, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
I think there's a lot of good stuff happening already, is the truth. I think, from a curriculum point of view, in all candour, the journey to being able to embed entrepreneurial learning as part of the curriculum is a longer journey than the experience of the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Just a couple of things to flag from my side. Obviously, we've increased the education maintenance allowance to £40, which I think is an important contributor to this. But alongside that, we're reviewing EMA to make sure it's doing what we need it to do. So…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Just to add, this is a sort of pre-young person's guarantee intervention, really, but part of the challenge is to stop people becoming NEET, isn't it, really, and a good example, I think, of cross-Government working here is the youth engagement and…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
The practical stuff you can do in schools is really important, it seems to me. Many of us will have been here three or four weeks ago, when there was an exhibition in the Oriel around STEM and other related areas in schools, and there were good conversations…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Well, we've already talked about construction and rail and digital. Two of those are coming on-stream—at least two of them are coming on-stream—next year. And I just think we need to be a little bit cautious about comparing Wales and England on this, because…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
I think there is. I think there is. It's not unconditional, is it, because it's a different model, so let's be realistic about that aspect. But I don't think the issue here is a lack of engagement from providers at all, actually. So, I think that's not our…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Not today. [Laughter.]
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Exactly.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Part of your question was about what we're doing to encourage students to take degree apprenticeships as well. So, I don't know if you were in the Chamber when we discussed this yesterday; the Seren programme, which has been very successful in getting the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
We touched a little bit on this yesterday, so we've done the job coaching evaluation, which we published in May. We're looking at that and what that means now about how we can extend that, but—. Well, this is for Careers Wales, really, but there's a lot of…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
I think there is good stuff happening, but I think the clear message from Hefin's report, and I think probably from all of us talking to schools in our constituencies, is that there's obviously much more that we can do. You talked about the parity of esteem…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Yes. I just agree entirely on the point about how you can develop parents' understanding of what jobs are, because there is a risk otherwise, unless we achieve that, that we will make all the provision available, but we won't get the young people coming…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
So, just to build on what we were saying yesterday, really, I think there are some very, very practical things in the report for us to implement, which is really great, obviously. I don't think anybody thinks that there is a lack of enthusiasm either by…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
I thought the debate was a good debate, if I may say, as well. It was very open and constructively critical, obviously, but also practical. I think that is one example of a number of areas of policy development where I think continued close working is going…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
—a very good report. There we go. Excellent.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Well, I think that's one of them, in a way. But what I would say is—Vaughan's mentioned the Hefin David debate that we had yesterday, and the report is, I think—
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
I think—my reflection, that is—the lesson to learn there is you need all the voices continuously engaged in that. So, it's the qualifications provider, obviously the education provider, but you also need the sector involved in a continuous dialogue to make…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
I think you make a fair point. It is something that needs to be—. You have to be mindful of it, and it's not something that you can just assume will happen. So, just to echo the distinction that Vaughan is making, it's at ministerial level and, in a way…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
—and funded, indeed, through Vaughan's department. So, there's a range of areas where there's close alignment from a policy point of view, sort of regardless of where the budget sits, because, in many of these, one budget will do more of the heavy lifting…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Well, I suppose a good example of that would be the personal learning accounts programme, which has been a very, very successful programme, and has gone from, I think it was, around £2 million or £3 million at the start to a programme that is now worth about…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Joint ministerial scrutiny session on post-16 education and skills
Okay. Well, I'm sure we've both got some examples to describe, but I was thinking about how best to convey how it works in practice, because I think that's probably what you're most interested in. It seems to me that the most useful insight is, probably…
, Plenary
Debate: Education’s Links with Employers
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I think we will all agree that this has been a really rich debate. I think we've heard passion in relation to this from all sides of the Chamber. We've had the personal experiences of Members like Rhianon Passmore and Jack Sargeant…
, Plenary
Debate: Education’s Links with Employers
Finally, I can't emphasise enough how important ensuring that we support our learners to move forward to the next stages of their life is, be that higher education, further education or apprenticeship, or the workplace. Hefin David also refers to Careers…
, Plenary
Debate: Education’s Links with Employers
Estyn has highlighted the need for robust partnership working between schools, colleges and other partners in order to give the greatest benefits to learners. There are good examples of schools and other providers working together to deliver for learners, and…
, Plenary
Debate: Education’s Links with Employers
Diolch, Llywydd. I'd like to open by thanking Hefin David, whose report, 'Transitions to Employment', has helped inform this debate today, and I was very pleased to be able to commission it. The report will extend the evidence base as we continue to develop…
