Senedd Tories accuse Welsh Government of ‘cherry picking’ attainment data in latest education announcement

Emily Price

The Senedd Conservatives have accused the Welsh Government of ‘cherry picking’ attainment data in its latest release of education statistics.

On Thursday (June 19), Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle, revealed that attainment in numeracy, Welsh reading and English reading had improved in 2023/24.

Announcing the news, she said English reading saw attainment levels progress across all year groups compared to 2022/23.

Learners in Year 3 showed sustained improvement with levels in English reading – higher than 2020/2021 and 2021/22.

Welsh reading presented some improvement across Years 3 to 9, compared to 2022/23.

She added that younger years had shown the greatest degree of improvement in numeracy (Procedural), whilst numeracy (reasoning) has “remained relatively stable”.

‘Full potential’

Ms Neagle said: “This improvement highlights the impact our investments are making in schools to ensure every learner has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

“These assessments help to support all our learners in their educational journey by providing a valuable insight into their strengths and emerging skills.”

But the Conservatives say the Welsh Government has “cherry picked” data from a wider picture in an “attempt to dress up their failures as successes”.

The group has warned that statistics show that 20% of students leave primary school illiterate, maths standards have dropped to “worryingly low levels”.

Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education, Natasha Asghar says this is due to a lack of support for teachers, a teacher recruitment and retention crisis, soaring absenteeism, poor behaviour and violence in classrooms.

‘Skewed’

She accused the Welsh Government of “completely skewed priorities” with £12m of funding going to music and just £8.7m going to maths, literacy, science and technology.

The Welsh Conservatives highlighted a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies on recent Pisa results, which states: “The performance of disadvantaged children in England is either above or similar to the average for all children in Wales.”

Ms Asghar said: “Labour’s spin machine is working overtime, cherry-picking stats to create the illusion of progress in education.

“In reality, whilst some improvements have been made Labour continues to ignore the deep-rooted problems their 26 years in power have fostered.

“Under Labour, Welsh children simply haven’t recovered from the pandemic, with standards in many areas still far below pre-pandemic levels.

“Instead of addressing these systemic issues, the Welsh Labour Government is celebrating small, uneven gains while neglecting widespread inequalities and under-supported schools.”

Skills

The new statistics were published using anonymised data from national personalised assessments.

The adaptive online assessments cover four subjects and are taken by all learners in Years 2 to 9 in maintained schools.

They aim to support learning by providing information on the reading and numeracy skills of individual learners.

They highlight where learners are making progress, as well as which skills could be developed further.

Headteacher Trystan Phillips at Ysgol Gymunedol Penparc in Ceredigion said: “We have evolved in our use of the Personalised Assessments to move away from their use as a summative resource to being a resource that truly influences progress.

“The use of the different group reports have been invaluable in not only recognising strengths and areas to improve for year groups but also showing examples and exercises that can be used.  They’re very much now a device to support pupil progress.”

Progress

Estyn’s Chief Inspector, Owen Evans said: “Personalised assessments are a useful tool for schools. They enable teachers to tailor support for individual pupils and track progress over time.

“We are pleased to see some improvement, but schools need to work together to support attainment, and ensure there is a relentless focus on improving reading and mathematics for all learners.

“Estyn will continue to work to support schools, and urge leaders to use resources, such as our recent thematic review ‘Unlocking potential: Insights into improving teaching and leadership in mathematics education’ to help improve teaching and learning.”