Commenting, said:
“I was, as I’m sure many others were, disappointed to see how
poorly Wales has performed in this year’s PISA results.
Back in 2016 the then Welsh Liberal Democrat Education Minister
launched an ambitious
programme of reform for our schools. And the results in the years
following showed that these reforms were bearing fruit.
From 2015 and up to 2018, figures across Maths, Science and
English were improving in Wales which saw the largest growth in
test results amongst the home nations.
But now we are being presented with figures that are 3% below the
international average.
Whilst I acknowledge that the Covid pandemic did have an impact
on our educational system, it does however feel like Welsh Labour
are hiding behind the fallout of the pandemic to hide the fact
that they have dropped the ball on education.
Our schools are facing huge challenges with the current funding
crisis, and these results have proven that the Welsh Government
must get their act together and tackle this problem.
We must provide the very best education for our young people here
in Wales, our teachers know this and work admirably under such
huge pressure.
But now the Welsh Government must step in and back our teachers
and our schools, so that we can strive for better.”
END NOTE
EDITOR'S NOTE- BBC article on this year's PISA results here shows the rise between
2015-2018.