MOVIBES

by Kirsty Williams AM
Cabinet Secretary for Education, Welsh Government


It’s an exciting time for education in Wales.

This was noted by the OECD earlier this year, when it recognised that government and sector are working closely together with a commitment to improvements that are “visible at all levels of the education system”.

This week, as Wales’s Education Secretary, I published our new action plan for the next four years. Entitled ‘Education in Wales: Our national mission’, it builds on the strong foundations already in place in our system. But we are setting the bar even higher, ambitious as we are in our expectations for our young people, for our teaching profession and for our nation.

As a relatively small country and a still-young democracy, we have too often seen these as challenges rather than opportunities. Through the OECD, we have had the opportunity to learn more about other systems and their reform journeys.

It is true that no two countries or systems are the same. However, as a bilingual system committed to both equity and excellence, we are not only learning from others, but our innovative approach is in fact attracting international attention. And Wales will remain open to ideas, visits and co-operation!

It is our approach to curriculum reform, within a reformed system, that is often of most interest. Work is well underway on this, led by a group of pioneer schools who are working in partnership with government, regional education consortia, international experts, universities, business and third sector, and right across the education profession. It is not the product of secret meetings in some Government back-office.

The OECD said in its recent review: “To support the realisation of its education objectives and ultimately its vision of the Welsh learner, Wales should continue its curriculum reform… ensuring that its reform journey is comprehensive and effective.”

Therefore, as we continue with our reforms, we will bring a renewed focus to four key ‘enabling’ objectives.

Education in Wales

Firstly, ensuring a high-quality education profession. We will support teachers in being lifelong professional learners through new standards, a national approach and reformed initial teacher education.

Secondly, identifying and inspiring leaders to raise standards. We need to address a previous lack of emphasis on leadership. Therefore we will establish a national leadership academy, reduce bureaucracy through business managers and improved communication and co-operation, and revise the qualification for school leaders.

Thirdly, ensure that our schools are inclusive, dedicated to excellence, equity and well-being. We will extend our targeted support for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, provide dedicated support for our ‘more able’ learners, and be innovative in identifying and measuring well-being alongside attainment.

And fourthly, improved assessment, evaluation and accountability within a self-improving system. We will be consistent and clear about the things we wish to value and measure through a new annual national education report and report card, formative assessments and a new assessment & evaluation framework that focuses on improvement all levels.

The OECD report and advice was unambiguous: hold our nerve, stay the course, but do more to communicate, clarify and ensure coherence in our programme. Focus on leadership in delivering a much-needed new curriculum in a timely manner.

‘Education in Wales: Our national mission’ responds to those recommendations and sets out our collective responsibility to raise standards, reduce the attainment gap and deliver a system that is a source of genuine national pride and public confidence.

Links
Education in Wales: Our national mission
The Welsh education reform journey: A rapid policy assessment (OECD)
Curriculum for Wales blog

Follow the conversation on Twitter: #EducationMissionWales

Photo credits: Welsh Government Education

By Andreas Schleicher
Director, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills
Wales is committed to providing high-quality and inclusive education for all its citizens. The disappointing 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment results however showed Wales was far removed from realising this commitment, which sparked a national debate on the quality and future of education in Wales. This resulted in a broad consensus on the need for change. In 2011 Wales embarked on a large-scale school improvement reform and introduced a range of policies to improve the quality and equity of its school system.

Creating lasting change however is hard, and reports of unaccomplished educational reform efforts continue to come in from around the world. But there are also many examples of successful reforms from which lessons can be drawn. The OECD is there to support countries in translating these lessons to different contexts and extending global knowledge on how to make reform happen – and ultimately improve the learning outcomes of students.

In 2016 the Welsh Government invited the OECD to take stock of the policies and reforms adopted since the 2014 OECD review, Improving Schools in Wales: An OECD Perspective, which provided a number of policy recommendations for further improvement with a longer term perspective. The recently released report The Welsh Education Reform Journey: A Rapid Policy Assessment analyses the strengths and challenges of policies and reforms, with a particular focus on their implementation processes and provides concrete recommendations for improvement.

This report comes at a key moment in Wales’ education reform journey as the country finds itself in the midst of a number of important changes, including a large-scale curriculum reform, a reform of initial teacher education and the revision of its education strategy. Since 2014, the OECD has witnessed progress in several important policy areas, including the various measures taken to support the professional learning of teachers, the increase in school-to-school collaborations and participation in networks, the rationalisation of school grants and the steps taken in developing a 21st century curriculum.

The latter has allowed for refining Wales’ education vision in that all Welsh learners are to develop as ambitious capable and lifelong learners, enterprising and creative, informed citizens and healthy and confident individuals – this vision resonates with the preliminary findings of OECDs Education 2030 project which is constructing a framework to help shape what young people should learn in the year 2030. Realising this vision of the Welsh learner however calls for further strengthening of and bringing further coherence across key policy areas:

• the development of a high-quality teaching profession
• making leadership a key driver of education reform
• ensuring equity in learning opportunities and student well-being, which among others calls for a review of governance and school funding arrangements 
• moving towards a new system of assessment, evaluation and accountability. This is important also to determine the effectiveness of reforms and policies. 

A key finding of the report is that the Welsh approach to reform has moved from a piecemeal and short-term policy orientation towards one that is guided by long-term vision and is characterised by a process of co-construction with key stakeholders. The commitment to improving the teaching and learning in Wales’s schools is visible at all levels of the education system. Sustaining this commitment and the general support for the reforms Wales has embarked on in recent years will be central to realising the country’s ambitions for education and society over the long term. However, Wales risks reverting to a piecemeal approach, with different actors going their own way. It is therefore vital that Wales consolidates the process of co-construction of policies, and strengthens their implementation through better communication and use evidence on the Welsh education reform journey.

This rapid policy assessment report will be of value not only to Wales but to policy makers around the world looking to ensure the successful implementation of reforms and policies in their education system.

Links:
The Welsh Education Reform Journey: A Rapid Policy Assessment
Improving Schools in Wales: An OECD Perspective
OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Education 2030 project

photo credit: arrow on asphalt road to the horizon @shutterstock