Wales’ new education minister lays out priorities for this Senedd term

Ella Groves, ICNN Senedd Reporter

Education is “the key to unlocking our nation’s potential”, according to the new minister responsible for Wales’ schools.

Anna Brychan, who was appointed education and Welsh language minister last month, now has responsibility for school standards, improvement and attainment, Welsh medium education, early childhood education, and curriculum and assessment arrangements.

She also has responsibility over policies to protect and promote the Welsh language.

Setting out her priorities for the seventh Senedd term, the Caerdydd Penarth MS highlighted raising educational standards, workforce support, and strengthening skills.

She said: “This government has made education a national priority, to raise standards in our schools and ensure the best conditions for learning and teaching. The education system is currently failing too many of our children and young people.

“A lack of talent is not the problem, neither is a lack of commitment. We have children and young people who are full of potential, and we have an able and dedicated workforce.

“The problem is that the whole system hasn’t always worked together to support and unlock the potential of our learners, nor do we share data and understanding of what is needed to ensure progress in every school, in every area, consistently and powerfully.”

“We want the education system to function as one connected system: to support our children from early years right up to the point where they start working.”

Concluding her speech, Ms Brychan pledged the Welsh Government will build “an education system that works for all learners, in Welsh and English – in our two national languages – and above all else, for Wales.”

Retention

Helen Jenner, who is Reform’s deputy leader and shadow minister for education, voiced “concerns” about the minister’s statement and the lack of detail regarding teacher retention.

Ms Jenner, who was a teacher herself in London, told the Siambr that she can “understand” why so many are leaving the profession.

She said: “We’re losing experienced teachers faster than we can replace them. That concern is only amplified by our shared ambitions for bilingual and Welsh-medium education.

“The challenge is not simply finding teachers; it’s finding teachers with the language skills needed to deliver those ambitions. Every experienced bilingual teacher who leaves the profession is not easily replaced.

“If we’re already struggling to retain the workforce we have today, how can the government realistically hope to deliver the workforce it will need tomorrow?”

Concluding her statement Ms Jenner said: “Every one of us here can remember a teacher who changed our lives. The problem is that experience takes years to build, but only a moment to lose.

“If this government fails to address workload and behaviour in detail, Wales will continue to lose our best teachers, and when teachers leave, it is not the ministers who pay the price, it is our children.”

Ms Brychan responded: “I’ve said often that I’m of the opinion that this is the most important professional role in our society – and I’m sure that some people here will disagree, but that is my view – and that we then need to retain that experience within the classroom.

“I can also assure [Ms Jenner] that we will be working with teachers and local authorities, and with unions in the social partnership that we have, to look at how we can proceed with the detailed work on reducing the workload, and tackling, to all intents and purposes, the conditions that teachers are working in.”

“Sensible”

Labour’s Lynne Neagle, a former education minister, congratulated Ms Brychan on her appointment and said the role is “without any shadow of a doubt, the very best job in government.”

Questioning the minister on why the Plaid government has chosen to delay the response to the independent Welsh pay review body report on teachers’ pay, Ms Neagle noted the previous Labour administration had “made a commitment” to consult before the school holidays to “protect time for our teaching staff.”

She said the delayed response “will likely lead to teachers not being paid in September”.

Ms Brychan confirmed she had received the report but told Ms Neagle it is “sensible” to “take time to consider the recommendations”.

She added: “Previous governments have also found that they would need to take proper time over the summer, before coming to a firm conclusion about that.”

Ms Neagle also quizzed Ms Brychan on mental health in schools, saying she is “very proud” of the previous Welsh Government’s record on the issue.

She told the Siambr: “It is essential to ensure that young people have consistent, high-quality access to school counselling.

“And if I might say, politics can never ever come before the mental health of children and young people.”

In response, Ms Brychan said: “Mental health will be a priority for us in schools as well.

“We know it is a significant factor, and any factors that influence or hinder learners from making the progress we want them to make, we want to see them making, we will make sure that the support is there to support them.”

“Urgent attention”

Sam Rowlands, the Conservative spokesperson for education and families, asked Ms Brychan where she would like to see Wales in the PISA rankings come the end of this Senedd term.

He said: “The reality is that we continue to see Wales at or near the bottom of UK education rankings, and consistently doing poorly on international PISA rankings, with too many young people still leaving school without secure literacy and numeracy skills.

“That’s a longstanding issue and one that requires urgent attention and clear accountability.”

The minister responded: “Our education system isn’t where we would like it to be. I think there is agreement on that among the workforce and broader society, and that is why we are focused on these fundamentals and are deliberately setting targets whereby we can hold ourselves to account”.

With PISA results due to be published again in September, Ms Brychan committed to take the “most meaningful information” she can from the report, adding: “It’s about more than just numbers. There’s a lot of data that we can use there, and we can use that meaningfully in order to inform our numeracy and literacy plans.”

Mr Rowlands went on to question his opposite number on the Welsh Government’s position on mobile phones in schools.

Referencing a survey published on Tuesday 16 June by the Welsh Conservatives, he shared findings which suggested mobile phone restrictions have positive impacts on “reducing distraction, improving behaviour, tackling bullying and supporting learner wellbeing.”

Mr Rowlands pushed Ms Brychan to confirm whether the Welsh Government intends to “take a more consistent, national approach to mobile phone use in schools” or if it will leave the decisions to the discretion of individual schools.

Noting there currently is no national directive or guidance, Ms Brychan told Mr Rowlands that the intention is to move to statutory guidance from September.