Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru | National Assembly for Wales

Y Pwyllgor Plant, Pobl Ifanc ac Addysg | Children, Young People and Education Committee

Blaenoriaethau ar gyfer y Pwyllgor Plant, Pobl Ifanc ac Addysg | Priorities for the Children, Young People and Education Committee

CYPE 46

Ymateb gan : Cymdeithas yr Arweinwyr Ysgolion a Cholegau (ASCL Cymru)

Response from : Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL Cymru)

Question 1 – Within the remit set out above: what do you consider to be the priorities or issues that the Children, Young People and Education Committee should consider during the Fifth Assembly?

· Teacher shortage, future-proofing the workforce

· Education funding shortage 

· Ensuring provision of high quality of school buildings

· Mental health in young people

· Formal welsh involvement in foundation for leadership in education

· Refining of performance measures – accountability framework

· Ensuring that new curriculum aligns with qualifications

· Relationship between schools, consortia and local authorities in Wales

Question 2 – From the list of priorities or issues you have identified, what do you consider to be the key areas that should be considered during the next 12 months (please identify up to three areas or issues)?  Please outline why these should be considered as key priorities.

· Teacher shortage, future-proofing the workforce

Many schools are experiencing severe problems in recruiting high quality teachers.  This is especially notable in core subjects and in welsh-medium schools.  Recruitment of Headteachers is now a major problem with schools often having to advertise two or three times before being able to appoint. If Wales is to implement its vision of having world-leading educational system, it is crucial that we are able to recruit and retain sufficient teachers of the highest quality.

· Education funding shortage

Anecdotal evidence from our members indicates that there are significant numbers of secondary schools that are on the verge of having deficit budgets.  The only effective way to reduce spending is to cut staff, and this has a serious impact on recruiting high quality of teachers, the subsequent increase in workload, and their ability to maintain the quality of their work. We fear that without some significant investment in schools, standards will fall and the workforce morale will seriously deteriorate.

· Refining of performance measures – accountability framework

Accountability is an important part of government’s role of measuring effectiveness of public services.  However, some of the proposed accountability measures for secondary schools seem destined to cause major issues for schools, and a drastic fall in success rates. We feel there is a need for the GCSE performance measures to be carefully reviewed to ensure that measures are not prohibitive and beyond the reach of many students.