, the Chief Inspector for schools says the standard of teaching is not good enough and an IFS report in March blamed Welsh Government education
reforms and policies for the decline in children’s attainment. How do you respond to this and will you be acting on the suggestions from the IFS? It says the new curriculum should be revised, GCSE reform in Wales paused and we should return to more published data on pupil attainment. Will you do any of that?
A. It’s clear the IFS report raises serious issues around attainment which I am taking very seriously. I am aware it was critical of the new curriculum and feel some of that criticism is unfair. It was coming after the Pisa results, but those sitting Pisa have not learned under the new curriculum.
The IFS was also claiming there was not sufficient focus on knowledge in the new curriculum and I don’t see that as true. It has a strong focus on equipping young people with knowledge, but also the skills to use that knowledge in different settings.
There were some serious issues raised about attainment but I don’t believe they could conclude it was all down to the curriculum. I am yet to look at reform of GCSEs but, reflecting my priority in the first six weeks as minister, I am keen to listen to teachers, parents, school leaders and learners.
The clear message from them (in my first six weeks) is that there is enthusiasm for the new curriculum, but some schools said they would like more support around the new curriculum. It’s not helpful to pause everything, but to listen to what schools want to get these reforms right.
Some schools are flying with the new curriculum and others told me they wanted more support. For example, there have been challenges for some around progression and assessment. The new curriculum depends on excellent teaching and I am looking at our professional learning offer. There is a major focus on professional learning.
Q. How will you know what’s working and what’s not and measure progress without more data, and why are you not publishing more education data for Wales? At the moment we only really have Pisa as a yardstick – we can’t even compare exam data for local education authority areas.
A. Data is really important across the piece, whether that’s on additional learning needs or attainment. You need data to see how you are doing and refine policies. We have personalised assessments and more work is going into look at data monitoring.
It’s important we do work around data carefully. It is early in post for me, but I want to know we have the right levels of data. Raising attainment is a priority for me and the First Minister has made clear it is a priority for him too. Sometimes there are unintended consequences of data. We are doing a piece of work looking at mapping data across the piece. I am not sure when the results of that piece of work will be.
Q. You’re due to make an oral statement giving the results of the consultation on shortening the sixweek school summer holidays by one or two weeks. What are your thoughts on making the summer holidays shorter? Are you committed to that?
A: We have done a lot of work on this and we have had 16,000 responses to our consultation and I’m working through those. It’s not a fait accompli.
I think it’s important I listen to the consultation and make a decision that is in the best interests of children and young people and the school system. Young people are at the top of my mind.
I don’t want to say funding is not important, but I do think it is also what you do as well LYNNE NEAGLE MS
will you do to fight for more money and are you listening to what school leaders are saying?
A: We had £700m less than last year in the spending review. Even so, we gave a 3.3% uplift to local education authorities and £379m in the education grant. Local government is responsible for funding schools and we have tried to protect funding to local government, but everyone in the public sector is having a tough time.
I don’t want to say funding is not important, but I do think it is also what you do as well. The pandemic has had a huge impact. I am explaining to school leaders the difficult [financial] situation we are in, but the most important thing is we keep communicating and talking and I am keen to have dialogue.
Q: Attendance has not returned to pre-Covid levels and nothing has changed much since fines were reintroduced for parents not sending their children to school. Does this worry you, and what are you going to do to get more children back to school?
A: I am concerned about attendance. Although there has been a slight improvement, nationally attendance for children eligible for free school meals is concerning. My predecessor launched a board to look at attendance and the first of those meetings is on Monday. I want to be action-focused and attendance is important. Fines are a last resort. It’s really important for schools to engage with families.
Reasons around non-attendance are complex and there are challenging problems which have got worse since Covid. These problems have become acute.
I have had good discussions about mental health when I went to Cantonian High in Cardiff, where they have been working on this with children in Year Seven and Year Eight. A youth worker took classes on mental health and resilience lessons, which they said worked well.
We know we are seeing a higher level of need from young people and they are finding it harder regulating their emotions. The Year Seven and Eights at Cantonian said the interaction with the youth worker was helpful.
FINALLY, we asked the minister about an issue unrelated to education, but one that has dominated the new First Minister’s government:
Q: Vaughan Gething received more than £250,000 towards his campaign to be elected Welsh Labour leader and in turn First Minister. Would you have taken that money, and should what’s remaining be returned or is it right the Labour Party keeps it?
A: There was nothing improper in the donation the First Minister has taken. He has said he regrets the impact and has called for a review into Labour Party future contests, led by [former First Minister] Carwyn Jones, who did not back either candidate. He has written to the Standards Committee asking them to look at it. There is a process in place now and we will review and learn lessons for the future.