Standards and attainment

Cefin CampbellPlaid

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

Let me just focus on two in particular. The PISA results speak for themselves, but also GCSE results. Heledd mentioned that England is 30 points better off in disadvantaged areas than Wales. That is staggering when you think about that. It leads me to the point that Sioned Williams was making about…

Tagged for: “PISA”Official Record

Carolyn ThomasLabour

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

So, you think we're failing in Wales. Is that just based on the PISA results, then, that you're saying that? Because—

Tagged for: “PISA”Official Record

Cefin CampbellPlaid

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

…subject areas taught. The one line that resonates with me—back in 2006, when we first started having PISA results, I think the Minister at the time said it was a wake-up call. For goodness' sake, how many wake-up calls do we need until we realise that we are failing our young people? Luke, you were…

Tagged for: “PISA”Official Record

Cefin CampbellPlaid

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

Heledd Fychan mentioned absences. That affects the educational attainment of children. And one interesting thing that you said was that schools live with financial deficits. That is the new normal in our education system—having to live with those. That's incredible. And in terms of ALN, 87 per cent…

Tagged for: “attainment”Translated from WelshOfficial Record

Lynne NeagleLabour

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

…update to Members this term to set out more detail on our plans for school improvement and raising attainment. Dirprwy Lywydd, I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge facing education in Wales, which is the result of a complex set of factors. I will never be complacent in this task, and I…

Tagged for: “attainment”Official Record

Lynne NeagleLabour

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

…demand-led schemes. This includes funding to support those areas under greatest pressure, including the school standards grant and the pupil development grant. We continue to progress the recommendations of the school funding review, including carrying out a review of local authority school funding…

Tagged for: “school standards”, “Literacy”, “PISA”, “numeracy”Official Record

Sioned WilliamsPlaid

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

…what is being undermined by the lack of investment. Recently, as we've heard, Wales saw its worst ever PISA results. There are many factors, of course, that have contributed to this, but we can't deny that one of the main factors is child poverty and the impact that it has on a child's attainment.…

Tagged for: “PISA”, “attainment”Translated from WelshOfficial Record

Carolyn ThomasLabour

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

I'd like to stress once again that PISA is just one measure of education and it does not take into consideration the well-being of our pupils. We need happy pupils who are engaged and willing to learn. Relentless testing and marketisation of education have not been pursued in Wales because the…

Tagged for: “PISA”Official Record

Tom GiffardConservative

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

…that has been painted so far by previous speakers, where are we in Wales with education? The worst PISA results anywhere in the United Kingdom, below the OECD average for reading—the worst education results anywhere in the UK every single time that we've been assessed here in Wales. In 2009, the…

Tagged for: “PISA”Official Record

Heledd FychanPlaid

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

…the start in life they deserve.' With this failure to invest come ever-diminishing societal returns of attainment levels slipping further behind the rest of the UK, with the resultant drag on economic performance and the potential of our children not being realised. Whilst boosting spending…

Tagged for: “attainment”, “PISA”Official Record

Vaughan GethingLabour

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

…real challenges that they face in delivering ALN reform, the new curriculum and focusing on improving literacy and numeracy in an environment that supports pupil well-being. Within that, there is a focus on phonics from this Government in how to teach and learn, but the pressures outside of our…

Tagged for: “literacy”, “numeracy”, “attainment”Official Record

Cefin CampbellPlaid

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

…on how the funding crisis is impacting schools and how poverty is having an impact on pupils' attainment levels, in addition to how Government failures in education have longer term impacts on our economy as a whole. So, for the benefit of the children and young people of Wales, I move this motion…

Tagged for: “attainment”Translated from WelshOfficial Record

Cefin CampbellPlaid

9 October 2024, Plenary

Plaid Cymru Debate: Education funding

Let's turn now to literacy. Is it that surprising that we've seen such low levels of attainment here in Wales? Well, it turns out that the Welsh Government has been giving mixed messaging on the teaching guidance for reading skills. In recent weeks, the developing saga regarding the teaching of…

Tagged for: “literacy”, “attainment”Official Record