Minister defends school reform scheme after leaders’ criticism
EDUCATION Secretary Kirsty Williams robustly defended preparations for Wales’ new curriculum when she faced questions from Assembly Members following stark criticism from school leaders.
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and the Association of Directors of Education Wales (ADEW) told a consultation run by the Assembly’s Children Young People and Education Committee that pupils won’t be taught enough of what matters and those without family support risk losing out most in the reform.
NASUWT Cymru said teachers have lost faith in the process and other organisations are divided on how well plans are going for the change, due to come in from 2022.
Appearing before the committee yesterday, Ms Williams accused the WLGA and ADEW of using out-ofdate information in their response and not attending update meetings to which they had been invited.
Asked by Plaid Cymru education spokesman Sian Gwenllian whether there was any substance to criticism from such high levels in education, the minister said she believed they were responding to outdated information, things had progressed and she hoped to meet them further.
She said she was “shocked” and “disappointed” to read their responses as they had not raised these issues when she had met representatives from both organisations in the last year.
The Education Secretary said she wanted to engage more with ADEW and the WLGA on curriculum reform, adding: “We take this very seriously. These are important voices and we will sit down to redouble our efforts at engagement.
“This is not to say we don’t want to change anything. We are saying we want to engage with people. We need that level of engagement.”
She added that officials have now gone back to both organisations asking to meet and “make sure we are on the same page”.
Steve Davies, Welsh Government director of education, told the committee that ADEW members had only attended one of eight possible meetings on the new curriculum in the past year.
He said pioneer schools would be more engaged in the process but were communicating well with other schools.
The committee was also told that two of the six “areas of learning and experience” which will replace traditional subjects are yet to be finalised before a draft of the new curriculum is published in April. These are humanities and communication, language and literature.
The Education Secretary told AMs she is confident these will be ready and the main design phase of the curriculum is on track for publication in April. From then all education practitioners in Wales would need to engage with the new curriculum and will have until July to give feedback on the draft.
A White Paper outlining plans for the new curriculum will be published in the next month, the committee heard.
“I am confident that we are in a positive place, with the main design phase of the curriculum on track to complete as planned in the new year,” Ms Williams said in written evidence to the consultation.
“I believe the way we work in partnership across the sector with schools, higher education, further education, educational experts, Estyn, Qualifications Wales, local authorities and regional consortia is a key strength. It allows us to keep schools at the heart of the development work, brings together practice, evidence and policy, promotes a sense of ownership in the reform and supports sustainable change.”
After the meeting, Plaid Cymru’s Sian Gwenllian said responses to the committee’s consultation “set off alarm bells”. The Welsh Government must bring forward a plan on how it proposes to address mounting concerns about the new national curriculum “before it becomes the laughing stock of the education sector in Wales”, she said.