, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you very much. Dysgu, as you said, is now in place and works very closely with Adnodd, which is responsible for providing resources to schools. These are now national bodies that respond in a careful and informed way to system requirements at the local…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
We have a wider conversation about standards in schools and how well schools are doing. That is something that is available at a local authority level as well, but my focus is most certainly on what the national picture is telling me. That's what I think the…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
I think that the categorisation of schools is also something that will be part of the consultation, to arrive at a better and nuanced understanding of what these categories are and what they deliver. I'll go back to my earlier point that the support and the…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you. Obviously, the policy for language, schools' provision, is a matter for the local authority, and I am always careful not to intervene or comment on these in case any matters are referred to Welsh Ministers. But, I think, in the context of…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
The arrangements in terms of planning school places is the responsibility of local authorities, so that's the space for that discussion. But, when we are publishing our consultation on the framework and the way we arrive at access to Welsh-medium education, I…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
It's mine too.
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Yes, I can provide that assurance. We've already discussed this issue and have prioritised learners who travel to Welsh-medium provision, and we are also looking at learners with additional learning needs, in order to ensure that we make informed progress and…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you very much. I think the 35 hours were introduced in the last accreditation cycle, but I'll check that. I think I'm right in saying that. Reaching the targets to recruit people to ITE who can teach through the medium of Welsh is extremely challenging…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you very much. There are a number of different elements involved in this work, and therefore the consultation will include a new Welsh language strategy to develop our work towards 2050. It will also include the Welsh and education framework, as well as…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Yes, we can.
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Well, I can give you a flavour, but I don't want to share too much, because it wouldn't be entirely fair because we've only spoken to half the local authorities to date. But there's growth, for example, in Welsh-medium childcare provision. There is growth in…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you very much. I think I can happily commit to learning from the successes of local authorities across Wales in relation to securing access to Welsh-medium education, which is, of course, central to the work that we are doing now and consulting on soon…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Yes, and, clearly, we have to work together on that. There should not be a difference, for example, in the hours that a learner with ALN receives in terms of childcare provision, but there will be a further discussion then on the specific ALN needs in that…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
This is a priority for us. I think we have reiterated, on a number of occasions, that securing funding for ALN is a significant priority for us, and we are continuing discussions with all parties to ensure that we are able to address some of those needs.
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Well, from the perspective of looking at the ALN system in general, because there are two things that are particularly important for us to focus on at the moment—. One is the current pressures on resources in our schools, but also how we get to a point where…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Yes.
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you very much. I can't find the details on this at the moment.
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Yes.
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you very much. And I also think it's pertinent to the conversation that we had earlier on the inclusive system, because the aim of the system is to put us in a situation where we can meet the needs of a broad range of learners, and part of the work of…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
I think it's an opportunity as well to reiterate the commitment to work on some of these issues across Government. I've already had a few meetings now with the health Minister and the Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health, in particular, to look…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Yes.
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Louise, are you happy to answer that?
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you for the question. I agree with you: the ALN officials that I'm going to bring in in a moment have been tremendously hard-working. I am still looking at that element, but also trying to work out how do we get to a point where we have a clearer…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you. The workload in schools is much more complex than the Curriculum for Wales, as you will know. There are lots of elements—and they are essentially things that impact society more broadly, but find expression in schools—that are causing significant…
, Early Years, Children, Young People and Education Committee
Welsh Government Scrutiny Session
Thank you very much. There is work ongoing to evaluate the curriculum. I think during this Senedd term, we will have more detail to discuss on that. But one of the things that has become apparent is that there is a need for greater clarity and support for the…
