Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Today I attended the National Assembly for Wales Children and Young People’s Committee to give them an update on progress with Curriculum reform. They play a key role in holding me as Minister for Education to account and scrutinising the development of our curriculum.

I will be publishing a report on the feedback exercise and what we propose to do as a result later in the autumn. But I want to share with you, as well as fellow Assembly Members, some early thinking.

The evidence paper to the Committee is here.

You can also watch the video of the Committee session

The development of the new curriculum for Wales 2022 is moving at pace. It was a significant milestone on our National Mission when in April we published the draft and invited feedback from practitioners and stakeholders to inform the next stage – the refinement activity.

The window for formal feedback closed on 19 July and the responses have been independently evaluated. Altogether there were 1,680 contributions from a diverse range of individuals and organisations. A significant proportion were from practitioners, teachers, senior leaders and governors. Another 116 responses were received in response to the Children and Young People’s Survey. Continue reading →

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

This blog brings you updates about the new curriculum as it evolves, and case studies and examples of how schools are experimenting with the new model.

It’s also here to de-mystify the development process as it happens, and to show how complementary education reforms will support the curriculum so that it rolls out successfully.

Is it doing that job for you? Or are we missing something? Continue reading →

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

As we pick up the pace on our education reform journey, the eyes of the international education community are upon us.  Other countries are already keen to learn from Wales.

As they prepare to embark on their own curriculum reform, a delegation from the Ministry of Education in the Netherlands visited during the summer term, to enquire about how Welsh Government is preparing schools to implement the new curriculum.  The team were keen to explore the differences to the current system and the effect on educational practitioners and their professional learning. Continue reading →

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Thankfully, a lot of people care about education in Wales. It’s a national passion.

Whilst that’s a wonderful thing it creates a challenge for the core teams involved in the new curriculum; the teachers, officials, Estyn, external experts, Qualifications Wales…

That challenge is to engage and involve people and groups who have an influence on, or are affected by our education changes. It has been resolved through a host of activities that connect everyone with developments.

Continue reading →

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

At Esgob Morgan Church in Wales School we have used the life of Bishop William Morgan, who translated the Bible into Welsh from Greek and Hebrew in the 16^th Century, to develop the skills of enquiry and explore the breadth of the Humanities AoLE.

We want to share what we have done to show how this gave us an insight into the What Matters, and created a richness of learning.

 In Humanities we looked at all the What Matters from progression steps 1 to 3.

We began with What Matters Statement 1: Developing an enquiring mind enables learners to explore and investigate the world, past, present and future, for themselves. Pupils investigated our locality, created questions and did primary research.

Our Big Question 1: Who was William Morgan and what was his legacy to Wales?

Year 5 used their enquiry skills to research the life and legacy of Bishop William Morgan.  Pupils had some prior knowledge which supported them in forming questions.

Pupils used their questions to compile letters to Cambridge University, St Asaph Cathedral, Local Records Office, The Bible Society, St Fagan’s Museum and the National Trust.

Continue reading →

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Prior to and increasingly moreso since the publication of the draft Curriculum for Wales, several myths and misinterpretations have emerged that are contrary to the intentions of those involved in the design and development. Over two blog posts, we seek to dispel some of these myths and provide some balance where unhelpful dichotomies have begun to emerge.

Myth #1 – Nothing will really change – it can be delivered in the same way as we are doing now.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? This is a common objection to doing something new. But, does something need to be completely broken before we look to improve, develop and reform it?
The new curriculum for Wales is a different type of curriculum to our current one – built on the 4 purposes. Regardless of how effective you feel your current curriculum provision is, you will need to engage with what a purpose-led curriculum means for learners and consider your curriculum in the light of the 4 Purposes, the AoLEs, What Matters and Achievement Outcomes. This will mean more than simply retro-fitting these elements into the current understanding and ways of working. The new Curriculum for Wales framework is precisely that – a national framework, which can only be realised following school-based curriculum and assessment development. Moreover, it is vital that we understand that the term curriculum refers to all the learning experiences and assessment activities planned in pursuit of our agreed purposes of education.
There will need to be change, for some settings more than others. Is it really going to be possible (or advisable) to have a new curriculum, new professional standards, new assessment and accountability arrangements, development of new qualifications, and the proposed Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Bill, and yet not change anything in your setting at all?

Continue reading →

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to thank you for the continued commitment and dedication you show to our children and young people in Wales.

In particular, I understand that the scale of reform is significant, and am grateful this summer term for your engagement in providing feedback on the draft Curriculum for Wales.

I have also been across the country to meet with current and future teachers, head teachers, classroom support staff, school governors, parents/carers, the business community and children and young people to get their feedback. Your feedback will now be used to refine the draft Curriculum for Wales, which will be ready for publication in January 2020.

Continue reading →