, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
The Welsh Government has a clear vision and strategy to support modern foreign language learning in Wales. The strategic plan, 'Global Futures: A plan to improve and promote international languages in Wales 2022 to 2025', launched last November, sets out how…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
As I say, I do think there is an increase in children and young people with complex needs being felt right across the education system, and, I'm sure Julie would recognise, in the health system as well, and social services. So, I think this is clearly…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Yes. The point of our reforms is to make sure that is happening, isn't it? Clearly, it's a significant set of reforms. You will be hearing from parents what I'm hearing as Minister and also in my role as constituency MS—that there are challenges in the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
We're obviously some way away from that. That's the first point to make. But equally, wanting to see our education system to be as fully inclusive as possible is the underlying principle behind both the Curriculum for Wales and, certainly, the additional…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Both of the other Ministers will have, probably, a more detailed view of this than I do, but my understanding is that the neurodivergence improvement programme is working with families and services to identify what information it's helpful to provide, both…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
There are responsibilities at a local government level to make sure that there is a clear availability of information about rights, but also that when decisions are made and when local authorities reach conclusions in relation to individual learners, that…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Well, it's going back to the point I just made, really, about the consistency of application in the Act. So, the designation of additional learning needs and the definition of additional learning provision is one of the things that we see is inconsistent. So…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Yes, so just to be clear: it's not what I'm saying, it's what the law says. So, this is not my view on how it should work. It is how it should work, it's set out in the law. So, a young person's entitlement to an IDP does not depend upon them having had a…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
We are about halfway through the four-year period of implementation, so in the last few months we've commissioned a lot of research to have a data-driven understanding of what's happening on the ground. I think it is fair to say that there's variability in…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
As I say, it's partly about what we expect and support schools to do through our statutory guidance, but also, crucially, listening to the experience of those learners who have had the experience of bullying and reflecting that in our expectations from…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Well, the point of our guidance is to make sure that that is in place, isn't it, and I think some of the points that you're making and that you'll have heard in evidence are changes in approach and changes in culture, really, that need to be brought in. We as…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Well, it is an area of priority for us. Just to be clear, bullying of any type, prejudice-based bullying, is completely unacceptable and we would all feel passionately about that, let alone agree with it. Our guidance, 'Rights, respect, equality', sets this…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
By strengthening the requirements in the initial education, and also strengthening the offer and the availability of provision in the early years after qualifying and throughout their career. But also, we have got opportunities for people to specialise in…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Okay. Well, this is important. As the Minister for Social Justice was saying earlier—I don't know what the Welsh term is, but the social model is the important thing here, isn't it? It's part of the rationale behind the Act in general. The work that we're…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Well, just to be clear, the ALNCO's responsibility isn't to provide everything. Their responsibility is to provide strategic direction to the school in terms of the wider provision. So, we all know that the answer is not to ensure that that's where all the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
There are a number of things ongoing in this area. I do accept that we need to ensure that the education workforce in general has an understanding of the range of disabilities that you mentioned. And I also believe, as we're seeing already, that more and more…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Well, I don't think anyone could say fairly that the demand isn't there. But, by the way, that's not the test. As with everything related to language planning, the aim is to not just respond to demand, but to provide a service that's completely inclusive and…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Well, I do accept that this is a challenge. I do accept that it affects choice, and I accept that there's a need to do much more. There are many things ongoing at the moment and we discussed in the Chamber yesterday the joint report from the Welsh Language…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
It does vary, but, just to say, this is the purpose of all the reforms that we have—to ensure that this doesn't happen. So, it's completely inappropriate that a parent or carer would try to persuade somebody not to go to school. That's not suitable. We have…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Some of the answer to that is in the points that I have just made about the funding increases that we have provided to local authorities, recognising the incredible pressures they are under themselves. But that review of how funding is being deployed will…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
I think, in all honesty, it's hard to say that, and I don't think one could ever expect a data system of the sort that I've just described to you to capture the level of granularity that would enable that question to be answered directly. I think at its most…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
If there were widespread use of reduced timetables, my concern there would be that that would become a form of hidden exclusion, if you like. That is the concern that I would have in that area. We already have very clear guidance to schools in relation to how…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
We touched on some of this in the Chamber yesterday, didn't we, in response to questions on my statement in relation specifically to additional learning needs. So, just to repeat what I said yesterday, I'm very aware of the pressure that school budgets are…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
Colleagues who were here in the last Senedd will remember that we looked at this then, and, very much with a view to the question of effectiveness and impact, as you say, refreshed and strengthened our guidance to schools around how they develop and deliver…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Do disabled children and young people have equal access to education and childcare? - evidence session 13
I can't comment on that specific school, for reasons that you'll understand—obviously, I'm not aware of the context or the decision making. But I think the situation that you're describing would be an exception, and it would be a disappointment that some of…
