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Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020Our colleges and universities are a bridge to theworld, and we have expanded the internationaldimension of our entire education system inthe last few years. We have brought studentsfrom the world’s number one university –the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) – to spend time working with learnersand teachers in Welsh schools on science andtechnology.Hundreds of learners from Wales, particularlyfrom disadvantaged backgrounds, now geta life-changing experience through summerschools at universities such as Yale, Chicagoand Harvard, with record numbers going on tostudy undergraduate at Ivy League universitiesand Oxbridge in the UK. This has been akey part of Wales’ first ever More Able andTalented Strategy.There is a newfound respect for Wales, andwe have worked hard to earn it. Encouragingand supporting collaboration rather thancompetition has been instrumental in buildingtrust and has led to our joint achievements.Our improved performance in PISA(Programme for International StudentAssessment) – going up in each domain forthe first time ever – was welcome. There wasa significant increase in learners reachinghigher levels, which was a target in Ournational mission. We achieved our highest evermathematics and reading scores. For the firsttime ever Wales was in the OECD mainstreamacross all domains. The Minister for Educationhas said it is ‘progress not perfect’ and PISAshould continue to be an important yardstickfor public confidence and national pride.We have put in place incentives and funding sothat students can return to Wales to completetheir postgraduate study and bring back theexperiences and benefits from studying at someof the world’s top universities.Working with the OECD and the Atlantic RimCollaboratory (ARC), we are benefiting fromadvice and challenge from the world’s topeducation systems, and are now in a positionwhere administrations and educationalists fromacross the globe look to Wales to learn howwe are raising standards, using technology andreforming the curriculum.Encouraging and supporting collaboration rather than competition has beeninstrumental in building trust and has led to our joint achievements.8

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020EquityIn expanding the Pupil Development Grant (PDG) we are tackling the impact ofdeprivation and breaking the link between disadvantage and destiny. We haveachieved much but there is still more to do. Estyn is encouraged by the improvementsacross Wales.Outcomes for looked after children remainconsistently below what we should expect.There will be a renewed focus on this over thecoming months. We also expanded the earlyyears PDG to give children a better start, andguaranteed additional funding to support thepurchase of school uniforms and equipmentto help deal with those extra costs forparents/carers.Raising standards for all is about more thanmoney and we must keep tackling examplesof low expectations and excuses. Back in2016, the majority of learners in too manyschools were incorrectly entered for vocationalscience qualifications, leading to almost 100per cent pass rates. The performance measuresat the time enabled, even encouraged, this.Vocational qualifications at ages 15 and 16are right for some learners, but it cannot beright where more than 90 per cent of learnersenter. It lowered expectations and progressionopportunities, and disproportionally affectedlearners from low-income backgrounds.In response, we reformed schoolperformance measures, challenged a cultureof coasting and raised expectations to makethis happen. Now tens of thousands morelearners who are eligible for free school meals(eFSM) are entered for, and gain, good scienceGCSEs (as well as English literature and otheracademic qualifications), improving their lifechances and progression. This is what it meansto tackle the attainment and aspirationgap.Setting high expectations for all means tacklingbarriers wherever they exist. We publishedthe first ever Rural education action plan(2018), delivered a new grant so that small andrural schools could innovate and collaborate,established a presumption against rural schoolclosures, and invested in broadband and newtechnology.9

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020One such innovation is the E-sgol Project,which is delivering school-based bilingualdistance learning, ensuring access to a widecurriculum for more learners. Going fromstrength to strength and expanding across thecountry, this is a great example of a project thatwas initially focused on meeting challenges forrural and Welsh-medium learners that is nowbenefitting even more learners, teachers andschools.Ensuring equality for all learners in theavailability of resources remains a priority andwe continue to support the development ofWelsh-medium resources and improve thebilingual provision. The Minister for Educationconvened a summit on this in April 2017,followed by a new stakeholders group whichhas identified a way forward for the provisionof relevant, quality-assured resources in bothlanguages at the same time in future. Weare already planning ahead of Curriculum forWales, and an exciting new way to approachthis and draw up on the expertise of teachers,academics and publishers will be announcedsoon.2020 has shown how important the schoolenvironment continues to be as the placewhere children learn, grow, and feel safe andsecure. We have also been reminded of itsimportance to the wider community. We needto make more of this, and push forward witha greater emphasis on community-focusedschools, co-location of key services, strongerengagement with parents/carers, educationoutside traditional hours and so on.The period away from school during this yearshowed a lot of good things, but also someinequity, in using online resources and learning.We can be very proud of Hwb and the millionsof log-ins, as well as the strong educationalrelationships we have nurtured with the likes ofGoogle, Microsoft and Adobe, meaning freeresources for families and teachers acrossthe nation.We delivered free equipment to learners fromlow-income backgrounds, but it is clear thatwe need to do more with teachers, schools andparents/carers in better understanding howto make the most of digital resources andlearning. This will be a priority as we continueto rollout our ambitious professional learningprogramme for teachers.Digital learning supports classroom learning,it cannot replace that experience. We havereduced infant class sizes, targeted at thosewho will most benefit, supporting teachersto raise standards for all. In prioritising thefunding, the 36 million of the Reducing InfantClass Sizes Grant has gone towards thoselargest classes where there are high levels ofdeprivation, where learning and teaching needsto improve, and where English or Welsh isnot the first language. Around 6,000 learnersin over a 100 schools have benefited fromthis funding, with over 165 extra school staffemployed.Having passed the additional learning needs(ALN) legislation, the challenge now is full andproper implementation. The whole educationsystem must be committed to transformingthe expectations, experiences andoutcomes for children and young peoplewith ALN. We must continue to work togetheron this for the period to come as it as a truetest of our collective commitment to raisestandards for all.We must continue to work together for the period to come as it as a true test of ourcollective commitment to raise standards for all.10

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020WellbeingIn Our national mission we brought a new focus to wellbeing, ensuring equityand excellence for all. Taking forward that work, and recommendations by theSenedd Children, Young People and Education (CYPE) Committee, we are now closeto securing an all-Wales framework for a whole-school approach to mental healthand emotional wellbeing.This will build on the progress already made,such as the successful school counsellingservice and Child and Adolescent MentalHealth Services (CAMHS). The challengesof recent months have shown that wemust continue with this work, but also theimportance of children being in school andenjoying an environment that is safe, secureand welcoming for all.We know that significant learning loss canhappen when children are away from school fora long period. We have commissioned work toreview the school day and year, and greateruse of schools beyond normal hours.Since 2017, the Welsh Government hasprovided funding to support the SchoolHoliday Enrichment Programme (SHEP).Managed and joint-funded by the WelshLocal Government Association (WLGA) andparticipating local authorities, the programmeenriches the school holiday experience ofchildren in areas of high deprivation, withparticipating schools providing free meals,physical activity and educational supportto tackle learning loss’ during the summerbreak. The success of SHEP has grown steadily,reaching over 3,000 children in 76 SHEPschemes across Wales during 2019.Learning loss can also happen when childrenare denied access to the full curriculum. Weare legislating to ensure universal access tothe curriculum, for example ensuring that allchildren benefit from modern, sensitive andimproved relationships education. This will helpensure that they are supported to discussand understand their rights and the rights ofothers, as well as being provided with access toinformation that keeps them safe from harm,including online safety.11

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020Our education systemBefore we embarked on Our national mission, the OECD told us that leadership neededto be a driver for our reform and that Wales had ignored this for too long.We now have a national approach toleadership, including our own leadershipacademy – National Academy for EducationalLeadership Wales. It has started well, alongsideour teacher professional learning, to ensurehigh-quality leadership development forleaders and aspiring leaders. We will need togo further and faster to ensure we keepchanging the culture, support differentleadership opportunities and expand the poolof potential leaders, so that learners across thecountry can benefit.Getting all schools and teachers ready forCurriculum for Wales rollout from 2022demands strong personal and professionalleadership in every classroom and staff room.It needs a renewed commitment from allpartners in Welsh education to work together,recognise roles and responsibilities, and supportschools with curriculum design and realisation.12The OECD has seen this positive culturechange over recent years. They have providedus with a set of recommendations to buildon the strong foundations we have put inplace. This document gives further clarity andcoherence on the tasks ahead over the comingmonths during this crucial period.The OECD said:“Wales has to strike a balance betweenshowing continuity on this reform journeyand acknowledging that the next steps ofimplementation have to place schools and theircommunities at the centre. Striking this balanceimplies continuing to pursue the reform coursedetailed in Education in Wales: Our nationalmission with a new emphasis: adopting aschool’s perspective and giving schools capacityand even more room in the next steps.”

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020Every teacher, in reading this document, willunderstand where we have come from, wherewe are going and how we will get theretogether, as we move forward with our reformsand curriculum realisation.A school’s curriculum is everything a learnerexperiences in pursuit of the four purposes ofthe curriculum. It is not simply what we teach,but how we teach and, crucially, why weteach it.This next period for Our national mission willsucceed through a shared understandingof how each of us, working together, aresupporting schools, teachers, parents/carersand learners.It demands that all partners fully appreciate theschool’s perspective on the right support, at theright time, in the right place, so that teacherscan support all learners in reaching the higheststandards. We are investing in the wellbeing ofthe workforce in responding to these demands.Through our shared commitment to aculture of high standards, combining equitywith excellence, we can be confident ofsuccess for all schools, all teachers and, mostimportantly, every single learner.A school’s curriculum is everything a learner experiences in pursuit of the four purposesof the curriculum.13

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020Our achievementsMore than 11,000 youngpeople are improving theirdigital skills through morethan 700 code clubs. Over thelast three years the number ofyoung people taking part hasincreased by 75 per cent.Between 2016 and 2019,the number of eFSM learnersachieving at least one scienceGCSE qualification hasincreased by 60 per cent. Thenumber achieving at least onegrade C or above in a scienceGCSE has increased by over30 per cent.Of all A level learners in Wales in 2019, 27 per cent achievedA*–A grades, the highest in the UK. This is up from 23 per cent in2016, when we were significantly behind England and NorthernIreland and the Minister for Education responded with a dedicatedimprovement plan.Eighty-six per cent of Year 9learners achieve at least theexpected assessment level incore subjects. It was 63 percent at the start of the lastdecade. The overall eFSMattainment gap has reducedby 4 per cent in the lastfour years.In Wales 100 per cent ofschools now access super-fastbroadband. In 2016 it was just37 per cent.There were 950 participantson National Academy forEducational LeadershipWales endorsed leadershipprogrammes in 2019/20.Over 400 schools and over40,000 learners are benefitingfrom the Small and RuralSchools Grant.14

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020We have developed and aredelivering the National Approachto Professional Learning, investinga record 31 million in teachers’development. We have alsosuccessfully delivered a ‘Madein Wales’ pay and conditionsframework, raising the startingsalary significantly.Schools with the largest classsizes benefiting from theReducing Infant Class SizesGrant have reduced theiraverage infant class size to 23,directly benefiting more than6,000 children, with an extra165 staff employed.We have improved the proportion of top-performing learnersin PISA, and achieved our best ever scores in reading andmathematics, for the first time being in the OECD mainstreamacross all domains. In the last PISA results, Wales was the onlynational in the UK to improve all three domains.We have reformed initialteacher education and haveseen a 50 per cent increasein applications and an overallincrease in the number ofstudent teachers.More than 10,000 learners havebeen supported through ourtwo Seren Programmes, at theheart of Wales’ first ever MoreAble and Talented Strategy.Record levels of students fromdisadvantaged andnon-traditional backgroundsnow go on to higher education.Over 90,000 learners, across176 settings, are benefittingfrom new and improvedlearning environments since2016 thanks to our 21stCentury School and CollegesProgramme.We have delivered the ALNlegislation in readiness for theALN Code and regulations forthe new ALN system to start inSeptember 2021.We have delivered Curriculum for Wales guidance, introducing newlegislation to embed the four purposes of the curriculum and ensurethat all are focused on higher standards of literacy and numeracy,and that our young people are more digitally and bilinguallycompetent.15

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020OECD recommendations andhow we are respondingEven before we began our journey towards curriculum reform the OECD had identifiedthe key role that leadership needed to play in school and system improvement.The OECD has continued to work with us inpartnership and has observed for itself theculture of collaboration, co-construction andmutual respect that exists across the whole Welsheducation system.The significant partnership working developedover recent years has been instrumental to ourresponse to their report on our development andimplementation of Curriculum for Wales.Early in 2020 the OECD were finalising theirreport, Achieving the New Curriculum for Wales,and it was published on 5 October 20201. Thereport sets out their recommendations to enableWales to maintain momentum and to realise ourshared ambitions for all learners, schools and thesystem.As is to be expected, the challenges of COVID-19delayed the publication. However, we have beenapplying our learning from the OECD’s feedback inour interventions as we continue to respond to theimpact of the pandemic on our education system.12With children and young people having nowreturned to school and our education systemembracing new ways of working, the OECD haspublished the report and we welcome it.Together we have risen to every challenge thispandemic posed and we have been able tocontinue our journey towards curriculum reformthrough many of the actions we have undertakenover the last six months. The OECD has madea number of recommendations. Our collectiveactions since March 2020 and the great work weare continuing with our key partners is set out inthe appendix to this document2.Despite all we have experienced sinceMarch 2020 we continue to be on track andhave a clear vision and plan for curriculumrealisation. The next 12 months will undoubtedlybe challenging but together, with our energy,enthusiasm and commitment, we can embed theeducation system that our learners in Wales g-the-new-curriculum-for-wales 4b483953-engov.wales/our-national-mission-016

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020Our transformationalcurriculumImproving education is our national mission. Nothing is so essential as universal accessto, and acquisition of, the experiences, knowledge and skills that our young peopleneed for employment, lifelong learning and active citizenship.LeaProfiprshes siodericulum for WalesCurnallengniraE v tindividualsemndaccountab ilit ydanovtanceprenwe, imll bioneinguatsaleCurriculum for WEqu,eityxcleel17

Education in Wales: Our national mission, Update October 2020Realising the four purposes ofthe curriculum for every childThe Curriculum for Wales framework is a clearstatement of what is important in delivering abroad and balanced education.The four purposes of the curriculum are theshared vision and aspiration for every child andyoung person. They should guide and directeverything we do as a system. In fulfillingthese, we set high expectations for all – toraise standards, tackle the attainment gap,and ensure our education system enjoys publicconfidence.The aim of all of our reforms and of oureducation system is to enable all children andyoung people in Wales to become: ambitious, capable learners enterprising, creative contributors ethical, informed citizens healthy, confident individuals.In order to realise this, every school will needto develop its own, excellent curriculum.Curriculum for Wales guidance sets out howschools should do this. The Welsh Governmentand strategic partners have a critical role insupporting and enabling schools. This willrequire a new approach as schools prepare forCurriculum for Wales and develop their owncurriculum.Building on co-constructionThe Curriculum for Wales guidance is the resultof co-construction. It has been developed bypractitioners for practitioners, bringing toge

Education in Wales: Our national mission, pdate October 2020 6. Our journey so far. Introduction. Education in Wales is changing. The prospects and life chances of our young people are improving thanks to our shared national mission of education reform. It is changing for the better, thanks