2021

Extra funding available for school improvements

In March 2021, the Welsh Government announced an additional £50 million (€58 million)* towards improvements to school buildings across Wales. The capital funding will allow local authorities to focus on large-scale maintenance projects, such as replacement roofs, new window systems or heating and ventilation works, rather than small scale routine repairs.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.86, ECB, 15 March 2021.

Additional funding to develop new Welsh-medium education

In March 2021, the Welsh Government has announced an additional £30 million (€35 million)* to develop new Welsh-medium education. The capital investment is part of the Welsh Government’s commitment to reach 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050, by supporting all learners to become Welsh speakers by the time they leave school.  

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.86, ECB, 15 March 2021.

2020 

Chair of independent review announced

In August 2020, the Minister for Education announced that an independent review of events following the cancellation of the 2020 GCSE and A level exams would be chaired by Louise Casella; Director of The Open University in Wales. The review will consider key issues that have emerged from arrangements that were put in place for the 2020 exams, and the challenges resulting from the 2020 experience. At the time of writing (September 2020) an interim report of key findings is expected by the end of October, with a final report and recommendations to follow by mid-December.

Modification of basic curriculum requirements

In August 2020, the Minister for Education announced a temporarily modification to the basic curriculum requirements for Wales and associated assessment arrangements for schools and funded non-maintained nursery settings (those funded pursuant to arrangements with local authorities). This will provide schools with flexibility, where needed, to reintegrate students and develop a plan for learning over the autumn which is resilient and relevant in all operational scenarios. The modifications of the basic curriculum and associated assessment requirements to a reasonable endeavors basis will be in place for the first 30 days of September.

Additional support to children of families of Service personnel during 2020/21

In August 2020, the Minister for Education announced a further £250,000 (€281,000*) funding to schools which provide support to children from families of Service personnel. The challenges can include the effects of moving from one school to another due to the location of the posting. It can also include the effects of parents or guardians in the Armed Forces being deployed away from home, either on operation or a long term training exercise. The funding will ensure the ongoing universal support from the Supporting Service Children in Education (SSCE) Cymru project, hosted by the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), and provide more targeted support to schools. This year the process for distributing the funding is currently being developed by the WLGA for agreement by Welsh Government.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.89, ECB, 02 September 2020.

Announcement on teacher pay

In July 2020, the Education Minister proposed a 3.1% overall pay award for teachers. This proposal follows the publication of the report of the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB), an independent body with the responsibility to make recommendations to the Welsh Government on the pay and conditions of school teachers and leaders in Wales. The proposals would see:

• starting salaries for new teachers increased by 8.48%
• a 3.1% overall increase for the teachers’ pay bill in Wales
• a 3.75% pay rise for teachers on the Main Pay Scale
• an end to performance-related pay progression
• the reintroduction of national pay scales

The Minister has also proposed a 2.75% pay raise for head teachers, deputy and assistant heads, unqualified teachers and leading practitioners, as well as teacher allowances - all greater than the 2.5% recommended by IWPRB.

Additional funding for schools to boost support for learners

In July 2020 is was announced that the equivalent of 600 extra teachers and 300 teaching assistants will be recruited throughout the next school year (2020/21) through an increase of £29 million (€32.5 million) funding, targeting extra support at students studying towards their GCSEs, AS levels and A levels, as well as disadvantaged and vulnerable learners of all ages. This will support learners taking their A level and GCSEs in 2021 and those known to have been affected most while many schools have been closed during the Coronavirus pandemic.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.89, ECB, 03 September 2020.

The Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Bill and Explanatory Memorandum laid

On 6 July 2020, the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Bill and Explanatory Memorandum was laid before the Senedd (Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament). The Bill provides a new legislative framework to support the new curriculum and assessment arrangements as part of the wider programme of education reform. Subject to its successful passage through the Senedd, the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Bill will provide the statutory foundation for the Welsh Government’s reform of the curriculum for 3 to 16 year olds. It will replace the existing national curriculum in Wales, which was established in 1988 on an England and Wales basis, with a new Curriculum for Wales.

Guidance to accompany Curriculum for Wales  

In January 2020, the Welsh Government published the final documents for the new Curriculum for Wales, along with a package of guidance to assist schools in designing their curriculum across all areas of learning and experience (AoLEs) of the new curriculum. The guidance covered a number of key considerations: 

• Developing a vision for curriculum design – the fundamentals which should underpin a curriculum. These include the four purposes of the new Curriculum for Wales; skills, progression and assessment; and making the curriculum accessible to all.
• Principles for curriculum design – how to use the guidance to design a curriculum, incorporating ‘statements of what matters’ for each area of learning and experience (AoLE), and ‘descriptions of learning’ to address how learners should progress within each statement of what matters.
• Cross-cutting themes, which should be embedded in learning across the curriculum. These include relationships and sexuality education (RSE), human rights education, diversity, and careers and work-related experiences.
• Implementation and practical considerations.

The following month, a delegation from the OECD visited to look at the preparations being made to implement the new curriculum, which will be formally in place in 2022.

New postgraduate teacher training routes  

Two new postgraduate (consecutive) initial teacher education (ITE) routes will be available from October 2020.

The Salaried PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate of Education) is an employment-based scheme that replaces the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP). It will enable trainees to receive a salary to teach in a school as an unqualified teacher while studying for a PGCE qualification. The route is also open to existing teaching assistants and school employees in non-teaching roles, who may apply for their school to sponsor them to study alongside their existing school duties.

The Part-time PGCE will allow student teachers to study while working in another occupation or balancing other life commitments.

Both routes will be available for prospective primary school (ages 4-11) and secondary school (ages 11-18/19) teachers, and will enable trainees to meet the professional standards for teachers. They will each take two years to complete and will include 60 master’s level credits. Applications for both schemes are made through the Open University.

Further information on ITE in Wales is available on the Discover Teaching Wales website.

Establishing a whole-school approach to mental health

The Welsh Government published the third and final delivery plan for its ten-year mental health strategy, Together for Mental Health, in January 2020. The strategy’s aims include making mental health and wellbeing central to the way schools work, leading to more effective methods of prevention and early intervention.

One of the priority areas for action under the 2019-2022 delivery plan is improving access to mental health support in schools, through a multi-agency whole-school approach to mental health and emotional well-being, to ensure timely interventions. Planned actions also include:

• supporting the delivery of the health and wellbeing area of learning and experience (AoLE) in the new curriculum
• extending the reach of health services into schools
• filling gaps in services through local authority Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

To support delivery, the Welsh Government has announced that it will double the funding available to local authorities and local health boards across Wales.

Ending mandatory reporting of National Reading and Numeracy Test results

In January and February 2020, the Welsh Government consulted on the School Performance Information (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, which would end the mandatory reporting of test results from the statutory National Reading and Numeracy Tests. These are taken by all learners in Years 2-9 (ages 6-7 to 13-14) in maintained schools in Wales.

The requirement on school governing bodies to send results to their local authorities (LAs) originated when the tests were paper-based and LAs had a role in supporting the collection of the test scores. Since 2017, however, the paper-based tests have been being phased out and replaced by online adaptive tests, known as ‘personalised assessments’. After July 2020, all the assessments will be taken online, with automatic data transfer rendering the reporting requirement obsolete. The Welsh Government is currently reviewing the consultation responses.

2019 

Qualifications for 16 year-olds 

On 18 November 2019, Qualifications Wales announced the first in a series of consultations seeking views on key aspects of its approach to the qualifications that will be available for 16-year-olds under the new curriculum. Qualified for the Future outlines proposals to:

• establish a set of principles to shape decisions on which qualifications taken at 16 are eligible for public funding
• redesign GCSEs so that they form a central part of the qualification offer for 16-year-old learners in Wales
• include a specific qualification that supports the development and assessment of the wider skills defined in the new curriculum as part of the qualification offer.

The first consultation ran until February 2020, with further activities planned until 2021. Qualifications Wales is proposing that the work will culminate in new qualifications ready for first teaching to 14-year-olds in September 2025.

Bullying in schools 

On 6 November 2019, the Minister for Education announced the launch of new anti-bullying guidance aimed at governing bodies of maintained schools, local authorities, parents, carers and children and young people. The Welsh Government has also produced new resource toolkits to accompany the new guidance that includes factsheets, supplementary guidance, incident recording template forms and best practice case examples to help local authorities support schools in challenging bullying.

The launch follows a consultation on draft anti-bullying guidance, which ran from November 2018 to February 2019, and which sought to establish whether the draft guidance and selection of supporting resources for schools met the needs of key audiences. A summary of responses was published in May 2019.

The new guidance aims to explain:

• what bullying is and what it is not
• who should be responsible for and involved in addressing bullying inside and outside school settings
• what to do if bullying is happening
• reporting, recording and monitoring bullying
• prevention strategies for challenging bullying behaviour
• children’s rights
• roles and responsibilities for addressing bullying holistically
• the legislation underpinning anti-bullying.

In addition, under the wider scope of safeguarding, health and wellbeing, and online safety the Welsh Government has:

• published guidance for teachers, professionals, volunteers and youth services regarding responding to issues of self-harm and thoughts of suicide in young people
• announced funding in support of a project to prevent hate crime in schools
• published an online safety action plan for children and young people in Wales.

Progress on the new curriculum

In October 2019, the Minister for Education announced the publication of a set of reports analysing the feedback from a consultation on the curriculum and assessment materials for the new Curriculum for Wales. The Welsh Government published the materials for feedback in April 2019. They included:

• a Guide to Curriculum for Wales 2022
• guidance documents for the six draft Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLE)
• assessment proposals to inform the development of statutory guidance.

The final versions will be available in January 2020 for use in schools from 2022.

The publication of the curriculum materials for feedback followed a consultation that ran from January to March 2019, focusing on the legislative framework for the new curriculum. It covered:

• the purpose and structure of the curriculum
• the Welsh and English languages
• relationships and sexuality education (RSE) for 3- to 16-year-olds
• religious education (RE) for 3- to 16-year-olds
• the right to withdraw from RE and RSE
• the assessment of learners.

The new curriculum, the statutory framework for which is expected to be introduced shortly by the Curriculum (Wales) Bill, will include four core purposes and six areas of learning and experience, with literacy, numeracy and digital competence taught as cross-curricular subjects. It will cover children and young people aged 3-16, including 3- to 5-year-olds attending nursery classes in maintained schools and those attending funded nursery settings, along with 5- to 16-year-olds in maintained schools in Wales.

The curriculum will be introduced from nursery to Year 7 (the first year of secondary education) in 2022, rolling into Year 8 (age 12/13) for 2023, and so on until it is introduced for Year 11 pupils in 2026.

The decision to develop a new curriculum followed the publication of Professor Donaldson’s February 2015 report, Successful Futures, which included 68 recommendations regarding curriculum and assessment arrangements in Wales. The recommendations were accepted in full by the Minister for Education in June 2015.

School teachers’ pay and conditions 

Published in October 2019, the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document and statutory guidance for 2019 now provides the framework for teachers’ pay and conditions in Wales. This follows the devolution of powers to the Welsh Government in 2018. (Previously, the pay and conditions of teachers in Wales were determined by the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, which applied to both England and Wales.)

The Minister for Education also confirmed pay increases in October 2019. These include a 5% increase in the starting salary for newly qualified teachers and an increase of 2.75% for all other teachers. The pay increases were subject to an eight-week stakeholder consultation and will be backdated to 1 September 2019.

The announcement followed the publication of the first report of the new Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) in June 2019, and the report of an independent review, Teaching: a valued profession, in September 2018.

New arrangements for supply teacher procurement were also introduced in September 2019. A supply teacher is a teacher appointed on a temporary contract to cover for an absent teacher. As part of the new arrangements, the National Procurement Service launched a framework agreement for the employment of supply teachers via commercial agencies in October 2019. This includes a list of approved agencies by local area across Wales. Schools are free to engage qualified supply teachers from wherever they feel appropriate to suit the needs of their school, but using a commercial supply agency under the new framework aims to provide them with assurances that minimum quality standards and statutory safeguarding obligations are met. 

Accreditation of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes 

In September 2019, the Welsh Government introduced a requirement for all programmes of initial teacher education (ITE) to be accredited by the Education Workforce Council (EWC). Accreditation is awarded for a five-year period and this new EWC function replaces the previous process of accrediting ITE providers’ programmes through the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).

The Welsh Government published new accreditation criteria for programmes of ITE in February 2018. They are intended to enable more specific consideration of how ITE programmes will raise the quality of provision and attract people with the right skills, qualifications and aptitudes to enter the profession.

The changes form part of a package of reforms being undertaken in response to the Furlong review, Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers (2015).

Consultation on home education guidance 

On 29 July 2019, the Welsh Government announced a consultation on a handbook of advice and information for home educating families and those thinking of home educating. The consultation also sought feedback on draft statutory guidance developed to support local authorities (LAs) in assessing the suitability of education provided to children and young people not on any school register, nor in education other than at school (EOTAS). The consultation ran until 25 October 2019.

A further consultation was launched in January 2020, seeking views on draft regulations that would require each LA to establish and maintain a database to assist them in identifying children not on any maintained school ’s roll, EOTAS roll, or independent school roll, and not receiving a suitable education. The consultation runs until 22 April.

Professional standards for school learning support staff 

On 11 July 2019, the Welsh Government announced the publication of new Professional Standards for Assisting Teaching and a commissioned report on the roles and responsibilities of classroom based support staff in primary schools.

The Welsh Government has introduced the standards to provide opportunities to increase assistants’ skills, help identify clear career pathways and commit to professional learning.

The standards are also intended to help those who wish to become higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs) or go on to become fully qualified teachers.

They take account of a 2018/19 consultation on the draft professional standards for school learning support staff, the summary of responses to which was published in May 2019.

The professional standards are for all those who work in classrooms to assist teaching and learning. They have been developed using the same five standards model as the standards for teaching and leadership:

• pedagogy
• collaboration
• leadership
• innovation
• professional learning.

School learning support workers are commonly referred to as teaching assistants (TAs) and higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs). There has been a significant increase in their numbers in recent years and, since 2003, an evolution in their role, largely due to the provisions adopted by Raising standards and tackling workload: a national agreement. This has also been as a result of initiatives to improve provision for early years education and pupils with additional learning needs. There were previously no professional standards for TAs.

Additional Learning Needs Code 

In June 2019, the Welsh Government published a summary of responses to the 2018 consultation on the draft Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Code.

The draft ALN Code provides statutory guidance to help people and organisations work within the requirements of the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018. The Act and draft Code are part of the Welsh Government Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Transformation Programme, which aims to transform the separate systems for special educational needs (SEN) in schools and learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDD) in further education, to create a unified system for supporting learners from 0 to 25 with ALN.

On 17 September, the Minister for Education announced updates to the proposed timeline, stating that:

• The statutory roles created by the ALN Act are to commence in January 2021 but the new ALN system will commence, on a phased basis, from September 2021, to provide time for further dedicated training and development.
• The Welsh Government proposes to lay a revised draft ALN Code and regulations before the National Assembly for approval in 2020.

School governance regulatory framework 

In February 2017, a consultation on proposed changes to the school governance regulatory framework ended. In April 2019, the Education Minister announced that, following the consultation, no legislation or changes were planned. However, in publishing a summary of the responses to the consultation in June 2019, the Welsh Government confirmed the immediate actions that will be taken to provide support and resources for governing bodies.  

These include:

• supporting local authorities in conjunction with their regional consortia to ensure all governing bodies are fully up-to-date on curriculum reform
• producing a termly bulletin for governing bodies on the latest progress in delivering Our National Mission (the action plan for education 2017-21)
• ensuring that the National Approach to Professional Learning includes resources aimed at school governors
• creating a programme of learning relevant to the needs of school governors in Wales
• working with Cardiff University to develop a school governors’ recruitment scheme which aims to increase the number of university staff volunteering to serve as school governors.

Additional INSET days 2019-2022 

On 16 July 2019, the Minister for Education responded to a consultation on additional professional development days for teachers, which ran from 5 March to 1 May.

In her response, she confirmed her proposal to make amendments to the Education (School Day and School Year) (Wales) Regulations 2003 to allow schools one additional training and development (INSET) day per year for three years, until 2022. These days will take place annually in the summer term and will focus specifically on professional learning to support the introduction of the new curriculum.

The Minister also confirmed that she will be making a recommendation to schools that, out of the five INSET days already allocated to schools, a minimum of a further one day each academic year should be used to prepare for the new curriculum. This day can be taken at a time to suit the school.

To support this training and schools’ readiness for the new curriculum, the Welsh Government will also develop a bank of digital resources.

Welsh language strategy action plan 2019-20

In March 2019, the Minister for Education announced the publication of Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers - Action plan 2019–20. This sets out specific actions for 2019/20 to implement the objectives laid out in the Welsh Language Strategy, Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers. The action plan reflects the priorities previously identified in the Work programme 2017–21, published in tandem with the Cymraeg 2050 Strategy.

Educational aims in the strategy include to:

• provide children with the best start in the Welsh language, by expanding support for families to transmit the language in the home
• expand Welsh-medium provision in the early years as an access point for Welsh-medium education
• create a statutory education system which increases the number of confident Welsh speakers
• develop post-compulsory education provision which increases rates of progression and supports everyone, whatever their command of the language, to develop Welsh language skills for use socially and in the workplace
• plan the education and training workforce that can teach Welsh and teach through the medium of Welsh, and the resources and qualifications needed to support increased provision.

To support the aim of increasing the number of teachers who can teach through the medium of Welsh, in November 2019, the Welsh Government announced the launch of a new programme to provide opportunities for Welsh-medium primary teachers to receive training and support to convert to teach at secondary school. Data suggests that there is a surplus of Welsh-medium primary teachers, so the pilot programme aims to increase the number of teachers who can teach in Welsh at secondary level, without having a detrimental effect on teaching capacity in primary schools.  

Estyn to introduce changes to inspection arrangements in schools 

In February 2019, Estyn, the office of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector for Education and Training in Wales, announced plans to introduce changes to school inspection arrangements to accommodate the introduction of the new Curriculum for Wales (due to be implemented nationwide from September 2022). The changes, which are subject to consultation, include a proposal for a partial suspension of inspection for maintained schools from September 2020 to August 2021, to allow Estyn to work closely with schools on curriculum reform. They also include a proposal for amended inspection arrangements to be introduced from September 2021 and, in the longer term, to pilot inspections that focus on validating schools’ self-evaluation processes.

Evaluation and improvement (accountability) arrangements 

On 19 February 2019, the Welsh Government published draft Evaluation and Improvement Arrangements.

These draft new accountability arrangements, which will support the introduction of the new Currculum for Wales from 2022, are based on four key principles. They will be:

• fair – promoting equity, inclusion, choice, individual pathways to learning and never losing sight of the learner
• coherent – allowing each part of the system to work together without overlapping, with clear roles and responsibilities
• proportionate – ensuring that the implementation of the new arrangements and process is manageable and makes a difference. They will be underpinned by the principle of subsidiarity, allowing responsibility for accountability for schools to be local, led by self-aware schools
• transparent – recognising the breadth of learning experience across schools and the value added by teachers in class.

2018 

Measures to support rural schools 

In November 2018, the School Organisation Code was updated to include a presumption against the closure of rural schools.

The School Organisation Code is made under Sections 38 and 39 of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013. It imposes requirements and provides guidelines in respect of school organisation proposals, i.e. proposals to reconfigure school provision, for example to open or close a school.

The changes to the Code strengthen the presumption against closing rural schools, and specify that cases to close rural schools must be strong and that local authorities must consult more rigorously and consider all viable alternatives before deciding upon a closure. A definition of what constitutes a rural school will be developed for the first time.

The proposals were announced in November 2016 as part of a package of measures to support rural schools. In addition, rural schools will be encouraged to work together through federations, and the Welsh Government is introducing a rural and small schools grant to support schools in working together.

Assembly committee inquiry into Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification 

The Children, Young People and Education Committee of the National Assembly for Wales has published the responses from a consultation on the status of the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (WBQ). The consultation, which ran from 3 July to 20 September 2018, was part of a Committee inquiry into the revised WBQ that was introduced for teaching from September 2015.

The Committee inquiry is looking at the qualification at Key Stage 4 and post-16, and focuses specifically on:

• the extent to which the WBQ is understood and valued by learners, parents, education professionals in schools and colleges, higher education institutions and employers
• the extent to which the WBQ is considered by learners, education professionals in schools and colleges, employers and higher education to be an equivalent, rigorous qualification
• the status of the WBQ in schools and colleges, including the Welsh Government’s target for universal adoption and the potential impact of this approach
• the wider impact of studying the WBQ on other curriculum subjects and education provision
• the benefits and disadvantages of the WBQ to learners, schools and colleges, higher education institutions and employers.

Improving outcomes for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers

On 26 June 2018, the Welsh Government published the Enabling Gypsies, Roma and Travellers plan, replacing the 2011 Travelling to a Better Future Framework for Action and Delivery Plan. The publication of the plan followed a consultation, which ran from 28 September to 21 December 2017.

The plan aims to improve social inclusion for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, as well as to narrow the gap in their educational outcomes. Under the theme 'Ambitious and Learning', it includes measures to:

• improve the confidence of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils and parents to self-ascribe their ethnicity at school, to ensure performance can be better understood and learning supported
• ensure Gypsies, Roma and Travellers have their culture reflected in the school environment
• support and challenge local authorities and regional education consortia on actions they are taking directly, and through support to schools, to improve educational outcomes for all learners
• tackle bullying in schools against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.

The inspectorate, Estyn, also carried out a thematic review of the quality of and provision for secondary-aged Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) pupils in 2018-19. The report of the thematic review, published in April 2019, focuses on progress since its 2011 report on Gypsy and Traveller education.

It recommends that local authorities and schools should:

• ensure that they evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies to improve the achievement, transition and attendance of GRT pupils, and make improvements when strategies are not bringing about the desired outcomes
• ensure that anti-bullying and equality policies take account of the specific needs of GRT pupils
• ensure that schools promote GRT culture throughout the school curriculum
• ensure that GRT pupils have opportunities to express their views about their learning experiences
• work collaboratively to deliver and enhance services for GRT pupils
• explore ways of building the confidence of GRT pupils and parents to self-ascribe their ethnic identity accurately.

Report of inquiry into targeted funding to improve educational outcomes 

The Children, Young People and Education Committee of the National Assembly for Wales published a report on its inquiry into targeted funding to improve educational outcomes on 20 June 2018.

The Welsh Government targets additional resources at particular groups of pupils, primarily through the Pupil Development Grant (PDG). The impact of this targeted approach was the focus of the Committee's inquiry, which began in October 2017. The recommendations of the report, On the Money?, for the Welsh Government include that it should:

• regularly assess the scale of investment required for the PDG in terms of value for money and opportunity cost. In particular, the Welsh Government should closely monitor, on an ongoing basis, the PDG’s impact on the pupils it targets
• take all steps to emphasise that the PDG is to be used to support all eligible learners, including those who are more able and talented
• ensure there is coherence in its approach to targeting funding to improve educational outcomes, addressing any inconsistencies between the principle behind the PDG and the ending of other targeted education grants
• ensure Key Stage 4 performance measures and school accountability arrangements incentivise schools to support pupils eligible for free school meals in achieving as high grades as possible
• encourage and place an onus on schools to take full account of the available evidence and expertise on what constitutes effective use of the PDG, whilst enabling school leaders to take appropriate decisions for their own pupils.

The Welsh Government published its response on 21 September 2018 and accepted the majority of the inquiry’s recommendations. These included:

• a commitment to regular assessment of the scale of investment required for the Pupil Development Grant (PDG)
• updating the PDG guidance to emphasise that it should be used to support all eligible learners, including those who are more able and talented
• working with parents to identify adopted children so they can receive PDG support
• monitoring and evaluating how regional consortia provide challenge and support to schools requiring improvement.

Review report on role of inspectorate 

The report of the independent review of the role of Estyn, the inspectorate, was published on 7 June 2018. Announced in July 2017, the review, which examined Estyn’s role in supporting education reform, was undertaken by Professor Graham Donaldson. It began in August 2017.

The review report made 34 recommendations including that:

• Estyn’s system of school inspection should be adapted in a phased way, in line with wider reforms, ultimately to one which is directed towards validation of schools’ self-evaluation.
• The Welsh Government’s proposed national evaluation and assessment framework should clearly define the standards and outcomes expected from the reforms, together with relevant quantitative and qualitative measures and indicators.
• The ‘high stakes’ aspects of the current accountability arrangements that are likely to undermine the Welsh Government’s aims for a self-improving and learning culture should be replaced by other approaches, while still ensuring rigour.
• The strategic purpose of inspection, self-evaluation and wider accountability mechanisms should focus on answering four main questions:

1. How well is the school engaging with the purposes of the Curriculum for Wales?
2. How well are pupils progressing in their learning and achieving appropriately high standards?
3. How well developed are the fundamental building blocks for learning:

• the breadth, balance and appropriateness of the curriculum?
• the quality of learning and teaching?
• the wellbeing of all pupils?

    4. How well does the school use self-evaluation and professional learning to identify its current strengths and set priorities for development?

The report also proposed that inspection reports should provide a stronger explanatory narrative about the performance of the school in relation to these four questions, wherever possible drawing on the school self-evaluation process.

Estyn has published its response to the review.

Eligibility for free school meals consultation 

Following the introduction of Universal Credit, the Welsh Government needed to revise its eligibility criteria for free school meals and held a consultation on the proposals in June 2018.

It proposed to introduce an earned income threshold of £7400 (€8409.09*) for Universal Credit claimants who want to claim free school meals for their children. Measures were also proposed to give transitional protection to families affected by the change.

The consultation ran from 6 June to 14 September 2018 with a summary of responses published in December 2018.

Following the responses, the Minister for Education announced an annualised net earned income threshold of £7400 for Universal Credit claimants who wish to claim free school meals for their children, with effect from 1 April 2019.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.88, ECB, 14 June 2018.

Digital Competence Framework

In June 2018, the Welsh Government published updated guidance for the Digital Competence Framework (DCF). Formally launched in September 2016, the DCF applies to all learners aged 3 to 16 as part of the new Curriculum for Wales.

Made available in advance of the new curriculum, which will be introduced from September 2022, the Framework encourages the integration of digital skills across the full range of lessons, giving digital competence the same cross-curricular priority as literacy and numeracy. It consists of four strands of equal importance, each with a number of elements:

• Citizenship
  • identity, image and reputation
  • health and wellbeing
  • digital rights, licensing and ownership
  • online behaviour and cyberbullying
• Interacting and collaborating
  • communication
  • collaboration
  • storing and sharing
• Producing
  • planning, sourcing and searching
  • creating
  • evaluating and improving
• Data and computational thinking
  • problem solving and modelling
  • data and information literacy.

Relationships and sexuality education and RE curriculum reforms

On 22 May 2018, the Minister for Education announced that the provision of sex and relationships education (SRE) will become a statutory part of Wales’ new curriculum which will be in place from 2022. She confirmed also that it will be known as relationships and sexuality education (RSE). RSE will be compulsory for learners between the ages of 5 and 16. Content will be developmentally appropriate, with a focus on healthy relationships.

The Minister for Education also announced that there would be changes to sex education training in both initial teacher education and within the existing workforce, with funding being made available to regional education consortia to identify professional learning needs in this area.

Sex education currently forms part of the 'basic curriculum', with schools able to decide on the content and approaches they use. Both an Expert Panel review report, published in January 2018, and Estyn, the inspectorate’s, June 2017 thematic review of healthy relationships education, provided evidence that schools needed greater support to provide consistently high quality sex education.

The change in name to relationships and sexuality education will precede the implementation of the new curriculum, and will be introduced in refreshed guidance for the current curriculum. A summary of the responses to a consultation on the refreshed guidance was published in July 2019.

A further eight-week consultation was announced on 3 October 2019, seeking views on the Education Minister’s proposal to ensure that all children and young people are required to study RSE and religious education (RE) in the new curriculum, by removing the practice of allowing parents or carers to withdraw their children from RE and/or RSE. The consultation also sought views on the proposal to change RE to become ‘Religions and Worldviews’. In January 2020, the Minister confirmed the removal of the right to withdraw, and indicated that the new subject name for RE will be ‘Religion, Values and Ethics’. This name change will take place when the new curriculum comes into effect.

Establishment of National Academy for Educational Leadership 

An In Brief article from the National Assembly for Wales Research Service, published on 17 May 2018, highlights the official launch of the National Academy for Educational Leadership on 16 May 2018. A year previously, in a statement to the National Assembly for Wales, the Minister for Education had announced that a new body would be established to support educational leaders. Setting up this body was a key action in the September 2017 document, Education in Wales: Our national mission. Action plan 2017–21.

The National Academy for Educational Leadership (NAEL) will work with partners across the system to provide strategic support for those in current leadership roles, as well as providing encouragement and inspiration for those who wish to pursue a leadership career in education.

This is in response to concerns about the quality of leadership in schools, including:

• a lack of succession planning
• a limited number of well-tailored professional development opportunities for senior and middle-level leaders, and teachers
• school leadership not being considered an attractive profession.

The core objectives of the Academy will be to:

• ensure the availability of programmes and provision to support leadership development, and where there are gaps, commission suitable provision
• quality assure provision through a process of endorsement
• promote the use and accessibility of leadership research and national and international best practice
• offer support and advice on leadership career pathways
• create a community of peers and offer information and advice.

The first two programmes endorsed by the NAEL are:

• Leadership Development Provision for Experienced Headteachers
• Leadership Development Provision for Acting Headteachers and those New to Headship.

Further details of the endorsement timeline are available on the NAEL website.

Identifying and supporting more able learners 

In February 2018, the Minister for Education announced £3 million (€3.39 million*) funding for a new national approach to identifying and supporting more able learners, backed with comprehensive new guidance. This will include a new definition of more able learners.

The main elements of the approach are:

• better identification and support at school, regional and national levels
• opportunities that will inspire the highest levels of achievement
• the development of evidence to support further investment and work.

The Seren Network, which supports Wales’ most academically able sixth formers in gaining access to leading universities, will be expanded to target younger learners. From September 2018, the Network began targeting learners before their GCSEs, connecting pupils from different schools and communities and building on Seren’s existing links with leading global universities.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.88, ECB, 27 February 2018.

Children not receiving suitable education and supporting home educators 

In January 2018, the Minister for Education made a Statement to the National Assembly for Wales on plans for a package of support for home educators, and assistance for local authorities to identify school-aged children not in formal education.

The support for home educators will include help with exam registrations, additional learning needs support, access to Wales’ digital learning platform Hwb, exploring opportunities for home-educating families to learn Welsh, and support from Careers Wales.

The Minister for Education has also announced that she intends to consult on using existing legislation to require local authorities to establish a database to assist them in identifying children not on a school register, not in education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) and not receiving a suitable education.

Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018

The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Bill was passed by the National Assembly for Wales on 12 December 2017 and became an Act on 24 January 2018, after receiving Royal Assent.

The Act makes provision for:

• a statutory basis for the term 'additional learning needs' (ALN)
• a unified legislative framework to support children and young people from birth to age 25 with ALN.  This replaces two separate systems – one operating to support children and young people of compulsory school age who have special educational needs (SEN); the other supporting young people in further education who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDD)
• the introduction of a new individual development plan (IDP) as a statutory document, containing a description of the person’s ALN and a description of the additional learning provision (ALP) that the person’s learning difficulty or disability calls for.

The Welsh Government ran a consultation on how best to implement the new system from February to June 2017, following which it decided to adopt a phased approach to implementation. The new system established by the Act will be introduced over a phased period from January and September 2021.

The National Assembly for Wales Research Service has produced a summary of the Act.

Article last reviewed March 2021.