WHAT SCHOOL LEADERS SAID ABOUT TRAINING OFFERED FOR THE NEW CURRICULUM
THE long-awaited Welsh Governmentcommissioned Leadership Review for schools, published this week, details comments from a number of school leaders that training for the new curriculum had been lacking. cking.
The review, commissioned d by previous Education Minister Kirsty Williams, highlights variations s in the quality of school leadership hip training overall and calls for a clearer, more strategic programme.
Under the current system the regional consortia receive the e largest proportion of Welsh Government funding for leadership training and development, including delivering vering the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH).
The National Academy for Educational Leadership (NAEL) also receives direct funding from the Welsh Government and training is also offered by private pri providers and local authorities.
But the review, re which took views from more than 300 people, including 169 senior senio school leaders, said there was “a de deep consensus, from those interviewed, interview about the need to improve the quality of leadership provision provisio in Wales, even further”. School Scho leaders did not mince their words wor telling the review their views on leadership le training for the new curriculum curr in particular.
And there were harsh words for the th regional school improvement service.
One respondent told the review: “The consortium is using schools across the region to share practice which is not always of the highest quality” while another said, “regions are the main players, but they are variable in quality in terms of value for money and impact”.
A sense of frustration around the training available to leaders to help their schools deliver the new curriculum was clear.
“We are literally a year away from delivering a new curriculum and the training does not reflect this. Where is the curriculum leadership provision, it’s just not there! Surely this has to be a national priority right now not school improvement?,” one leader told the review while another said: “There is a new national coaching and mentoring programme but how will that help us deliver the new curriculum. We seem to get what is offered but not what we need.”
The report, led by Professor Alma Harris from Swansea University, said there was appetite and moves by all involved to improve school leadership training but concluded: “Based on our data, the leadership offer in Wales is currently viewed to be in the “hands of too many competing bodies”. In a selfimproving system who is leading on leadership? At present, in Wales, the answer is everyone and no-one.”
Education Minister Jeremy Miles, pictured left, said action was being taken to boost professional development for school leaders.
In a Written Statement yesterday he said: “I said in my speech to head teachers in February 2022 that I am not yet convinced our professional learning offer is as accessible, coherent and consistent as it could be and I signalled my commitment to change that.
“The work on developing a truly national entitlement that brings together a package of professional learning support that everyone will be entitled to and benefit from is already underway. The National Professional Learning Entitlement will be available from this September and co-construction with practitioners is progressing.”
The Written Statement also revealed that the Welsh Government’s new school improvement guidance will be published at the end of June. Mr Miles said the guidance will “align understanding across the system of what good looks like – from the realisation of the new curriculum, to our focus on equity, to our future investment in schools.”