, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Yes, I'm very happy indeed to extend my congratulations to Mrs Pritchard and the staff and pupils of the school. I thought it was really telling, the phrase that the Member used, I think reflecting what Estyn said, which was the school had a focus on making…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
The Curriculum for Wales remains key to raising education standards for all learners. Our school improvement guidance aligns with the principles and practice of the curriculum, setting out a framework for the education system to support schools to provide the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Well, I think that's a really important point and, as you say, it reflects one of the points that Sam Kurtz was making in his question as well. There is a balance to be struck, isn't there, as you're changing an entire system between central direction and the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Well, I would encourage the headteacher in his constituency to engage with the Camau project, which we are funding through the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, which provides resources to support schools in their development of new assessment…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Yes. [Laughter.] In September, all schools and settings will be working with the Curriculum for Wales as it rolls out through to the 2026-27 academic year. Our ongoing support to the profession is key to successful implementation, and my annual report each…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
We encourage schools to look at all experiences available to our young people so that there is a diversity of experience, particularly through the medium of the Welsh language. As I mentioned earlier, we have a grant programme that supports, in terms of Welsh…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Well, as the Member said, in 2022-23, we increased the core grant of the National Eisteddfod to ensure that it had the resources to stage future Eisteddfodau in a time of financial uncertainty. We are to allocate additional funding to the Eisteddfod in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Well, I'm not sure if the Member listened to the two previous answers that I've given, but I've outlined in great detail what we are doing. The question of retention and recruitment is a challenge in all parts of the world. What we are doing in Wales is…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
If the Member wants to know what a demoralised teaching profession that doesn't feel valued by its Government looks like, she just needs to look over the border at what's happening in England, which is cataclysmic in terms of retention and recruitment…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Well, I recognise that we need to do everything we can to support in the system support staff, who deliver a very, very important service to our young people and are indispensable in our schools. The Member's question does not recognise the work that I've…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Well, I don't think that it's acceptable that that happens, of course, and I'm sorry to hear the example that the Member brings to the Chamber today. One of my priorities, in terms of the reforms within the education system, is to ensure that we have…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
I thank the Member for that question. He has, as he said, corresponded with me in relation to particular issues on behalf of constituents. While I’m sure that the response wasn’t what he was hoping for, at least I hope that it was a clear explanation of the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
For the first time ever, we have a unified system for supporting learners from nought to 25 with additional learning needs. We are making a new investment in the coming days of £2.1 million to further education colleges to support the roll-out of this system…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
I thank Sam Kurtz for those questions. The contribution made by the YFC to youth work in our rural areas is priceless. I'm very pleased about the financial contribution of almost £125,000 that we provide to the Wales federation and the county federations to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Thank you for those important questions. I met with the education director and the council leader of Carmarthenshire last week to discuss their strategic plan, and the message of the county council was clear, in that they see themselves that there is a need…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language
Developing Welsh-medium education and improving the language outcomes of all our pupils as well as understanding better what lies behind the further decline in Welsh-speaking communities is a priority. Language use is at the heart of this. We will undertake…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: Welsh in Education Planning
I thank the Member for welcoming the statement. I agree with several points that she made in her question. In terms of the investment in immersion, we do have ambitious plans in that regard. We have a budget of just under £7 million for the period between now…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: Welsh in Education Planning
Well, I agree that the Member does repeat this. It's a lazy narrative, and there's no evidence supporting what he said today about the performance of local authorities. We have new WESPs since September only, and there's not one sentence of evidence…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: Welsh in Education Planning
Thank you, Llywydd, and it's my pleasure to be here today to update Members on our progress regarding Welsh in education planning. Since my last statement, I’m pleased to say that all 10-year Welsh in education strategic plans by local authorities have been…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Census 2021—Welsh Language Results
Thank you very much for that. In terms of lifelong learning, that's truly very important, and what we want to do is to understand how all of the ways of learning Welsh do sit on the continuum—that is, GCSE and A-level qualifications, but also adult education…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Census 2021—Welsh Language Results
I thank Mabon ap Gwynfor for those questions. I think he's right to say that there are elements in terms of moving, in terms of out-migration, in terms of demographics, in terms of opportunities, and the commission is certainly going to tackle those sorts of…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Census 2021—Welsh Language Results
Well, I agree entirely with the Member in terms of his priorities. We've talked a lot about education, but I'd just make two points about that—firstly, how important the immersion scheme is in terms of ensuring that anyone who moves to Wales and wants access…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Census 2021—Welsh Language Results
Menter Iaith Castell-nedd Port Talbot is one of those initiatives that has been allocated funding as part of the statement that I made today in terms of looking at the current pressures as a result of additional costs, so there will be additional funding…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Census 2021—Welsh Language Results
I thank the Member for that. That’s very important; it does throw some light on the discussion I just had with Heledd Fychan. We need to look at and understand what these figures tell us. I do agree that, if you ask the question, ‘Can you speak Welsh?’ on the…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Census 2021—Welsh Language Results
Some fair questions there. The thing to confirm, though, is that we haven't changed our viewpoint on the census—that is what shows us the figures within the strategy. We've said that at the outset, and that hasn't changed, but you can't just look at this…
