Written question WQ88698
- Asked by
- Rhys ab OwenIndependent
- To be answered by
- Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 7 days
Question
What assessment has the Minister made of the success of the implementation of the duty of schools and the providers of education otherwise than at school to promote the knowledge and understanding of the rights of the child since the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Human rights is a mandatory cross-cutting theme in the Curriculum for Wales. A consistent professional learning offer is required to support schools to meet the requirements set out in Section 64 of the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021.
The Welsh Government has worked with education consortia and regional partnerships, with support from the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, to create an online professional learning package on the UNCRC and the UNCRPD. The first two modules of this resource were launched on the 6th July 2023 and work is already underway to develop a third module.
This national professional learning resource will support practitioners, head teachers, governing bodies and local authorities to develop an awareness and understanding of the UNCRC and UNCRPD and how the conventions link to Curriculum for Wales.
In addition, Welsh Government has funded Disability Wales to work with World of Inclusivity in 2022 on a pilot project introducing the UNCRPD to staff and learners in schools across Wales. Disability Wales is working to make the resources developed for this project available for free to all practitioners via Hwb.
The Rights of children and young persons compliance report provides information on how the work of the Welsh Government conforms to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) due regard duty.
Wales is on a long-term journey of educational reform. The Curriculum for Wales is now being taught in all primary schools and around half of secondary schools. In September 2023, that will include all settings teaching learners up to and including year 8.
We recently published our Curriculum for Wales evaluation plan, setting out how we will be evaluating the extent to which our reforms are achieving the aims set across the breadth of the curriculum and also how we will engage with learners, practitioners, and parents to do so.
As a mandatory requirement of the Curriculum for Wales, we expect that promoting knowledge and understanding of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child would fall within the scope of that work. The formative evaluation will be underway this coming autumn.