... On the day GCSE results came out over the summer, school
leaders said that they were extremely concerned at the fall
in the percentage of 16-year-olds passing Welsh second
language at A* to C, and their association called on the
Welsh Government to work with them to find out what has
caused the 10 per cent fall in grades. But it wasn't just
Welsh they were concerned about. The 4.3 per cent drop in
English results also prompted them to call for more work from
the Welsh Government. The director of the Association of School and College
Leaders Cymru seems to be blaming the changes you
have made, when he said, and I quote,
'We can assure the public that there has been absolutely not
let-up in the commitment of schools to produce the very best
outcomes for their pupils, and it is important to understand
that these results come at a time of enormous change in the
Welsh education system.'
And the National Association of Head Teachers Cymru also said
that more work needs to be done. The two languages of most
importance in the country are Welsh and English, and you seem
to be failing our pupils on both. Can you tell us how you're
going to stop the education system delivering worse results
for these subjects year on year?
... The Association of School and College
Leaders said the consortia are duplicating
funding and functions provided by the LEAs, and they put a
figure of £450 million on the cost of this. When the Minister
appeared before the Children, Young People and Education
Committee a few months ago, she said that getting money to
the school front line is a priority, and if sufficient money
isn't getting there, is it not time for this Assembly to do
something about it? If we're not getting money to the schools
and pupils, isn't it time for this Assembly-created quango of
management, consultancy, apparatchiks and buzzwords to be
scrapped so that the money can then go directly to local
councils who are wholly elected and perhaps in a rather
better position to estimate the school community needs in
their area?
Read the full proceedings
