, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Yes.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
In terms of the taskforce?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
In terms of the link between absence and transport, this is one of the things that we discussed at the last taskforce meeting. A piece of work needs to be done to see what the link is—it feels sensible that there is a link, of course, but to see exactly what…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Well, as you know, that's unhypothecated, so that will be a choice for local authorities to make. But I'm absolutely clear that local authorities right across Wales recognise the pressures that schools are under—school budget pressures—and I think there will…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Do you mean the funding in the RSG fiscal budget? Is that the point you're making?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Great.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Well, I think I'm proud of the—. It's a theme of the questioning today, Chair, if I may. I'm proud of the focus that we have brought to addressing, in particular in the context of COVID, but more broadly than that, the attainment gap in our schools, and the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
That is already part of the curriculum. It's part of the statements of 'what matters'. It's—I was about to say 'baked in', which I think is—. It's baked into the curriculum as it is. I was in a school last week in Monmouthshire, talking to them about some of…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Well, they shouldn't be happening regardless of the code, because the code needs to be taken into account, but what the code doesn't do is provide an absolute prohibition on the closure of a school, and nor could it, nor should it do that. I think the code…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I'm giving you an example of a school in a rural community that had what I'm certain were the best sporting facilities I'd seen in any school. So, I don't think that picture is quite as straightforward as you paint it. I think you are right to say we need to…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Yes, of course. What was the first part of your question? The 1.5 hours. I don't have a view on timetabling; I think that's a matter for heads to determine based on how they can best deliver the entire curriculum. But clearly, we want to make sure that young…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
It's really important, isn't it? I completely acknowledge the point that you're making that physical well-being is a key way of supporting mental well-being and performance, not just from an academic point of view but in the breadth of experiences that we…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
That'll be before August.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
The exclusive I can give the committee is that it's going to be published today. I was hoping it would have been published by today, but we haven't been able to do that. But it will be published today, and I think it does absolutely provide enough time for…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Yes, I do. I think there are two aspects, aren't there? April is the first of two stages, if I can put it like that. So, from April, we will see the commission beginning to prepare its strategic plan, we'll be beginning the work of designing the new…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
No. I would say, actually, that the reforms will strengthen that provision, and that sits alongside, of course, our very extensive capital programme as well, which will continue to be in place.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Yes. I think the broad answer to—. Well, let's take a step back. We had about, I think, from memory, 24 or 25 separate grants, each of which required separate reporting, separate accounting, separate administration. So, part of the thinking, but only part of…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
The work of school improvement still needs to be done. The question is how you do that. The capacity in the system for delivery of school improvement is not going to change—it's going to be needed, isn't it? I don't have in mind a particular number; I'm not…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
As I've just said, it won't be 22 local authorities doing it; there will be an expectation that local authorities work together in partnership in order to do what we've just been talking about. I think the opportunity for us in the reforms is to strengthen…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I think the world—[Inaudible.] In the decade since the 2013 reforms were introduced, there have been substantial levels of reform across our school system, and the reason I established the review of the roles and responsibility of our education partners…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Well, we have research that looks at that already. Is that on the public record?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
—so that we could have that national conversation that was based on data, and that relates back to a point that you made just a moment ago. So, the step we've taken is to commission Estyn to conduct a review of this across the system, and I'm expecting that…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Just to say that I decided to publish that data. Nobody was pushing for that publication, but I thought it was very important that we did that—
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Okay. Well, we'd be happy to write to you further on that particular topic.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
General scrutiny of the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Well, there's a specific aim in the workforce plan that encourages an increase in the numbers studying A-level, because, as you know, we know that that is so very important in terms of the education provision beyond that through the medium of Welsh. So, it is…
