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An overview of the Welsh education system

The education system in Wales used to resemble the structure set up in England , with maintained schools (most state schools) following the National Curriculum. However, from September 2022 a new curriculum will be introduced that has been created in Wales by teachers, partners, practitioners and businesses. The age of a child on 1 September determines when they need to start primary school.

From September 2022 , phases and key stages will be replaced with one continuum of learning from ages 3 to 16 in each of the new areas of learning. The areas are:

1. Expressive arts

2. Humanities

3. Health and wellbeing

4. Science and technology

5. Mathematics and numeracy

6. Languages, literacy and communication

In addition, literacy, numeracy and digital skills will be embedded throughout all curriculum areas.

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What about teaching in Welsh?

The Welsh Government wants to make sure that children can be educated in Welsh if there’s a need or demand for it, so Welsh is taught as a part of the curriculum in all schools up to the age of 16 . Schools have the option to teach lessons entirely or mostly in Welsh – this includes English-medium schools (schools where children are taught in English).

‘Welsh-medium’ schools are schools where children are taught in Welsh. Children going to these schools also get a good grounding in English language skills, but schools are not required by law to teach English in Years 1 and 2.

Does the curriculum in Wales have a Welsh slant?

Take the subject of history, for example. Welsh schools are given discretion on exactly what to teach in history within the curriculum. Although they’re encouraged to focus on historical figures and events from their local area and around Wales in the first instance, they’re also free to include topics involving Britain as a while.

What tests do pupils in Wales take?

Statutory teacher assessments are usually administered at the end of Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, as in England, but students do not take Key Stage 2 National Curriculum Tests (Standard Attainment Tests, or SATs) .

However, Key Stage 2 assessments will not continue from September 2022 and Key Stage 3 assessments are to end when the new curriculum rollout has been completed (by 2024).

Since May 2013, all children in Wales from Y2 to Y9 have taken National Reading and Numeracy Tests as part to a new National Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LNF). These will continue with the new curriculum in 2022.

Students take General Certificate of Secondary Education exams (GCSEs) during year 11, and have the choice to continue on to Years 12 and 13 to sit A-level exams.

Please note: the table below is best viewed on a desktop (not mobile) screen.

When is the new curriculum for Wales being introduced?

The new curriculum for Wales will be introduced in school classrooms from nursery to Year 7 in 2022, rolling into Year 8 in 2023, Year 9 in 2024, Year 10 in 2025 and Year 11 in 2026. All schools will have access the final curriculum from 2020, to allow them to move towards full roll-out in 2022.

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Education: our national mission

Our strategy to improve education along with updates, achievements and milestones.

Education and skills planning and strategy (Sub-topic)

In this collection

Our national mission.

Includes updates on progress and new objectives.

Our national mission 21 March 2023 Policy and strategy

Education in Wales: action plan 2017 to 2021

Actions planned to improve the school system, including its sixth forms, up until 2021. The approach and some of the actions remain relevant.

Keynote speeches

Bevan Foundation: high standards and aspirations for all
A vision for higher education
A vision for further education
A Second Chance Nation: Where it's never too late to learn
Curriculum for Wales: towards September 2022: what you need to know and do
Cymraeg belongs to us all

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Education Wales

Online safety and sextortion – help and training for teachers.

Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

Incidents of online abuse are ever evolving with ‘sextortion’ the latest issue to make the headlines.

The Keeping Safe Online area of Hwb has all the latest support and practical help for teachers on emerging, high priority issues and information on the current trends in online behaviour of children and young people.

Sextortion is financially motivated sexual extortion. It is on the rise globally with reports of children and young people being forced into paying money or meeting another financial demand (such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card) after an offender has threatened to release nudes or semi-nudes of them.

The latest support for schools from the National Crime Agency (NCA) is now available bilingually on Hwb.

It includes a template letter for parents and carers to make them aware of the recent rise in reporting of sextortion.

Sharing nudes and semi-nudes guidance has been created for teachers to help respond to incidents and gives a legal context.

Hwb has also produced a 10 minute video about sharing nude images which is designed to help schools:

Plan their approach to preventing and responding to incidents
Understand current image sharing safety concerns, including sextortion and AI-generated media
Access confidential advice and the reporting services available

Social media training

Two thirds of children aged 3-17 use social media apps. Last year, children in the UK spent an average of 2 hours a day on TikTok

These numbers are growing so understanding how to help young people use social media safely is vital.

A new video is available to help schools.

It covers how a school can safely manage its own social media presence, with further guidance available here .

It provides information on how schools can understand and spot emerging social media related issues and harmful behaviours, such as powerful online influencers and misinformation.

It navigates schools through the Keeping Safe Online area of Hwb to find the right sources of support and the best ways to talk to children and young people about these issues.

Help for parents and carers

Resources are available for schools to share with parents and carers:

Leafle t: Supporting your child when they are online
Social media and gaming app guides : an overview of the most popular apps, such as TikTok, Snapchat and Call of Duty.
Video to direct parents and carers to the Keeping Safe Online area of Hwb

Equity and inclusion in the Curriculum for Wales

With the introduction of the Curriculum for Wales, schools and other educational settings across Wales are designing, using and refining their curriculum to ensure all children and young people are supported to reach their full potential.

Following National Network events held across Wales, case studies are now available on Hwb with schools showing how their curriculum is supporting equity, helping children progress in their learning and fulfil their potential. The events gave practitioners an opportunity to share their experiences and gain valuable insights into approaches others are taking to ensure their curriculum supports equity and inclusion for all.

The case studies include information about approaches to additional learning provision, becoming a trauma informed school, overcoming economic disadvantage and more. A directory of organisations from the events that can support schools and settings with equity and inclusion is also available on Hwb.

The case studies

Crownbridge Special School, Torfaen – person-centred planning for pupils with a range of complex and multiple additional learning needs.
Fitzalan High School, Cardiff – ensuring inclusivity in a school where approximately 75% of learners have English as an additional language.
Lewis School Pengam, Caerphilly – promoting citizenship, equity and inclusion within the curriculum.
Malpas Court Primary School, Newport – a school with a speech and language base and where 44% of learners have additional learning needs
Monkton Primary School, Pembroke – creating a curriculum focussing on community a sense of ‘cynefin’.
Moorland Primary School, Splott, Cardiff – Inquiry-based learning
Victoria Gems, Jewels and Treasures Nursery, at Victoria County Primary school, Wrexham – developing a nursery setting curriculum that promotes equity and inclusion
Ysgol Bro Pedr, Lampeter, Ceredigion , (one of the first 3 to 19 schools in Wales) – developing an inclusive curriculum at an all-through school.
Ysgol Gynradd, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire – overcoming economic disadvantage.
Ysgol Maes Derw PRU, Swansea – Curriculum for Wales at a PRU
Ysgol Plas Cefndy PRU Denbighshire – developing a curriculum that promotes equity and inclusion.
Ysgol Santes Dwynwen, Newborough, Anglesey (Welsh-medium primary school) – a trauma informed school
St Christopher’s school, Wrexham – supporting all learners to develop their skills in environments outside of the classroom.
Welsh Immersion, Cardiff – provision to facilitate pupils wishing to transfer to Welsh medium education.

For more networking and information around equity and inclusion and the Curriculum for Wales, log in to Hwb and join the network (search Hwb networks for ‘Equity and Inclusion Tegwch a Chynwysoldeb’).

By registering on the National Network platform you can get the latest information about in-person and online conversations as well as access to materials related to National Network conversations.

Sully Primary School – a whole school approach to International Languages. The journey so far…

By integrating cultural experiences into their new curriculum, Sully Primary School are inspiring pupils to find out more about the world around them and discover a love for languages.

With a diverse pupil population, the school has created an environment where language is a dynamic force for celebration, identity, and connection. Parents and cultural institutions are invited into the school to share their personal experiences, knowledge and language skills.

Through exposure to Welsh, Spanish, Mandarin, French, and Italian, a multi-language approach has been developed.

A new curriculum

The school developed a clear aim and vision of what they wanted from the new curriculum and how to achieve it.

Their vision was for pupils to receive an engaging language education, one that developed their curiosity of the world around them, not just being the passive recipients of language teaching.

Their curriculum has been designed to ensure International Languages are firmly positioned to connect with the other areas of learning and experience, with the four purposes as its cornerstones.

Putting theory into practice

They wanted recognition of their curriculum journey and aimed to become an International School with accreditation from the British Council. This itself gave a framework to plan within.

At the beginning of their journey, they were lucky to have a member of staff who was passionate about international studies and languages. With the backing of the senior leadership team, this person acted as a driver for change. Initially some staff were a little reluctant to give a full buy-in to this planned approach but time, strong guidance and obvious pupil interest gradually resulted in all staff being fully on board.

In the beginning, action plans were shared with stakeholders to gain and buy-in and support from all members of staff and also with the shared understanding of families and the governing body.

They quickly developed strong links with the Italian Embassy, The Confucius Institute and The British Council who have all been immensely supportive in helping Sully Primary School become an International School.

At the heart of their curriculum lies the translanguaging approach. Pupils are encouraged to explore linguistic connections and patterns through exposure to Welsh, Spanish, Mandarin, French, and Italian at different stages throughout their education. These languages were chosen after discussions with their secondary school MFL teachers, who advised to stay away from delivering on one language and instead encouraged us to develop a multi-language approach to foster a love of and a curiosity for languages.

Professional learning

It was very important to ensure staff were fully on board and confident enough with their own language skills and cultural knowledge. Funding from the British Council enabled staff to travel to countries including Spain, Italy and China.

Cultural visits across the globe assisted in creating a greater independent approach towards professional development with staff seeking to increase their own language skills.

A few members of staff requested refresher training in Welsh language. Another enrolled on a night school course with her husband to learn Italian and a few others started competing with each other using Duolingo.

Skills of the existing workforce were developed along with relationships with outside agencies who could bring expertise into the school, benefitting both children and staff. There are now members of staff who are comfortable in delivering basic Spanish, French and Italian sessions and peripatetic Italian and Chinese language teachers are used to deliver weekly language lessons across the school.

Language as a tool for connection and knowledge

Recognising the relationship between language and culture, cultural experiences are actively integrated into language education. ‘International Languages Week,’ enables pupils to immerse themselves in the exploration of a specific country, delving into its culture, language, and religion.

These weeks provide a platform for inviting parents into the school to share their personal backgrounds, cultural knowledge, and language skills. Embraced by the wider school community, these weeks culminate in a celebratory display, allowing children to showcase their newly acquired skills and knowledge to a wide audience.

Last year the school was selected to work with the British Council for the Cerdd Iaith project with pupils learning songs in a range of different languages. They worked with the writer and composer, Tim Riley, and the Welsh actor and singer Lily Beau. The positive impact of this project on pupils was clear. The weekly sessions left pupils feeling energised and excited, learning new words and phrases in different languages.

Involvement in the project culminated in a concert at the Wales Millennium Centre where pupils got to perform with a live orchestra alongside children from all over Wales.

Use of the Cerdd Iaith website continues with a weekly singing assembly for older children. The resources provided by Cerdd Iaith fit perfectly with the schools translanguaging-centric approach to the teaching of International Languages.

Welsh Government consultation on draft trans guidance for schools – update

Education leaders and practitioners have been clear that they need national guidance to support trans and nonbinary children and young people to feel valued, included, and safe in their education.

We know teachers and schools are already working hard to support children and young people. Providing appropriate national guidance for schools in Wales to support trans, nonbinary and gender questioning children and young people in education is a Welsh Government commitment.

We have been working closely with school leaders, practitioners, learners and a wide range of stakeholders on the development of guidance for Wales.

A public consultation was planned for this academic year. However, we have decided to take more time to develop the guidance so that it’s informed by the best available evidence, including the findings of the Cass Review and the views of stakeholders, including learners themselves and parents.

We are committed to taking this guidance forward. All learners need to feel valued, included and safe and ensuring their wellbeing is our main priority.

Thanks to everyone, especially to the children and young people who have talked to us so far and helped develop this guidance.

Designing a curriculum – updated guidance for schools

Following a period of co-construction and consultation with practitioners, the Curriculum for Wales guidance has been updated to include ‘ Continuing the Journey ’, which outlines our expectations for ongoing curriculum design.

Whilst our expectations for curriculum design have not changed, we have, in response to practitioners, made the guidance shorter and easier to navigate and understand.

It has been split into 4 areas:

Purpose : what should our learners learn and why?
Progression : what should progress in that learning look like for each learner?
Assessment : how are we assessing to enable that progression?
Pedagogy : how does our daily practice support our curriculum?

Easy to access support is also now available on Hwb, including:

Navigating the Curriculum for Wales Framework – a hyperlinked document to help navigate the guidance.
Key terms from the Curriculum for Wales – explaining more about terms such as ‘cross cutting themes’, ‘the four purposes’ and ‘principles of progression’.
Understanding Cluster Working – a model for cluster working to support planning, designing, reviewing, and refining curriculum and assessment.
What are schools legally required to do? An understanding of the mandatory and statutory duties for headteachers and governing bodies.
Assessing learner progress – practical support for assessment design
Developing a shared understanding of progression .
Shared understanding of progression: supporting cluster working
Principles of progression: supporting self-evaluation and a shared understanding of progression .
A range of Professional learning resources to support effective curriculum design.

Work is underway, with input from schools, to provide updated guidance on each of the areas of learning and experience.

Keep an eye out for more information over the next couple of months.

Wales’ Professional Learning Resources – now in one place!

See this post in Welsh

For the first time, Professional Learning resources have been centralised in one place on Hwb. The freshly categorised and classified resources are now readily searchable and accessible to all education practitioners across Wales via the professional learning area .

The professional learning area has been organised to help practitioners find the right resources to meet their professional learning needs, whatever those needs may be. Within the area, practitioners will find a wide breadth of training, self-guided learning, case studies, guidance, and research on all aspects of professional learning. The resources cover 4 broad areas: curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; leadership and governance; well-being, equity and inclusion; and developing as a professional. Practitioners can filter the resources within these categories or search for resources using keywords.

A practitioner working party was convened to assure quality during the process, and several other groups are still providing feedback. The PL area is a work in progress and feedback can be left by anyone accessing the page. Your feedback will help us improve it.

Practitioner Sally Llewellyn has been seconded to lead the work. She says:

‘This is all about identifying and gathering together appropriate, relevant, high quality professional learning provision to support practitioners with their continued development and Curriculum for Wales implementation. We’ve listened to colleagues asking for a more searchable repository of quality resources, and now it’s here and it’s continuing to develop.

‘I’ve worked with middle tier organisations including regional consortia, local authorities, the National Academy for Educational Leadership, Higher Education Institutions, The Arts Council for Wales, Diversity and Anti-Racist Professional Learning, as well as Welsh Government priority policy areas including curriculum and assessment, equity in education, and workforce and wellbeing.’

School Governors: a new resource for evaluation and improvement

‘Governor’s Self Evaluation’ is a new resource designed to help governing bodies evaluate their work and act as a critical friend when looking at the effectiveness of their school.

It contains practical guidance, prompts, interactive resources, training materials and case studies.

Currently in its pilot phase, any feedback on the resource is welcome before the final version is published on Hwb in September. A link to a feedback form can be found on the landing page.

The resource is a guide and its use is optional. There is no expectation for governors to evaluate every prompt or address every aspect within this resource systematically. Governors are welcome to use as much or as little as required.

The resource draws on content from other self-evaluation toolkits available regionally, and is presented in a similar way to the National Resource: Evaluation and Improvement (NR:EI) used by schools.

A new Cabinet Secretary for Education – letter from Lynne Neagle

As part of the Cabinet reshuffle , following the appointment of Vaughan Gething as First Minister, Lynne Neagle has been appointed as the Cabinet Secretary for Education, replacing Jeremy Miles who moves to the Economy portfolio.

Lynne Neagle is the Senedd Member for Torfaen, and moves to Education from her previous Cabinet post as the Deputy Minister for Mental Health.

Dear Colleague

I am privileged to have been appointed Cabinet Secretary for Education. I know from my time as Chair of the Senedd Children, Young People and Education Committee what a dedicated and hard-working education workforce we have in Wales, and I am really looking forward to working with you in my new role.

You are critical to the success of our transformative education reforms, including the Curriculum for Wales roll out, the current consultation on 14 to 16 learning, Made-for-Wales GCSEs, and the implementation of the Additional Learning Needs programme. Ensuring you have the tools to make these reforms a success will be my number one priority.

I am acutely aware that you are supporting our ambitious transformation of education while also dealing with the aftermath of a global pandemic. The increase in mental health issues amongst learners and the workforce, a drop in attendance and reports of deteriorating behaviour are matters that worry us all.

Government, parents and carers, and society as a whole need to come together to address these challenges. I know it can’t all be the responsibility of schools.

Making sure our young people have the best chance in life is a passion for me. A good education in an inclusive, safe, and nurturing environment helps build skills, knowledge and resilience. It is the greatest gift we can give our children and young people.

As Deputy Minister for Mental Health, I jointly chaired our Ministerial Board to take forward our Whole Schools Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing in Wales and was able to secure additional funding for Child and Adolescent Mental Health services in Wales.

I intend to spend my first months in office listening to you. I hope to visit schools after Easter and during those visits, as well as meeting children, young people, and your staff, I would like to talk to you about your burning issues.

I am really looking forward to working with you and meeting as many of you as possible. If there are issues you would like to discuss with me my door is open. Please email [email protected] or [email protected] and I’ll be in touch.

Yours sincerely

Lynne Neagle AS/MS Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros Addysg Cabinet Secretary for Education

How is Estyn changing its approach to Inspection under Curriculum for Wales? – Insights from a Peer Inspector.

Introducing Curriculum for Wales is a journey, not just for schools but for the wider education system as it adapts to support curriculum reform. Estyn’s evolving approach to inspection is an important example.

Ceri Richmond, Deputy Headteacher at Morriston Comprehensive School, is a Peer Inspector. She has recently had a week’s refresher training and is the perfect person to tell us more about how the approach to inspection is changing.

Firstly Ceri, why did you become a Peer Inspector?

I started in 2017 because as a senior leader with responsibility for self-evaluation and teaching and learning, I wanted to ensure that I could identify good practice. I wanted to be confident when observing lessons and mentoring departments in self-evaluation procedures. For me it’s about better teaching and learning, although I started by focussing on school self-evaluation.

What’s the essence of the role?

It’s important for Estyn to have practicing professionals in the team for balance and to bring that current perspective. There are usually at least two peer inspectors in each team. I appreciate the fact that we are full members of the inspection team with the same range of responsibilities. On the other side, I have also appreciated that current perspective from the peer inspectors when my own school is under inspection.

Can you describe your recent training?

I really enjoyed it. We were a room of Peer Inspectors, mainly looking at teaching and learning, pastoral (e.g. skills and attendance) and team development. We looked at lots of examples of pupil work and were asked what we could glean. Evidence gathering is always about triangulating and analysing how those work scrutinies would tie in with observations and pupil voice, for example. During an inspection we would share all our observations and notes from different inspection activities in a live document. This means that all inspectors can collate and see the information pertinent to the area they have been allocated to report on. It’s really good as refresher training if you’ve had a gap in inspections, and I can take a lot back to my own school.

As we move firmly into schools delivering the new Curriculum for Wales, I will be very interested to see how these activities and the focus of these activities will develop to take into account differences, for example in the way we use the principles of progression to measure progress and what we are now measuring in terms of progress, as we move to a purposes-driven curriculum, with a new but more equal emphasis on learner effectiveness as well as knowledge and skills.

How different are inspections under Curriculum for Wales?

The biggest improvement in the current framework is the removal of summative judgements. It means we look at both strengths and weaknesses. You can see the needs of a school, and they do come out in that final report, but the feedback is more balanced and far more constructive.

Leaner inspection arrangements are more focused on the most important areas that drive improvement. It’s also more based on the school’s own self-evaluation activity. In that way, we’re also assessing the strength of the school’s own ability to identify improvement.

Interestingly, in a recent House of Lords evidence session, it was said that the Inspectorate needs to respect the decisions taken at local level on curriculum, otherwise there is a risk that schools will try to please inspectors rather than serve the needs of the learners, which makes absolute sense in Wales!

So what style can schools expect from you?

The style has changed. It’s not big brother anymore, it’s working with the schools and it’s more supportive, although I do believe it will be some time before it feels this way by the school being inspected. The report is far more balanced and constructive. Also, there is more regular contact and more frequent visits – engagement visits and thematic visits. These are designed to focus on improvement processes to support stronger evaluations.

On balance it feels better, especially in a time when the curriculum is being introduced year by year in secondaries. We need to acknowledge the amount of change that’s involved and ensure that all tiers and departments within the sector talk to and communicate openly with each other.

Let Maths Take You Further: Supporting learners on their mathematical journey

Read this post in Welsh

Since April 2023, 3500+ learners from more than 80% of state-funded schools and colleges engaged in mathematics workshops, masterclasses and conferences organised by Further Mathematics Support Programme Wales (FMSPW).

Support is still available to all schools in Wales and can be applied for here .

But for the full picture of the support and how it works for learners in Wales at various ages, read on.

Funded by the Welsh Government and managed by Swansea University, the FMSPW collaborates with partners across Wales and the UK, operating across Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, and Swansea universities. Together, we offer a comprehensive range of mathematics enrichment activities tailored for all ages.

For pupils in years 7 and 8, FMSPW hosts lunchtime and after-school math clubs, fostering a welcoming atmosphere where participants can engage with mathematics through interactive games and hands-on activities.

For learners aged 14-15, our program provides access to a series of mathematics masterclasses by the Royal Institution, available both online and in-person, along with junior and senior math challenges and problem-solving sessions. Our “Careers in Mathematics” talks offer valuable insights into the practical applications of mathematics in the world of work and study, aiding students in making informed decisions regarding their A-level choices.

As students approach GCSE level, we provide support through revision events and online resources. The FMSPW is especially committed to supporting Additional Mathematics Level 2 qualification as it is evident that the qualification is important for schools. Our recent case studies have shown that studying Additional Mathematics can lead to increased enrolment in A-level mathematics classes, boost confidence among female students, and contribute to a more balanced gender representation at A-level. To encourage more schools to offer Additional Mathematics, FMSPW developed a suite of engaging Desmos resources covering the entire syllabus.

At the A-level stage, FMSPW program extends to include revision classes and a wealth of materials to support students pursuing A-level Mathematics and Further Mathematics qualifications.

For schools unable to offer Further Mathematics internally, FMSPW provides online tuition classes complemented by in-person study days held across Wales. This year, we have had 27 schools subscribe to our Further Mathematics tuition courses, supporting nearly 60 students in studying 140 FM modules. 40% of our students come from schools with medium to high percentages of pupils receiving free school meals.

James Johnson from a school in North Wales shared his positive experience studying Further Mathematics with FMSPW:

“ Studying Further Maths has been a fun, challenging and rewarding experience over the last year. The tutors have provided me plenty of support and there were lots of resources available to assist us during the year .”

Further Mathematics remains an important qualification preferred or encouraged by some universities with research evidence of improved transition to STEM degrees among all students but especially girls.

Problem-solving remains a focal point of the FMSPW program at A-level, with challenging courses designed to stretch students’ understanding. As learner feedback shows, participants find the problems both stimulating and enjoyable, often forming new friendships along the way.

A student in Year 12 who is taking part in the Introduction to Problem Solving course this year said:

“ I feel like the topics were very challenging and difficult to get your head around, which was good because it stretches your understanding .”

Recognising the need to further support Wales’ brightest mathematicians, we offer a hybrid support program for students aiming to study at Russell Group universities, which may require additional mathematics tests like MAT or STEP. Our online Bridging Maths to Uni program helps students bridge the gap between school mathematics and university-level study.

FMSPW extends its gratitude to our partners in schools, colleges, education consortia, and universities for their invaluable help and support. Together, we continue to inspire and empower the next generation of mathematicians in Wales and beyond.

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Devolution 20 - Education: How far is it 'made in Wales'?

Much has changed in Wales in the twenty years since the first National Assembly for Wales was elected in May 1999. This is the fourth in a series of articles that attempts to describe some of that change. It has been prepared by Senedd Research as part of the Assembly’s activity to mark twenty years of devolution.

Devolution has given policymakers the opportunity to develop a distinctly Welsh approach to education. In the early years of the Assembly, The Learning Country (2001) strategy was described as a “landmark document for those who hoped that the Welsh Assembly would not just nibble at the edges of educational policy-making but would also conjure up a wider vision of an education system to serve the Welsh nation” (Gareth Elwyn Jones & Gordon Wynne Roderick’s A History of Education in Wales (2003) , cited in Philip Dixon’s Testing Times, 2016 .)

Pre-16 education

A ‘made in wales’ approach.

As part of former First Minister Rhodri Morgan’s 2002 declaration of “clear red water” , between Wales and England, the then Welsh Government ended Standard Attainment Tests (SATs) at Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. The publication of school-level pupil performance (often used to generate ‘school league tables’) also ended.

The Foundation Phase , which was introduced between 2004 and 2009, brought a new approach to young children’s learning, based on an experiential and ‘learning through play’ approach. It remains a flagship policy and the principles on which it is based are now shaping the approach to the new age 3-16 curriculum .

At the other end of the school-age spectrum, the Welsh Baccalaureate , introduced between 2003 and 2007, and revised in 2015, has sought to equip young people with a broader skills base to better prepare them for higher education and the workplace. An Assembly Committee has recently undertaken an inquiry into the Welsh Baccalaureate , publishing a report recognising its centrality to young people’s learning and development and recommending how its status can be enhanced.

Another example is the Free Breakfast Scheme in primary schools. Introduced in 2004, it is intended to improve the concentration and in turn the attainment of pupils.

More recently, this ‘made in Wales’ approach to education has led to a Welsh qualifications system , a lengthy and wide-ranging reform of the Special Education Needs system , and the far-reaching work underway to introduce a new Curriculum for Wales . The SEN reforms have undergone considerable scrutiny over many years, with Assembly Committees most recently scrutinising the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 and the draft ALN Code .

Leaning towards PISA?

Wales’ approach to school improvement has also been influenced by international movements, most notably the OECD and its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Just over a decade into devolution, the publication of the PISA 2009 results in 2010 delivered what the then Minister for Education, Leighton Andrews, called a “wake up call to a complacent system” and “evidence of a systemic failure”. Wales’ disappointing PISA results precipitated a renewed and changed focus on school accountability, a return to the basics of literacy and numeracy and a new regional approach to school improvement, all set out in the then Minister’s twenty point plan . Following on from this was Huw Lewis’ time as Minister which focused on a drive to tackle the link between deprivation and low attainment. Over time, there has also been a recognition that Wales needs to improve support for more able and talented learners if a greater number are to achieve the highest grades.

The OECD was called in to help identify solutions. Its reports in 2014 and 2017 informed the Welsh Government’s education action plans, Qualified for Life and Education in Wales: Our National Mission 2017-2021 respectively.

Since her appointment as Minister in June 2016, Kirsty Williams has continued to take forward the education reforms already in train such as developing a new curriculum, reforming teachers’ professional development, enhancing educational leadership and tackling the deprivation attainment gap. However, following her agreement in June 2016 with the then First Minister, Carwyn Jones (updated in December 2018 in her agreement with the new First Minister, Mark Drakeford ), Kirsty Williams has also brought her own priorities to the fore.

These include supporting the viability of small and rural schools and reducing infant class sizes. The latter links back to the earliest days of devolution when the existing statutory limit of 30 pupils was introduced in 2001. With Kirsty Williams as Minister, the Welsh Government has reinvigorated this policy and is seeking to reduce the size of classes with 29 or more pupils in underperforming schools and where there are high levels of pupils eligible for free school meals and pupils with Additional Learning Needs.

Returning to PISA, the publication of the 2018 results in December 2019 will shine a further spotlight on the Welsh Government’s progress in raising school standards, particularly given its target of achieving 500 points in each of the three domains by 2021. Since the ‘shock to the system’ delivered by PISA 2009, subsequent results have not significantly improved in Wales as the infographic below shows.

Higher education

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are autonomous organisations, therefore policymakers’ capacity to directly affect a ‘made in Wales’ approach is more limited than with schools. However devolution has seen significant changes in the HE sector and legislation expected in the next year or so could see the Welsh Government substantially reform the strategic planning and funding of the broader post compulsory education and training sector.

One of the more visible examples of the divergence between Wales and England has been student financial support. For example, from 2012 a larger Tuition Fee Grant (TFG) provided students from Wales with a non-means tested grant to cover the cost of increased tuition fees. However, this system diverged further following the Welsh Diamond Review which has seen the TFG being withdrawn for new students from September 2018 as part of a shift toward funding living cost support.

The number and size of HEIs

Since 1999, the Welsh Government has sought to actively shape the size and structure of the Welsh HE sector. The extent of this change is illustrated below.

So how did this level of change happen?

In 2002 the Welsh Assembly Government published its Reaching Higher HE strategy in which it explained that: “re-configuration and collaboration must be at the heart of the strategy for HE in Wales”.

After a number of mergers and collaborations under Reaching Higher, and the Welsh Government’s new HE strategy, For our Future (2010), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) was tasked with developing a “regional dimension to planning and delivery”. Its 2010 Corporate Strategy said that:

too many of our universities are too small by UK standards, and that we have too many institutions, raising challenges over competitiveness and sustainability.

In 2010, after the then Education Minister Leighton Andrews had warned universities must “ adapt or die ”, HEFCW published its recommendations on the future shape of higher education in Wales . These suggested radical change, consolidating the sector into no more than six HE institutions. These plans led to the merger of the University of Wales, Newport and the University of Glamorgan into the University of South Wales.

This proposal to create what was to become USW originally included the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) , now Cardiff Metropolitan University. However its governing body resisted the Welsh Government’s attempt to dissolve the institution in what became a demonstration of the autonomy of universities.

In contrast to the deliberate national policy of planned change, some institutions have instigated change themselves.

Some exercised their independence by withdrawing from the University of Wales federal umbrella and applying for their own Degree Awarding Powers and the right to use “university” in their title.

Some initiated their own mergers. For example, the University of Wales, Lampeter, the University of Wales itself, Swansea Metropolitan University and Trinity College, Carmarthen merged together in stages to form the current University of Wales Trinity St David.

The table below demonstrates the effect of the sector’s consolidation into fewer, larger institutions and offers a broad comparison (where data is available) with the further education (FEIs) sector. As the number of institutions has dropped since devolution and all have gained university title, enrolments and incomes have broadly increased.

The number of people participating in higher education

Over the past twenty years, there has been a consistent trend for a higher proportion of 18 year olds in the UK to attend higher education each year.

The graphic below shows this trend since 2000 for both Wales and England. This higher participation rate has helped to broadly maintain recruitment numbers during the last few years when the 18 year old population in the UK has been temporarily falling.

Changes in how HEIs receive their income

Throughout the last twenty years, institutions have received more of their income from student fees and less from central HEFCW grants.

The removal of student number controls in both England and Wales from 2015/16, has allowed HEIs to increase student numbers, thereby generating increased income through the greater volume of tuition fees.

The graphic below shows the shift from central grant funding toward student tuition fee funding, a shift that accelerated from 2012/13 with the introduction of £9,000 fees.

The future is likely to bring further reform with the Welsh Government proposing, through legislation in the Assembly, to bring further education, higher education, work-based learning and adult community learning together under a single arms-length strategic planning and funding Commission.

This would result in the dissolution of HEFCW and the Welsh Government relinquishing funding and regulation of further education to the proposed Commission for Tertiary Education, Training and Research. The aim of such reform is to bring about a post-16 education sector that is characterised by clear and seamless progression routes for learners across all types of institution.

The next article to be published tomorrow will look at the environment .

Article by Michael Dauncey and Phil Boshier , Senedd Research, National Assembly for Wales

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The Welsh Government’s “national mission” for education: In Brief

Higher and Further Education in Wales

About Wales

A passion for education

Wales is a nation where learning is valued and academic standards are high. As part of the UK higher-education and further-education systems, our universities and colleges offer qualifications that are respected by academics and employers across the world.

Our universities are modern and innovative, but our history goes back a long way. Higher education in Wales began in 1822, when St David’s College, Lampeter, opened its doors. We now have eight universities, with campuses located throughout the country.

Around 149,000 students are enrolled at Welsh universities, including around 25,000 international students, drawn from 132 countries. They’re attracted by a culture of excellence in both teaching and research. In the UK’s last Research Excellence Framework, more than three quarters of the work taking place at our universities was judged to be ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally significant’.

Three of our eight universities feature in the top 500 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022. And student satisfaction is vital. In the last Whatuni Student Choice Awards, four of the places in the UK top 10 – including the number-one spot – were taken by Welsh universities.

Further education colleges in Wales focus on education and training opportunities for people of all backgrounds who are aged 16+. Further education colleges are at the heart of their communities with excellent links to industry and clear progression routes to universities in the UK.

They have an excellent reputation for integrating international students into the culture, language and life of Wales.

We may have plenty of castles in Wales, but we don’t have ivory towers. Our universities have tight links with their local communities and the worlds of business and technology. Within six months of leaving, 92% of graduates are in employment.

Global Wales

In recognition of the importance of Welsh universities’ and colleges' international activities, Global Wales was set up. It’s a partnership between Universities Wales and the Welsh Government , British Council Wales , Colleges Wales and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), and is currently funded by Taith .

The Global Wales programme provides a strategic, collaborative approach to international higher and further education education in Wales. It also aims to raise awareness about Wales, build on international partnerships with universities and colleges, and to promote them in key overseas markets. See the Universities Wales website for more information.

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Education spending

Major challenges for education in Wales

Luke Sibieta

Published on 21 March 2024

This report examines the major challenges for education in Wales, including low outcomes across a range of measures and high levels of inequality.

Education and skills
Poverty, inequality and social mobility
Human capital

Download the report

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The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Economic and Social Research Council via the ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy. This report also draws heavily on analysis and knowledge gained by the author in his work as a Research Fellow at the Education Policy Institute.

Executive summary

Last December, the OECD published the latest round of PISA tests in reading, maths and science skills. These international comparisons always prompt public debate. Most countries saw declining scores, reflecting the effects of the pandemic. In Wales, the declines were particularly large, erasing all the progress seen since 2012. This report argues that low scores in Wales are a major concern and challenge for the new First Minister. Low educational outcomes are not likely to be a reflection of higher poverty in Wales, a different ethnic mix of pupils, statistical biases or differences in resources. They are more likely to reflect differences in policy and approach. We recommend that policymakers and educators in Wales pause, and in some cases rethink, past and ongoing reforms in the following areas:

The new Curriculum for Wales should place greater emphasis on specific knowledge.
Reforms to GCSEs should be delayed to give proper time to consider their effects on long-term outcomes, teacher workload and inequalities.
More data on pupil skill levels and the degree of inequality in attainment are needed and should be published regularly.
A move towards school report cards, alongside existing school inspections, could be an effective way to provide greater information for parents without a return to league tables.

1. Introduction

In December 2023, the OECD published the latest round of PISA scores (OECD, 2023). These international comparisons of reading, maths and science skills always prompt significant public debate, particularly in countries seeing declining scores. The latest tests were taken in 2022. Most countries saw declining scores, reflecting the effects of school closures during the pandemic.

In Wales, scores declined significantly, with the lowest test scores across the four nations of the UK. This erased all the increases seen in Wales since 2012 , when low PISA test scores last prompted soul-searching in the Welsh education system. This time, concern about low scores within Wales has been relatively brief, with the Minister emphasising ongoing reforms (Miles, 2023). This contrasts with the picture elsewhere in the UK. In Scotland , low and declining scores have prompted significant public debate and have led the Minister to promise improvements to the system (Gilruth, 2023). In England , ministers have claimed credit for relatively high scores and an improvement in relative scores compared with other countries. There were also declines in Northern Ireland, though public debate has been mostly focused on the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive.

This short report argues that low education outcomes, high levels of inequality and their consequences for children’s life chances represent a major challenge for the new First Minister of Wales. Improving this situation should be an urgent priority for his new government.

2. Overall performance and inequalities in Wales

This section sets out the overall performance of pupils in Wales in PISA tests over time, overall levels of inequality and how this compares with the rest of the UK.

Large declines in reading, maths and science skills in Wales

Starting with the overall picture, Figure 1 shows that PISA test scores in Wales fell significantly in maths, reading and science in 2022. To some extent, this matches the decline seen across other OECD countries following the global pandemic. However, there was a steeper fall in Wales in reading and science. Scores in Wales are also now lower than in any previous PISA cycle. The declines in Wales represented about 20 PISA points, on average. This is equivalent to about 20% of a standard deviation, which is a substantial decline.

Figure 1. PISA scores across UK nations over time

Source: Based on figures 7.13–7.15 in Sizmur et al. (2019); OECD (2023).

We also saw large falls over time in maths and science in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Across both nations, there were smaller falls in reading scores, which remain above the OECD average.

In England, we see a different picture. Reading and maths skills were increasing gradually between 2006 and 2018. There was then a relatively small decline in both reading and maths scores in 2022, taking them back to the same levels as around 2012/2015. Given the scale of disruption to education during the pandemic and the declines seen across other OECD countries, a small decline and general stable pattern over the last 10 years is likely to be a positive sign of resilience in England.

Whilst there were declines in science scores in England in 2022, Jerrim (2024) argues that this decline is seen across most OECD countries and may reflect methodological changes in the survey over time. Science scores in England also remain well above the OECD average.

Larger inequalities in Wales

Equally concerning are the level of performance of disadvantaged pupils and the state of educational inequalities in Wales, which are visible in both PISA and GCSE results. Figure 2 shows the mean PISA scores in each nation and subject for those in the most and least disadvantaged groups (bottom and top quartiles of the OECD’s index of economic, social and cultural status, ESCS), together with the mean scores for all children, in 2022.

Figure 2. Average PISA scores for most disadvantaged, least disadvantaged and all by nation and subject area in 2022

Source: Department for Education, 2023.

The gaps in performance between the most and least disadvantaged groups are broadly similar across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and are perhaps a little larger for Scotland in reading and maths. However, the difference in levels between England and other nations of the UK by level of disadvantage is very stark. For the least disadvantaged group, we see that scores in England are about 25–30 PISA points higher than in the other nations of the UK, on average. Some of this is likely to be explained by higher incomes at the top end of the spectrum in England. However, it is notable that scores for the least disadvantaged 25% of children in Wales are only barely above the average for all children in England.

At the other end of the distribution, disadvantaged children in Wales have the lowest scores across all four nations for reading and science (and the second-lowest for maths, just above the very low maths scores for disadvantaged children in Scotland). Disadvantaged children in England score about 30 points higher, on average, than disadvantaged children in Wales. This is a large gap and equivalent to about 30% of a standard deviation. Indeed, the performance of disadvantaged children in England is either above or similar to the average for all children in Wales.

Why we should care about the reasons for low PISA scores

Before thinking about the factors driving low PISA scores in Wales and policy implications, it is important to ask whether PISA scores actually matter. There are no prizes for a high PISA ranking, except kudos, and there are no immediate consequences, except pressure on policymakers. It is also important to focus on the actual scores, rather than rankings or relative performance. Education is not a zero-sum game. If all countries saw an equally large rise in scores, we are all likely to be better off.

PISA scores matter because they are a valuable and comparable indicator of young people’s skills in reading, numeracy and science. These are fundamental skills for accessing the rest of the curriculum and for achieving education qualifications. There is an enormous body of evidence that shows how skills and educational qualifications lead to greater chances of employment, higher earnings, higher productivity, improved health outcomes, lower crime, and the list goes on as evidence improves (Hanushek et al., 2015; Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 2018).

Furthermore, there is a great deal of evidence showing that Welsh young people experience worse educational and labour market outcomes after leaving school than young people in the rest of the UK. A recent EPI/SKOPE report shows that young people in Wales have the lowest participation in higher education across the UK, with Welsh boys seeing particularly poor trends over the last 15 years (Robson et al., 2024). We also see that the share of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is higher in Wales than in the rest of the UK. In 2022–23 , 11% of 16- to 18-year-olds in Wales were NEET, as compared with 5–9% across the rest of the UK. A similar picture emerges for 19- to 24-year-olds. In the labour market, we also see that Welsh young people from working-class backgrounds have lower earnings and lower employment levels than working-class young people from other UK nations.

The inescapable truth is that disadvantaged pupils in Wales have low skill levels and low levels of educational attainment. This drives a high disadvantage gap, reduces opportunities in the labour market and perpetuates inequalities. This will act as a drag on growth and living standards.

3. Explanations for lower performance in Wales

In this section, we gradually examine the potential explanations for lower levels of educational performance in Wales, including the statistical biases and the roles of poverty, ethnic mix, resources, the curriculum, accountability and assessments.

Statistical concerns and biases

To what extent do lower PISA scores in Wales reflect statistical concerns and biases? Some caution is always needed when interpreting exact changes across countries over time, particularly as PISA scores are based on a sample of children in each nation across each cycle. There are also sources of potential bias specific to the UK and Wales, with the OECD warning that low response rates could be creating biases within the UK this year. Jerrim (2023) has written about the curious issue of the implausibly low scores of pupils taking the test in Welsh, which could be biasing Welsh scores downwards. However, such biases are likely to be modest (less than 10 points) and have been known to affect previous years (Jerrim, Lopez-Agudo and Marcenaro-Gutierrez, 2022).

In general, one should focus on the general trends and levels over time. For Wales, this is a picture of low test scores across all three subject areas, below the OECD average and lower than the rest of the UK. Furthermore, as shown below, the fact that we see higher GCSE inequalities and worse post-16 educational and labour market outcomes in Wales strongly suggests that PISA is capturing a real issue in the Welsh education system.

Higher poverty is not the explanation

There will be differences between disadvantaged children in Wales and England that explain some of these differences in skill levels. However, there is likely to be a high degree of socio-economic similarity between the disadvantaged groups across England and Wales (we look at differences by ethnic background below). These groups are mainly made up of families reliant on means-tested benefits or on minimum wage levels, which will be very similar across the two nations. As of January 2019, the share of children eligible for free school meals was about 18% in Wales , which is only slightly larger than the 15% in England . Furthermore, about 8–9% of pupils were persistently eligible for free school meals (FSM) across both nations, suggesting similar levels of persistent poverty (Cardim-Dias and Sibieta, 2022). Transitional protections under universal credit make it difficult to present more recent statistics in a comparable way.

Differences in GCSE specifications between England and Wales make it difficult to compare absolute or raw results. However, Cardim-Dias and Sibieta (2022) show that one can produce reliable comparisons of inequalities in GCSE results, and the gap in performance between disadvantaged and other pupils. This analysis presents the disadvantage gap in terms of months of educational progress, where 11 months would be the expected difference in performance between a child born in September and one born in August.

As shown in Figure 3, Cardim-Dias and Sibieta (2022) show higher inequalities in GCSE results in Wales than in England. Before the pandemic, disadvantaged pupils in Wales were the equivalent of 22–23 months of educational progress behind their peers, compared with a gap of 18 months in England.

Figure 3.Disadvantage gap in GCSE results in Wales and England over time (months of educational progress; disadvantaged defined as ever eligible for FSM in past six years)

Note: Core subjects are English/Welsh, maths and science.

Source: Reproduced from Cardim-Dias and Sibieta (2022) with kind permission.

The results are even more stark at a local level, as shown in Figure 4. Across England and Wales, the local authorities with the worst performance for disadvantaged pupils are practically all in Wales. Before the pandemic, there were seven local authorities in Wales where disadvantaged pupils were at least 25 months behind their peers at the national level: Torfaen, Wrexham, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Pembrokeshire. In England, this was only the case for Blackpool. Furthermore, there are many local authorities in England with similar levels of deprivation and demographics to deprived areas in Wales, but which manage to achieve a lower disadvantage gap – for example, Salford, Gateshead and Portsmouth. There are also places with much higher levels of persistent disadvantage that achieve lower disadvantage gaps, such as Liverpool and Newcastle. The low performance of disadvantaged pupils in Wales is simply not an inevitable result of high levels of deprivation.

Figure 4. Relationship between persistent disadvantage and the disadvantage gap across local authorities in Wales and England

Note: Pupils are classed as persistently disadvantaged if they were eligible for free school meals for 80% of their time in school. Disadvantage gap is measured in terms of GCSE results.

To be clear, the overall level of the disadvantage gap and educational inequalities in England are substantial, with a national disadvantage gap of 18 months before the pandemic and much evidence to suggest that this has been getting even worse over recent years (Babbini et al., 2023). But the picture in Wales looks even worse than this. This greater disadvantage gap cannot be explained by higher levels of disadvantage in Wales. Areas of England with similar or higher levels of disadvantage manage to achieve lower levels of educational inequality. The explanation must lie elsewhere.

Role of immigrants and ethnic make-up

Perhaps the most significant difference is the ethnic make-up of each nation. Over 30% of pupils in England are from minority ethnic backgrounds, compared with about 10% in Wales . Over 20% of 15-year-olds in England were from first- or second-generation immigrant backgrounds in 2022, compared with 10% in Wales (OECD, 2023). This matters, as the evidence clearly shows that ethnic minorities and those from immigrant backgrounds generally perform very well in England (Wilson, Burgess and Briggs, 2011; OECD, 2023). These differences seem likely to be accentuated amongst the disadvantaged group, and may explain some of the lower performance in Wales. However, there are reasons to doubt that this explains a large element of lower skill levels in Wales.

According to PISA, non-immigrants in England score about 30 PISA points higher in maths than non-immigrants in Wales. We also see that immigrants score about 20 PISA points higher in England than in Wales. Immigrants and non-immigrants alike have higher levels of performance in England. Indeed, the high performance of immigrants is an under-appreciated success of the English education system. As Freedman (2024) has pointed out, England is the only European country where second-generation immigrants outperform non-immigrants in PISA. If second-generation immigrants in England were a country, they would have similar maths scores to high-performing countries such as Canada and Estonia, and be not far behind Korea and Japan.

How much do resources matter?

Resources and spending also differ across the UK (Sibieta, 2023). In Scotland, spending per pupil has long been higher and class sizes lower than in the rest of the UK (Jerrim and Sibieta, 2021). Following a further boost since 2018, spending per pupil in Scotland is at least 18% or £1,300 higher than elsewhere in the UK. Spending levels and trends are more similar in Wales, England and Northern Ireland. There were real-terms cuts to spending per pupil between 2010 and 2019, which are now being gradually reversed (Sibieta, 2023).

With England showing higher levels of skills than high-spending Scotland, one naturally asks whether school spending matters all that much. The answer is still yes. Correlations of spending across time and countries provide little information on the true effects of higher spending on educational outcomes. We have excellent evidence showing increasing levels of school spending does improve educational outcomes, and probably more so for disadvantaged students (Jackson and Mackevicius, 2024). This remains relevant and can help us interpret differences across nations.

In Scotland, we see historical levels of higher spending and recent large increases. An entirely plausible explanation is that higher levels of skills in Scotland in the past could be partly explained by greater resources. Recent declines could be explained by negative effects of reforms outweighing the effects of extra spending, and potentially by reforms reducing the bang-for-buck from extra resources.

In England, we see stable scores at a time of reduced spending per pupil and resilience in the face of a global pandemic. A very plausible explanation is that reforms to the system, such as the knowledge-rich curriculum and focus on basic literacy and numeracy, could have had positive effects, which may have been slightly diminished by reduced spending. This has the additional implication that the current English system may well be characterised by high bang-for-buck from extra spending.

This has some important lessons for policymakers in Wales considering the role of extra resources. How much you spend and how you spend it are often seen as competing factors. This is an entirely false trade-off. They both matter in complementary ways. A well-functioning and high-performing system is likely to generate large gains from extra spending. Throwing money at a poorly-performing system will likely produce disappointing results.

Curriculum changes: knowledge versus skills

One of the biggest school policy differences across the four nations of the UK has been curriculum reform. Scotland (from 2010) and Northern Ireland (from 2007) have already implemented skills-based curricula, which focus on the development of skills and competencies. The new Curriculum for Wales , implemented from 2022 onwards, takes a similar approach and is partly modelled on the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. The National Curriculum in England is very different. The most recent version was implemented from 2014 onwards and focuses on whether pupils have specific elements of knowledge.

The Curriculum for Wales aims to develop general skills and defines four key purposes:

ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives;
enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work;
ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world;
healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

Learning is organised into six different areas of learning (combining many traditional subject domains). A high emphasis is also placed on health and well-being. Schools then have significant autonomy to define the specific elements of their own curriculum as long as they are progressing towards the general definitions of skills. This is intended to achieve a broad and balanced curriculum.

These are of course very noble and sensible aims. The trouble is that defining the curriculum in terms of general skills might not actually be a good way to develop those skills in the first place. Whilst many of the skills seem like good long-term goals for an education system, Christodoulou (2023) argues that it is more effective to break those skills down into the teaching of specific elements of knowledge. Assessing generic skills is also incredibly difficult. As a result, skill-based curricula can lead to significant inequalities in the curriculum content that pupils are exposed to, and in the ways in which they are assessed. Indeed, based on pilots of the new curriculum, education researchers in Wales have already warned that the new curriculum risks exacerbating existing inequalities without external accountability on curriculum design and assessment, and extra investment (Power, Newton and Taylor, 2020).

Paterson (2023) also argues that the reduction in science and maths scores in Scotland and Northern Ireland, alongside stable reading scores, is the pattern one might expect following the introduction of skills-based curricula. Reading is a relatively general skill that parents can assist with. Maths and science require more specific knowledge that parents might find harder to impart. This seems like a reasonable conclusion. However, it would be near impossible to definitively conclude that it is the adoption of skills-based curricula that has led to lower scores in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and that a knowledge-based curriculum has improved scores in England. Correlation is not causation. Furthermore, the improvements in reading in England appear longstanding, dating back to 2006 at least, and might not just be about the adoption of the new National Curriculum. The improvements may reflect the widespread adoption of synthetic phonics following the Rose Report in 2006, which has been shown to have had positive effects (Machin, McNally and Viarengo, 2018).

The trouble is, as argued by Crehan (2023), declines have happened in essentially every country that has adopted such skills-based curricula – for example, France, Finland, Australia and New Zealand, with the last thinking about ways to introduce specific knowledge elements into its curriculum.

Lastly, there is also no evidence to suggest that policymakers in Wales have been successful in achieving the broader aim of maximising pupil well-being. The 2022 PISA report for Wales (Ingram et al., 2023) shows that pupils in Wales report a lower score for overall life satisfaction than the OECD average and that a lower-than-average share of pupils felt like they belonged in school. Pupils reporting higher levels of life satisfaction and belonging tended to be those achieving higher scores on PISA tests.

At the very least, all this must leave us wary about the introduction of the skills-based Curriculum for Wales. Maybe Wales will totally buck the international trend. However, there is no good evidence showing that a skills-based curriculum will be able to turn around low scores and high inequalities seen in Wales.

Accountability and assessment: not measuring up

Another key difference across the four nations has been approaches to accountability and assessment. In England, there has long been a focus on high-stakes accountability, either through league tables, school-by-school data comparisons or Ofsted inspections with single-word judgements (often with high consequences for schools and their leadership teams). This can have benefits, in terms of high levels of accountability, but can also create perverse incentives to teach to the test, and the problems associated with high-pressured school inspections are now well known.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland abolished league tables long ago. Some evidence suggests this had a small negative effect in Wales (Burgess, Wilson and Worth, 2013), and a more general school categorisation system was introduced about 10 years ago. This has since been abolished and replaced by a system of self-evaluation by schools.

Since 2013, pupils aged 7–14 have sat literacy and numeracy tests of one form or another in Wales. However, the results from these have rarely been published in ways that allow us to track average skills levels or inequalities over time. For England, we have significant data on pupil skill levels from tests such as the phonics check and Key Stage 2 tests , and there are clear metrics comparing school performance with national and low benchmarks at pretty much every stage of education. Historically, such test scores have been used as part of school league tables. However, more important are the ways in which the data are used to track overall performance over time, to understand inequalities across pupils and areas, and for schools to compare their own levels with those of others. This approach to data on school comparisons was briefly part of the Welsh school system, but is not really encouraged any more. The Welsh Government has recently published data showing falling numeracy and reading levels since the pandemic, and it plans to publish more on inequalities in Spring 2024. This should ideally become a regular and systematic overview of skills levels and inequalities across time and place and enable schools to do comparisons to aid their understanding.

Accountability through school inspections occurs throughout Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. However, the immediate consequences from poor school inspection outcomes are less severe in Wales, except in the case of very poor inspection reports which can result in special measures. Single-word summary judgements have also been abolished, making it quite hard to discern the overall quality of schools from inspection reports. To be fair, policy and debate in England are also moving away from narrow, single-word judgements towards more holistic school report cards. It would be entirely feasible and sensible for Wales to adopt such an approach. It could include summaries from different parts of inspection reports, data on pupil attainment and inequalities, and wider aspects about the school environment and pupil well-being.

Assessments and exams have also been moving in different directions across the four nations of the UK. In Wales, the key developments have been retaining A*–G grades (instead of the numbers used in England), maintaining AS levels and creating GCSE specifications specific to Wales. This makes it harder, but not impossible, to undertake comparisons across the UK. New GCSEs in Wales will be taught from September 2025. These will be available in more vocational subjects and make more use of continuous assessments (e.g. coursework), and it will no longer be possible to study triple-science subjects of biology, chemistry and physics. These changes are being undertaken to broaden the set of available subjects and to align with the aims of the new curriculum. However, there are also clear risks with this approach. The benefits and returns to vocational GCSEs in England in the 2000s were pretty weak (see the 2011 Wolf Report), high levels of continuous assessment can increase inequalities (Kelly, 2023) and create more workload for teachers, and removing triple-science subjects risks capping the future educational opportunities of Welsh learners in science, medical and technological subjects.

4. Conclusions

The overwhelming conclusion is that the overall level of educational performance in Wales is low, and inequalities are high and persistent. Policymakers should be doing more to address the underlying reasons driving this disappointing set of results. At present, the most prominent education policies of the Welsh Government are the new Curriculum for Wales, free school meals in primary schools and a potential change in the school year. However, there is very little evidence that any of these policies will improve educational attainment or narrow inequalities.

The picture on schools in England appears rosier. However, it is important not to treat England as a perfect benchmark. There are also real problems in England. Inequalities are wide (and probably widening), there are significant problems recruiting and retaining teachers, there is huge pressure on the special educational needs system and there are also obvious concerns about a narrowing of the curriculum. This being said, there are still important lessons for policymakers in Wales.

Whilst it is important that policymakers in Wales make changes, it is also important that they do not panic. Now is the time for policymakers and educators to pause and in some cases rethink past and ongoing reforms to Welsh education in the following areas:

The Curriculum for Wales should place greater emphasis on specific knowledge than it does now.
The reform to GCSEs should be delayed to give proper time to consider how its aims and the evidence base fit with addressing poor performance and wide inequalities.
A move towards school report cards, alongside the existing school inspections, could be an effective way to provide greater information for parents without a return to league tables.

Conversations on changes to the curriculum should happen with policymakers, teachers and schools inside and outside Wales. Rather than repeat mistakes, it is crucial to learn lessons from the Curriculum for Excellence alongside the Scottish Government. Much can be learnt from the current rethink in New Zealand, as well as other countries that are thinking about rowing back from skills-based curricula. There is also much that can be learnt from individual teachers and schools in England who have been at the forefront of the knowledge-rich curriculum.

The planned reforms to GCSEs in Wales are significant, with the introduction of more continuous assessment and changes to subjects. Key questions to ask include whether there is strong evidence that increased use of continuous assessment for GCSEs will improve educational performance and narrow gaping inequalities. Or will it increase workloads and inequalities? Are there better ways to achieve improvements? An open and evidence-based conversation will ultimately point to the right directions.

Policymakers should also publish better and more regular data on overall skills levels across young people in Wales at different ages, and the levels of inequality across pupils from different backgrounds and areas. Schools should be able and encouraged to compare themselves with other schools, as used to be the case. If this is not possible within the existing ways that literacy and numeracy test results are collected, then this should be changed to make it possible. Given the relatively low reading scores in Wales, a phonics check for children in Year 1 or Year 2 might be a very sensible addition too.

The movement towards school report cards in England also seems like a positive step that Wales could lead on. They could be incorporated into existing school inspections to provide parents with a clear summary of the performance and well-being of their children.

Publishing more data does not have to mean a return to school league tables, which have mostly been superseded by better and more sophisticated ways of using data. It is instead a confirmation for schools, parents and taxpayers that pupils are mastering key skills that are required to access the rest of the curriculum and wider education opportunities. One objection to focusing on tests in literacy and numeracy is that it narrows the curriculum, and there has been clear criticism in England of the way the English Baccalaureate has narrowed the curriculum (see Long and Danechi (2019)). However, this is not an inevitable consequence. Done right, skill tests and comparisons can ensure that pupils acquire foundational skills that enable them to access a wider curriculum and set of qualifications. Without basic skills and knowledge, a wider curriculum is a pipe dream.

Fundamentally, if you do not like the surprises from PISA every three years, then fill the void with better annual data so that PISA just ends up confirming what you already know. Ideally, this would be a picture of improving skills, lower inequalities and pupils accessing a wider curriculum. However, without reform or good data, there could be an even nastier surprise for Welsh policymakers when the next PISA results are published three years from now.

Babbini, N., Hunt, E., Robinson, D. and Tuckett, S., 2023. EPI Annual Report 2023. Education Policy Institute, https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/annual-report-2023/ .

Burgess, S., Wilson, D. and Worth, J., 2013. A natural experiment in school accountability: the impact of school performance information on pupil progress. Journal of Public Economics , 106, 57–67, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047272713001291 .

Cardim-Dias, J. and Sibieta, L., 2022. Inequalities in GCSE results across England and Wales. Education Policy Institute, https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/inequalities-in-gcse-results-across-england-and-wales/ .

Christodoulou, D., 2023. Skills vs knowledge, 13 years on. No More Marking blog, https://substack.nomoremarking.com/p/skills-vs-knowledge-13-years-on .

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Department for Education, 2023. PISA 2022: national report for England, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pisa-2022-national-report-for-england .

Freedman, S., 2024. The truth about integration. Comment is Freed blog, https://samf.substack.com/p/the-truth-about-integration .

Gilruth, J., 2023. Literacy and numeracy: Education Secretary statement. Scottish Government, https://www.gov.scot/publications/ministerial-statement-literacy-numeracy/ .

Hanushek, E., Schwerdt, G., Wiederhold, S. and Woessmann, L., 2015. Returns to skills around the world: evidence from PIAAC. European Economic Review , 73, 103–30, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2014.10.006 .

Ingram, J., Stiff, J., Cadwallader, S., Lee, G. and Kayton, H., 2023. PISA 2022: National Report for Wales. Welsh Government, https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/statistics-and-research/2023-12/pisa-2022-national-report-wales-059.pdf .

Jackson, C.K. and Mackevicius, C.L., 2024, What impacts can we expect from school spending policy? Evidence from evaluations in the United States. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics , 16(1), 412–46, https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20220279 .

Jerrim, J., 2023. Were PISA reading scores in Wales as bad as they first seemed? FFT Education Datalab, https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2023/12/were-pisa-reading-scores-in-wales-as-bad-as-they-first-seemed/ .

Jerrim, J., 2024. How concerned should we be about England’s declining PISA science scores? Schools Week , 18 March, https://schoolsweek.co.uk/how-concerned-should-we-be-about-englands-declining-pisa-science-scores/ .

Jerrim, J., Lopez-Agudo, L.A. and Marcenaro-Gutierrez, O.D., 2022. The impact of test language on PISA scores. New evidence from Wales. British Educational Research Journal , 48(3), 420–45, https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3774 .

Jerrim, J. and Sibieta, L., 2021. A comparison of school institutions and policies across the UK, Education Policy Institute, https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/a-comparison-of-school-institutions-and-policies-across-the-uk/ .

Kelly, D.P., 2023. Retain external examination as the primary means of assessment. Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities blog, https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/cepeo/2023/06/22/retain-external-examination-as-the-primary-means-of-assessment/ .

Long, R. and Danechi, S., 2019. English Baccalaureate. House of Commons Library Briefing Paper 06045, https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06045/SN06045.pdf .

Machin, S., McNally, S. and Viarengo, M., 2018. Changing how literacy is taught: evidence on synthetic phonics. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy , 10(2), 217–41, https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20160514 .

Miles, J., 2023. Written statement: PISA 2022: National Report for Wales. Welsh Government, https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-pisa-2022-national-report-wales .

OECD, 2023. PISA 2022 Results: The State of Learning and Equity in Education . https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/53f23881-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/53f23881-en .

Paterson, L., 2023. PISA 2022 in Scotland: declining attainment and growing social inequality. Reform Scotland, https://reformscotland.com/2023/12/pisa-2022-in-scotland-declining-attainment-and-growing-social-inequality-lindsay-paterson/ .

Power, S., Newton, N. and Taylor, C., 2020. ‘Successful futures’ for all in Wales? The challenges of curriculum reform for addressing educational inequalities. The Curriculum Journal , 31(2), 317–33, https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.39 .

Psacharopoulos, G. and Patrinos, H.A., 2018. Returns to investment in education: a decennial review of the global literature. Education Economics , 26(5), 445–58, https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2018.1484426 .

Robson, J., Sibieta, L., Khandekar, S., Neagu, M., Robinson, D. and James Relly, S., 2024. Comparing policies, participation and inequalities across UK post-16 Education and Training landscapes. Education Policy Institute, https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/uk-nations-education-and-training/ .

Rose, J., 2006. Independent review of the teaching of early reading. Department for Education and Skills, https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/id/eprint/5551/2/report.pdf .

Sibieta, L., 2023. How does school spending per pupil differ across the UK? IFS Report R256, https://ifs.org.uk/publications/how-does-school-spending-pupil-differ-across-uk .

Sizmur, J., Ager, R., Bradshaw, J., Classick, R., Galvis, M., Packer, J., Thomas, D. and Wheater, R., 2019. Achievement of 15-year-olds in England: PISA 2018 results. Department for Education, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/904420/PISA_2018_England_national_report_accessible.pdf .

Wilson, D., Burgess, S. and Briggs, A., 2011. The dynamics of school attainment of England’s ethnic minorities. Journal of Population Economics , 24, 681–700, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-009-0269-0 .

Wolf, A., 2011. Review of vocational education: the Wolf Report. Department for Education and Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-vocational-education-the-wolf-report .

Research Fellow

Luke is a Research Fellow at the IFS and his general research interests include education policy, political economy and poverty and inequality.

Report details

Suggested citation.

Sibieta, L. (2024). Major challenges for education in Wales . London: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/major-challenges-education-wales (accessed: 28 May 2024).

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Summary of legislation

Curriculum for Wales: summary of legislation

Curriculum for Wales

Legislation summary

This section of the Curriculum for Wales Framework is designed to help schools and settings, as well as others in education with an interest, to better understand what the law is for the Curriculum for Wales and what is required of them.

In addition to setting out the legal basis for guidance, it also provides information relating to legal duties and guidance of a statutory nature that schools or settings must have regard to. It also sets out the meaning of these terms. While it explains different legal requirements, this section of guidance itself is non-statutory.

In setting out this information, this section of guidance also relates to and links with a range of specific aspects of curriculum and assessment guidance throughout the Framework.

Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021: an introduction

The Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021 (the Act) established the Curriculum for Wales in law and replaced the basic curriculum (which includes, for example, the national and local curricula set out in Part 7 of the Education Act 2002 ) . The Act makes provision about progression and assessment in connection with the curriculum for 3 to 16 year olds. It also has some limited effects on the curriculum for learners above compulsory school age at maintained schools. However, much of what currently applies to them is not affected by the Act, and does not change.

The Act places duties on:

school governing bodies and headteachers
teachers in charge and management committees of PRUs
the local authority responsible for a PRU
providers of funded non-maintained nurseries (private nurseries who are funded by the local authority to provide education places)
local authorities which make provision for learning and teaching for a learner otherwise than at a school, setting or PRU by virtue of arrangements made under section 19A of the Education Act 1996
the Welsh Ministers

The mandatory requirements, or duties, set out in the Act, Codes and other regulations referenced below are also set out in the relevant sections of this framework guidance and are highlighted for clarity.

Where there is a requirement for schools or settings to have regard to guidance, this is also explained in the relevant guidance section.

Concepts and mandatory elements

The Act sets out the four purposes of the curriculum in law. It also sets out the following mandatory elements which, with the exception of English, span the 3 to 16 learning continuum:

the cross-curricular skills of literacy, numeracy and digital competence
the names of the areas of learning and experience (Areas)
relationships and sexuality education (RSE)
religion, values and ethics (RVE)
English, from age 7. Headteachers and providers of funded non-maintained nursery education have discretion over whether and to what extent they introduce English to learners between the ages of 3 and 7. This is to facilitate Welsh language immersion in the early years. Therefore, the expectation is that English medium and bilingual schools will continue to include English in their curricula

The Act requires that the Welsh Ministers issue three Codes that must form the basis of curriculum and assessment arrangements in every school and setting subject to the Act. The Act also requires Welsh Ministers to keep the Codes under review and as necessary develop updates. The Codes are:

the statements of what matters Code
the progression Code
the relationships and sexuality education Code

The Act places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to make provision in relation to assessment arrangements. Regulations require headteachers and other providers to make and implement assessment arrangements as part of their curriculum design and development and to review and revise assessment arrangements as part of self-reflection and curriculum improvement processes.

Linked to this, under section 57 of the Act, the Welsh Ministers have directed head teachers and governing bodies and other education providers to put arrangements in place to support on-going professional dialogue between practitioners to develop and maintain a shared understanding of progression. The direction relating to developing and maintaining a shared understanding of progression is available and supporting guidance can be found in the supporting learner progression section of this guidance.

Maintained schools and maintained nursery schools

This section summarises requirements for maintained schools and maintained nursery schools. It should also be read in conjunction with the sections relating to RSE, RVE, CWRE and wider requirements.

Section 79 of the Act defines the meaning of such schools. These are:

a community, foundation or voluntary school maintained by a local authority in Wales
a community special school maintained by a local authority in Wales, other than a community special school established in a hospital
a maintained nursery school which is not a special school

Design and assessment

The headteacher must ensure a curriculum is designed for learning and teaching for all registered learners at the school aged 3 to 16. The curriculum must:

enable learners to develop in the ways described in the four purposes
be suitable for learners of differing ages, abilities and aptitudes
be broad and balanced
make provision for learning and teaching that encompasses each of the Areas, including the mandatory elements. A curriculum only does this if it incorporates all the statements of what matters
make provision to develop the mandatory cross-curricular skills
provide for learning and teaching that accords with the RSE Code and is developmentally appropriate for their learners
provide learners in year 1 and above with the learning and teaching of RVE that accords with curriculum design requirements
provide those learners moving from year 9 into year 10 with a choice of learning within each Area in line with the requirements of this Framework guidance
provide for appropriate progression which must be in accordance with the principles of progression set out in the Progression Code and have regard to this Framework guidance. The assessment arrangements must be informed by those principles of progression
be informed by the development and maintenance of a shared understanding of progression in line with the Minister’s Direction under section 57 of the Act
make ongoing assessments arrangements to support learner progression throughout the school year
make arrangements for assessing the ability and aptitude of learners in respect of the relevant curriculum, on entry to a school or setting, to identify the next steps in their progression and the learning and teaching needed to support that progress.

Adoption and implementation

The headteacher and governing body must jointly adopt their curriculum and assessment arrangements, including on entry assessment arrangements and publish a summary of it. It is recommended that agreement between the headteacher and governing body be part of a governing body meeting and so be recorded in the minutes for that meeting.

With regard to the content of published curriculum summaries they should include:

information on how practitioners, learners, parents, carers and the wider community are being engaged to inform the curriculum’s ongoing development
how the curriculum meets the required elements set out in this national Framework, starting from the four purposes
information on how the school is approaching learning progression and its arrangements for assessment
how the curriculum is being kept under review, including the process for feedback and ongoing revision

Curriculum summaries should be published before the start of the academic year.

Schools must ensure the adopted curriculum is implemented in a way that:

enables each learner to develop in the ways described in the four purposes
secures learning and teaching that offers appropriate progression for each learner, which is informed by the principles of progression under each Area
is suitable for each learner’s age, ability and aptitude
takes account of each learner’s additional learning needs (ALN), if any
secures broad and balanced learning and teaching for each learner

For each learner in reception to year 9 (inclusive) the curriculum must be implemented in a way that secures learning and teaching that:

encompasses the six Areas and all the mandatory elements
for RSE, is suitable for the learner’s stage of development
for RVE, except in relation to learners in nursery and reception (those learners below compulsory school age, 5 years old), accords with curriculum design requirements. Learners in nursery and reception should still be provided with pluralistic RVE
develops the mandatory cross-curricular skills

For each learner in years 10 and 11 the curriculum must be implemented in a way that secures learning and teaching:

in each Area. Not everything in the statements of what matters for each Area needs to be included, but all Areas need to form part of the curriculum. This is the only difference for this cohort
for RVE accords with curriculum design requirements
develops the mandatory cross-curricular skills

The governing body and head teacher must both ensure that the adopted curriculum is implemented in line with requirements above.

Making and Implementing Assessment Arrangements

Schools must ensure that the assessment arrangements that are made:

require the ongoing assessment of every learner throughout the school year by the relevant practitioner
require practitioners to assess the progress made by learners
require practitioners to assess the next steps in their progression
require practitioners to assess the learning and teaching needed to make that progress
are suitable for learners of differing ages, abilities and aptitudes
are implemented

Assessment arrangements must be made at the same time as the curriculum is being designed.

Schools must ensure that the arrangements for assessing on-entry:

require the assessment of abilities and aptitudes of learners against the relevant curriculum to determine the next steps in their progression and the learning and teaching needed to make that progress
numeracy and literacy skills
physical, social and emotional development
take place within 6 weeks of the learner first beginning in the school.

Review and revision

The headteacher and governing body must keep their adopted curriculum under review and must revise it if it no longer complies with the design requirements (as set out above). They may revise it at any time but if they do they must publish an updated summary. This should happen before the start of the following academic year.

The headteacher and governing body must also keep the on-going and on-entry assessment arrangements for the adopted curriculum under review. They must review the assessment arrangements as part of the wider review of the adopted curriculum and revise them if the adopted curriculum is amended or if they no longer meet the assessment requirements. The headteacher and governing body must also revise the ongoing assessment and on-entry requirements should they consider it is appropriate or necessary to do so at any time.

Learner choice and disapplication

The Act provides headteachers and governing bodies with powers to disapply learner choice in some circumstances.

Headteachers are required to implement the adopted curriculum in a way that gives effect to choices made by learners for years 10 and 11. However, they may decide not to apply learning and teaching chosen by a learner. The Act sets out the grounds where this may apply in the case of determinations made before a learner begins year 10, and determinations made after a learner has begun year 10. This will replace the local curriculum in Part 7 of the Education 2002 (introduced by the Learning and Skills (Wales) Measure 2009). Therefore, the legal requirement in the local curriculum for local authorities to offer a minimum of 25 courses at NQF level 2, of which at least 3 must be vocational, will no longer apply to this cohort.

In respect of learners before they begin year 10, a decision to disapply can be made where:

the learning and teaching is not suitable for the learner due to their level of educational attainment
it is not reasonably practicable to secure learning and teaching for the learner due to their other learning choices
the amount of time spent travelling to the place at which the teaching would likely take place would be detrimental to the learner’s education
disproportionate expenditure would be incurred if the learning and teaching were to be secured for the learner
the learner or another person’s health or safety would be placed unacceptably at risk if the learning and teaching were to be secured for the learner

In respect of learners after they begin year 10 the grounds specified below are more limited. This is because the impact on the learner is greater when they have already embarked on their chosen learning and teaching. In these circumstances a decision to disapply can only be made where:

disproportionate expenditure would be incurred if the learning and teaching were to continue to be secured for the learner
the learner’s or another person’s health or safety would be placed unacceptably at risk if the learning and teaching were to continue to be secured for the learner

Where a determination is made to disapply learner choice, the headteacher still has to ensure learning and teaching is secured for the learner in each area, in addition to the mandatory elements. But a further choice of learning and teaching will not need to be offered to the learner.

If it’s determined to disapply the learner’s choice then certain information must be provided to the learner and their parent or carer (see section 32 of the Act). Section 33 enables a learner, parent or carer, to require the head teacher to review that determination. If a review is required, the headteacher must either confirm, vary or withdraw the determination, and must advise the learner and their parent or carer of that decision. If a learner, parent or carer is unhappy with the outcome of the review, they may appeal to the school’s governing body. If an appeal is made, the governing body must either confirm, vary or withdraw the headteacher’s decision, and must advise the learner and their parent or carer.

There is no duty to provide information to the learner about the outcome of a review or appeal if the headteacher considers that they do not have the capacity to understand the information that would be given, or (in the case of a decision on a review) what it would mean to exercise the right to appeal.

These are matters schools should consider when implementing their curriculum on a day to day basis.

For learners with ALN

Section 41 makes provision relating to applying exceptions to the curriculum requirements for learners with ALN. Local authorities may disapply or modify parts or all of the curriculum implementation requirements for those learners with individual development plans under Part 2 of the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 or with special educational needs under the Children and Families Act for children living in England. The disapplication or modification of the curriculum should be outlined in the learner’s individual development plan, or in the case of learners living in England and educated in Wales, in their education, health and care plans.

Temporary exceptions

There is a separate and additional power in section 42 of the Act for head teachers to make temporary exceptions to disapply, or apply with modifications, all or some of the curriculum requirements in the Act. That provision is in the Education (Temporary Exceptions for Individual Pupils and Children) (Wales) Regulations 2022 (“the Temporary Exception Regulations”).

This is a continuation of existing broadly similar provisions on allowing temporary exceptions from curriculum requirements where circumstances require it, for example where a learner is undergoing treatment for an acute illness and cannot reasonably be expected to fulfil the requirements of the school’s curriculum. In such circumstances it is essential that head teachers have the discretion to temporarily except learners from some or all of the curriculum without having to apply a prescriptive or onerous process. The learner would stay a learner in the school but would be excepted from curriculum requirements for a finite time.

Provisions in the Act and in the Temporary Exceptions Regulations provide safeguards to ensure learners and parents and carers are able to participate in the process, and that governing bodies are required to agree to any continuation of the term of the exceptions.

The Temporary Exceptions Regulations allow learners and parents or carers to request a determination be made, varied or revoked and requires the head teacher to respond to such a request within two weeks.

Development and work experiments

The Welsh Ministers can give a direction to schools (under section 38 of the Act) to enable them to participate in development work and experiments. Such a direction may modify or disapply curriculum implementation duties for a period specified in the direction, so that the development work or experiment can take place. A direction could, therefore, be used to allow schools to take part in a pilot for proposed curriculum changes. There are specific conditions that must be met in order for the Welsh Ministers to give such a direction, which ensure learners affected by the direction continue to receive a suitable curriculum.

Provision for further settings

The Education in Multiple Settings (Wales) Regulations 2022 (“the Multiple Settings Regulations”) place a requirement on local authorities to prepare and review plans as to the learning and teaching to be provided for individual learners subject to the Curriculum for Wales who are registered in more than one education setting. For example, a learner may be registered at the same time a maintained school and at a PRU or at another maintained school.

The appropriate local authority is required to prepare a plan setting out how it will secure:

the learning and teaching to be provided for the learner at each school or setting
the assessment arrangements that will apply to the learner at each school or setting
arrangements for reporting the learner’s progress to parents and carers.

Where a learner is a looked after child, the appropriate local authority is the local authority that looks after the child.

Where a learner is not a looked after child, the appropriate local authority is the local authority responsible for the child.

The purpose of these provisions is to ensure learners registered in more than one setting receive the full curriculum as appropriate for them. The benefits include enabling easier transition of EOTAS learners back into mainstream education, where appropriate to their needs, and reducing the ambiguity over who is responsible for providing learning and teaching where a learner is registered in more than one provider.

Additional duties

The Act contains further duties for those persons as set out in the introduction section above when exercising functions under this Act such as designing, adopting or implementing a curriculum. They must:

have regard to the mental health and emotional well-being of learners likely to be affected by the exercise of the function (section 63). In practice, this means considering the impact of any function on learners’ mental health and emotional well-being. This includes how learning is presented, structured and organised and its place in the wider school context, which will affect learners’ well-being
promote knowledge and understanding of Part 1 of the UNCRC and the UNCPRD to those who provide learning and teaching (section 64)
co-operate with other schools , settings , PRUs , local authorities and further education institutions if doing so will help them exercise their functions under the Act (section 65)
consider a request for co-operation if one is made (powers to collaborate in the Education (Wales) Measure 2011 remain in force) (section 65)
have regard to any guidance issued by the Welsh Ministers under the Act (section 71)

Post-compulsory education

Headteachers, governing bodies and local authorities must ensure that maintained schools’ curricula for post-compulsory age learners:

is broad and balanced
promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of learners and of society
prepares learners for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life

A headteacher must ensure learning and teaching of RSE is available to those post-compulsory learners who request it. In carrying out its functions a governing body must ensure that this learning and teaching is provided if requested.

Similarly, a headteacher and governing body must ensure learning and teaching of RVE is available to those post-compulsory learners who request it. Such RVE provision must reflect the fact that religious traditions in Wales are mainly Christian, but also to take account of other (non-Christian) principal religions in Wales. The learning and teaching must also reflect the fact that a range of non-religious philosophical convictions (such as atheism) are held in Wales.

The RVE provisions do not prevent a school from requiring that all learners in its sixth form undertake RVE classes. Nor does it prevent a school that adopts this approach from providing compulsory sixth form RVE that accords with the school’s trust deeds, or the tenets of its religion, or religious denomination; the content of which remains a matter for the school.

These requirements will come into force from September 2027.

Where relevant, maintained schools are also required to take into account of existing local curricula requirements in relation to learners aged 16 to 18 set out in sections 33A to 33O of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 (these remain unchanged by the Act).

New legislation consequential to the Act

As a direct consequence of the Act there is a range of legislation to which revisions have had to be made. Specific pieces of legislation have been reviewed and revoked with new regulations being made to bring regulations to reflect Curriculum for Wales requirements.

This section summarises requirements for maintained schools and maintained nursery schools consequential to the Act.

Requirement for the production of transition plans

Provision for effective transition remains important under the Curriculum for Wales to ensure continuity of learning and continued, appropriate and supported progression for learners between primary and secondary school.

Transition from Primary to Secondary School (Wales) Regulations 2006 (“2006 Transition Regulations”) make provision for transition under pre-Curriculum for Wales arrangements. The Transition from Primary to Secondary School (Wales) Regulations 2022 (“2022 Transition Regulations) and the Requirement for the Production of Transition Plans Guidance 2022 (“Transition Guidance”) set out requirements for transition from primary to secondary school under Curriculum for Wales and revoke and replace the 2006 Transition Regulations.

Under the 2022 Transition Regulations governing bodies of maintained secondary schools and feeder primary schools must jointly draw up a single transition plan to support transition of learners from year 6 to year 7. Provision for individual feeder primary schools within the plan can be different, but there must only be a single plan held by the secondary school. The first transition plan for a secondary school and each of its feeder primary schools must be published on or before the 1 September 2022 and this first transition plan applies to learners in year 6 during the 2022 to 2023 academic year who expect to move to year 7 in September 2023.

Governing bodies must ensure the following matters are dealt with when drafting a transition plan:

general proposals for managing and co-ordinating the transition of learners from the feeder primary schools to the secondary school
general proposals for how continuity of learning will be achieved through curriculum design and planning for learning and teaching for learners in Year 6 moving to Year 7
proposals for how each individual learner’s progression will be supported as they transition from primary school to secondary school
proposals for how the learning needs and the well-being of each individual learner will be supported as they transition from primary school to secondary school
it has helped achieve continuity of learning
it has helped support individual learner progression.

The Transition guidance sets out in the assessment section of this Framework guidance is statutory and published under section 198 of the Education Act 2002.

Reading and numeracy assessments

As part of their ongoing assessment arrangements to support understanding of learner progression in the mandatory cross-curricular skills in Curriculum for Wales, schools are required to use personalised assessments in reading and numeracy. These assessments are available for flexible use throughout the year, and schools should use them as part of a range of assessment approaches for learners in Years 2 to 9, in accordance with the administration handbook .

Requirements relating to reading and numeracy assessments for learners in Years 2 to 9 lie within the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for Reading and Numeracy) (Wales) Order 2013 which places duties on head teachers of maintained schools to administer these assessments. Transitional legislative provision is in place until September 2024 at which time new regulations will be made in respect of reading and numeracy assessment from 2024 onwards.

In keeping with the formative purpose of these assessments, the requirement for a governing body to send a school’s reading and numeracy assessment results to their local authority (as set out in the School Performance Information (Wales) Regulations 2011) has now been removed.

Sharing Information with parents and carers

Requirements for the provision of information to parents and carers in respect of a learner’s progress and attainment within pre-Curriculum for Wales arrangements are set out in the Head Teacher’s Report to Parents and adult Pupil (Wales) Regulations 2011.

The Provision of Information to Parents and Adult Pupil (Wales) Regulations 2022 (“the 2022 Provision of Information Regulations) place duties on head teachers of maintained schools, including maintained nursery schools, to provide information to parents and carers and adult learners in respect of a learner’s progress against the school or setting’s curriculum and details of the future progression needs and how they can be supported, both by the school or setting and the parent and carer. These Regulations are being rolled out on a phased basis as part of the Curriculum for Wales roll out and will eventually revoke the 2011 Regulations. These regulations go beyond the 3-16 continuum as they include provision for adult learners and reports for school leavers who are post compulsory school age.

The 2022 Provision of Information Regulations place duties on head teachers of maintained schools to make arrangements for information on progress of the learner to be provided to:

adult learners
the parents of adult learners (if it is considered appropriate)
to the parents and carers of learners at a school.

To ensure parents and carers have the relevant information needed to be able to offer support to their child throughout the academic year, head teachers are required to put in place arrangements so that the following information is shared with them for learners:

a brief summary of the learner’s well-being
a brief commentary on their key progress and learning
a brief summary of the key progression needs of the learner and the next steps to support their progression
brief advice on how the parent and carer can support their child’s progression.

How this information is provided to the parent or carer or adult learner is to be decided by the head teacher but must be provided before the end of each term.

Provision of termly information focuses on identifying key learning and key progress made by the learner throughout the term and identifying their key future progress needs. However, it will remain important for parents and carers and adult learners to understand the overall progress of a learner across the year. Whilst termly progress updates can improve engagement and understanding of key learner progress and needs, it remains important that parents and carers have a picture of the learner’s overall progress across the breadth of the curriculum.

The 2022 Provision of Information Regulations therefore place a duty on the head teacher to make arrangements to provide information on the annual progress of learners, including any adult learners. This information must include:

a brief commentary about the progress in learning across the relevant curriculum
a brief summary of the learner’s progression needs and the next steps to support their progression
brief advice on how parents and carers can support their child’s progression
feedback and progress on the learner’s personalised assessments, as set out in the personalised assessments administration handbook
brief commentary about the learner’s well-being
a brief summary of any qualifications attained
a summary of the learner’s attendance during the period showing the number of authorised and unauthorised absences (within the meaning of the Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010 ) and the number of possible attendances
particulars of the arrangements under which the information provided may be discussed with the learner’s teachers by the parent and carers or adult learner.

It will be for the headt eacher to determine the most appropriate form with which to provide information to parents and carers and the timing of the provision of annual progress information.

Headteachers must make a school leaver’s report available to any learner who ceases to be of compulsory school age when they leave the school, to support their onward education or vocational journey. The school leaver’s report must be provided no later than 30 September following the end of the school year during which, or at the end of which the learner left the school and must include:

the learner’s name
the learner’s school or setting
details of any approved relevant qualification and any unit or credit towards such a qualification awarded to the learner
brief particulars of the learner’s progress and achievements in subjects (other than those in which the learner has achieved a qualification or a unit or credit towards a qualification)
brief particulars of the learner’s progress in any activities forming part of the school curriculum, in the school year during or at the end of which the learner left the school.

Certain sections of the report require the learner’s signature to confirm:

the learner’s school
brief particulars of the learner’s progress and achievements in subjects (other than those in which the learner has achieved a qualification or a unit or credit towards a qualification).

A signature of a practitioner who is familiar with the learner and their achievements is required in the section of the report referring to details of any qualifications and any units or credits towards qualifications awarded.

If it appears necessary, head teachers should translate documents or information under the legislation or provided in an alternative format such as braille or audio tape.

Regulation 10 of the 2022 Provision of Information Regulations places certain restrictions on the inclusion of certain information being provided to parents and carers and adult pupils. In summary those restrictions are as set out below.

The information provided should not include information:

an employee of the local authority which maintains the school
in the case of a voluntary aided school, a practitioner or other employee at the school (including an educational psychologist engaged by the governing body under a contract for services)
an education welfare officer
the person requesting disclosure, or
to the extent that it would reveal, or enable to be deduced, the identity of a third person as the source of the information or as a person to whom that information relates
to the extent that disclosure would (in the opinion of the headteacher) be likely to cause serious harm to the physical or mental health or emotional condition of the learner to whom the information relates or of any other person, or to the extent that (in the opinion of the headteacher) it is relevant to the question whether the learner to which it relates is or has been the subject of or may be at risk of child abuse.

Funded non-maintained nursery settings

This section summarises requirements for settings . It should also be read in conjunction with the sections relating to RSE, RVE, CWRE and wider requirements.

Section 80 of the Act defines the meaning of such settings.

Development and assessment

There is no duty to design a curriculum placed on settings. Instead, the Act ( section 13 ) requires that the Welsh Ministers publish a curriculum suitable for use in settings. That curriculum must comply with Curriculum for Wales requirements, including the mandatory elements. The Welsh Ministers are required to keep this curriculum under review and revise it as necessary. This curriculum is published on Hwb.

While it may be advantageous to do so, settings are not required to use the curriculum published by the Welsh Ministers, they can develop their own.

However, if a setting decides to develop its own curriculum, it must ensure it complies with the concepts and mandatory requirements set out in the Act.

There is a duty on settings to make and implement assessment arrangements to support learner progression within their adopted curriculum. In order to meet this duty, settings can adopt the assessment arrangements Welsh Ministers have made available.

Settings’ curriculum arrangements must be informed by the development and maintenance of a shared understanding of progression in line with the Minister’s Direction under section 57 of the Act .

Settings must adopt a curriculum that complies with the concepts and mandatory requirements, and publish a summary of it. This curriculum may be the curriculum published by the Welsh Ministers, but as noted above it doesn’t have to be.

information on how the setting is approaching learning progression and its arrangements for assessment
how the curriculum is being kept under review, including the process for parental feedback and ongoing revision

Curriculum summaries should be published before the start of the academic year. Exemplification can be found within the engagement toolkit for settings.

There are no specific requirements for settings on how they adopt their curriculum, however, they should be able to evidence that this has been done.

Local authorities must also ensure that settings in their areas implement their curricula in a way that:

takes account of each learner’s ALN (if any)

The adopted curriculum must also be implemented in a way that secures learning and teaching for each learner that:

provides pluralistic RVE for learners below compulsory school age (typically those aged 3 to 5 years)

Making and implementing assessment arrangements

Where a setting chooses not to adopt the Welsh Government’s assessment arrangements they must ensure the assessment arrangement that are made:

require the assessment of every learner throughout the school year by the relevant practitioner
are implemented.

Where a setting chooses not to adopt the Welsh Government’s published assessment arrangements they must ensure that the arrangements for assessing on-entry:

take place within 6 weeks of the learner first beginning in the setting.

A setting must keep their curriculum under review and must revise it if it no longer complies with the concepts and mandatory requirements set out above. The curriculum can be updated at any time, but on updating a setting must also publish an updated summary. This should happen before the start of the following academic year.

A setting must keep their assessment arrangements under review and revise them if they no longer comply with assessment requirements or there are revisions to the adopted curriculum, whether that is the Welsh Ministers’ published curriculum or one the setting has developed itself.

These are matters settings should consider when implementing their curriculum on a day to day basis.

Section 41 makes provision relating to applying exceptions to the curriculum requirements for learners with ALN. Local authorities may disapply or modify parts or all of the curriculum implementation requirements for those learners with individual development plans under Part 2 of the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 or with special education needs under the Children and Families Act for children living in England. The disapplication or modification of the curriculum should be outlined in the learner’s individual development plan, or in the case of learners living in England and educated in Wales, in their education, health and care plans.

There is a separate and additional power in section 42 of the Act for providers to make temporary exceptions to disapply, or apply with modifications, all or some of the 2021 Act curriculum requirements.

This is a continuation of existing broadly similar provisions that currently only apply to maintained schools on allowing temporary exceptions from curriculum requirements where circumstances require it, for example where a learner is undergoing treatment for an acute illness and cannot reasonably be expected to fulfil the requirements of the setting’s curriculum. In such circumstances it is essential that the setting have the discretion to temporarily except learners from some or all of the curriculum without having to apply a prescriptive or onerous process. The learner would stay a learner in the setting but would be excepted from curriculum requirements for a finite time.

Provisions in the 2021 Act and in the Temporary Exceptions Regulations provide safeguards to ensure parents and carers are able to participate in the process.

The Temporary Exceptions Regulations will allow learners and parents or carers to request a determination be made, varied or revoked and requires the setting to respond to such a request within two weeks.

The Welsh Ministers can give a direction to settings (under section 38 of the Act) to enable them to participate in development work or experiments. Such a direction may modify or disapply curriculum implementation duties for a period specified in the direction, so that the development work or experiment can take place. A direction could, therefore, be used to allow settings to take part in a pilot for proposed curriculum changes. There are specific conditions that must be met in order for the Welsh Ministers to give such a direction, which ensure learners affected by the direction continue to receive a suitable curriculum.

Pupil referral units

This section summarises requirements for PRUs . It should also be read in conjunction with the sections below relating to RSE, RVE, CWRE and wider requirements.

Section 81 of the Act defines the meaning of PRUs.

A local authority, management committee and teacher in charge of a PRU must jointly ensure that the curriculum at the PRU meets the requirements of the Act. A PRU is a school established by a local authority under section 19A of the Education Act 1996.

A curriculum must:

provide for appropriate progression for learners
be broad and balanced, so far as is appropriate for learners

A curriculum must make provision for learning and teaching that:

encompasses the Health and well-being Area
encompasses the mandatory RSE Code (which must be developmentally appropriate for learners)

A curriculum must also make provision, if it is reasonably possible and appropriate to do so, for learning and teaching in:

the other Areas
the other mandatory elements
information on how the PRU is approaching learning progression and its arrangements for assessment

Assessment in PRUs

The local authority, the management committee and the teacher in charge of a PRU are required to make and implement on-going assessment arrangements to support learner progression throughout the school year, and to make arrangements for assessing the ability and aptitude of learners in respect of the relevant Curriculum, on entry to a setting to identify the next steps in their progression and the learning and teaching needed to support that progress.

The teacher in charge of a PRU must ensure the curriculum is implemented in a way that:

enables the learner to develop in the ways described in the four purposes
secures learning and teaching that offers appropriate progression for the learner
is suitable for the learner’s age, ability and aptitude
takes account of the learner’s additional learning needs (if any)
secures learning and teaching that is broad and balanced, so far as is appropriate for the learner

The teacher in charge of a PRU must ensure their curriculum is implemented in a way that secures learning and teaching for each learner that:

encompasses the Health and Well-being Area
encompasses the mandatory RSE Code (which is suitable for each learner’s stage of development)

The teacher in charge must also consider what learning and teaching it would be appropriate to provide for each learner in the other Areas and the other mandatory elements; and ensure, as far as reasonably possible, that the learning and teaching is provided for the learner.

The local authority, the management committee and the teacher in charge of a PRU must ensure that the assessment arrangements that are made:

are suitable for learners of differing ages, abilities and aptitudes are implemented.

Assessment arrangements must be made at the same time as the PRU’s curriculum is being designed.

PRUs must ensure that the arrangements for assessing on-entry:

require the assessment of abilities and aptitudes of learners against the PRU’s curriculum to determine the next steps in their progression and the learning and teaching needed to make that progress

take place within 6 weeks of the learner first registering in the PRU.

Learners up to Year 9 who have dual registration in a mainstream school and a PRU should take personalised assessments in reading and numeracy. The responsibility for ensuring the assessments are taken rests with the headteacher of the mainstream school at which the learner is registered, who can arrange for the learner to take the personalised assessments in either setting.

The local authority, the management committee and the teacher in charge of a PRU must keep their curriculum under review and must revise it if it no longer complies with the requirements of the Act. Likewise, local authorities must keep the curriculum for PRUs in their area under review and must ensure they are revised as necessary. In considering whether a curriculum for a learner complies with those requirements, the local authority must have regard to information derived from any assessment arrangements. If a PRU’s curriculum is revised, they must publish a summary of the revised curriculum. This should happen before the start of the following academic year.

The management committee, the teacher in charge of a PRU and the responsible local authority must keep the unit’s on-going assessment arrangements and the arrangements for assessing on-entry, under review and must revise them if they no longer comply with the requirements of the regulations , if the curriculum for the unit is revised or if they consider it appropriate to do so at any time.

The Multiple Settings Regulations place a requirement on local authorities to prepare and review plans as to the learning and teaching to be provided for individual learners subject to the Curriculum for Wales who are registered in more than one education setting. For example, a learner may be registered at the same time a maintained school and at a PRU.

The appropriate local authority will be required to prepare a plan setting out how it will secure:

the teaching and learning to be provided for the learner at each school or setting

The appropriate local authority for the purposes of these Regulations, where a learner is:

a looked after child, the appropriate local authority is the local authority that looks after the child
not a looked after child, the appropriate local authority is the local authority responsible for the child.

The purpose of these provisions is to ensure learners registered in more than one setting receive the full curriculum as appropriate for them. The benefits include making provision for enabling easier transition of EOTAS learners back into mainstream education, where appropriate to the needs of the learner, and reducing the ambiguity over who is responsible for providing learning and teaching where a learner is registered in more than one setting.

The Act contains further duties for listed persons, including teachers in charge of PRUs and local authorities, when they exercise functions under this Act. Those listed must:

have regard to the mental health and emotional well-being of learners likely to be affected by the exercise of the function. In practice, this means considering the impact of any function on learners’ mental health and emotional well-being. This includes how learning is presented, structured and organised and its place in the wider school context, which will affect learners’ well-being
promote knowledge and understanding of Part 1 of the UNCRC and the UNCPRD to those who provide learning and teaching
co-operate with other PRUs, EOTAS providers, settings, schools, local authorities and further education institutions if doing so will help them exercise their functions under the Act
consider a request for co-operation if one is made (powers to collaborate in the Education (Wales) Measure 2011 remain in force)
have regard to any guidance issued by the Welsh Ministers under the Act

This section summarises requirements for PRUs consequential to the Act.

The Provision of Information to Parents and Adult Pupil (Wales) Regulations 2022 (2022 Provision of Information Regulations) place duties on teachers in charge of a PRU to provide information to parents and carers and adult learners in respect of a learner’s progress against the setting’s curriculum and details of the future progression needs and how they can be supported, both by the setting and the parent or carer. These regulations are being rolled out on a phased basis as part of the Curriculum for Wales roll out, and will eventually revoke the 2011 Regulations in September 2028. These regulations go beyond the 3-16 continuum as they include provision for adult learners and reports for school leavers who are post compulsory school age.

The 2022 Provision of Information Regulations therefore place duties on school headteachers to make arrangements for information on progress of the learner to be provided to:

the parents and carers of adult learners (if it is considered appropriate)

To ensure parents and carers have the relevant information needed to be able to offer support to their child throughout the academic year, teachers in charge of a PRU are required to put in place arrangements so that the following information is shared with them for learners:

brief advice on how the parent or carer can support their child’s progression.

How this information is provided to the parent and carer and adult learner is to be decided by the teacher in charge of the unit but must be provided before the end of each term.

Provision of termly information focuses on identifying key progress and learning and key progress needs. However, it will remain important for parents and carers and adult learners to understand the overall progress of a learner across the year. Whilst termly progress updates can improve engagement and understanding of key learner progress and needs, it remains important that parents and carers have a picture of the learner’s overall progress across the breadth of the curriculum.

The 2022 Provision of Information Regulations therefore place a duty on the teacher in charge of a unit to make arrangements to provide information on the annual progress of learners, including any adult learners. This information must include:

a summary of the learner’s attendance during the period showing the number of authorised and unauthorised absences (within the meaning of the Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010) and the number of possible attendances
particulars of the arrangements under which the information provided may be discussed with the learner’s teachers by the parent and carer or adult learner.

It will be for the teacher in charge to determine the most appropriate form with which to provide information to parents and carers and the timing of the provision of annual progress information.

A teacher in charge of a unit must make a school leaver’s report available to any learner who ceases to be of compulsory school age when they leave the school, to support their onward education or vocational journey. The school leaver’s report must be provided no later than 30 September following the end of the school year during which, or at the end of which the learner left the school and must include:

If it appears necessary, the teacher in charge of a unit should translate documents or information under the legislation or provided in an alternative format such as braille or audio tape.

to the extent that disclosure would (in the opinion of the headteacher) be likely to cause serious harm to the physical or mental health or emotional condition of the learner to whom the information relates or of any other person, or to the extent that (in the opinion of the head teacher) it is relevant to the question whether the learner to which it relates is or has been the subject of or may be at risk of child abuse.

Education other than at school

This section summarises requirements for providers of education other than at school (EOTAS) or PRUs. It should also be read in conjunction with the sections below relating to RSE, RVE, CWRE and wider requirements.

EOTAS is defined under section 19A of the Education Act 1996 (c. 56) .

A local authority must secure a curriculum for any learner for which they make education arrangements under section 19A of the Education Act 1996. Local authorities must also ensure they have a curriculum that complies with the Act.

be suitable for the learner’s age, ability and aptitude
be broad and balanced, so far as is appropriate for the learner
encompasses the mandatory RSE Code (which must be developmentally appropriate for the learner)
develops the mandatory cross-curricular skills .

The local authority is required to make and implement on-going assessment arrangements to support learner progression throughout the year for a curriculum secured under section 19A of the Education Act 1996 other than at a PRU. The local authority is also required to make arrangements for assessing the ability and aptitude of learners in respect of the relevant curriculum, on entry to a setting to identify the next steps in their progression and the learning and teaching needed to support that progress.

Local authorities (for learners for which they make education arrangements under section 19A of the Education Act 1996) must ensure the curriculum is implemented in a way that:

The local authority must ensure that the assessment arrangements that are made:

Assessment arrangements must be made at the same time as the secured curriculum is being designed.

Local Authorities must ensure that the arrangements for assessing on-entry:

require the assessment of abilities and aptitudes of learners against the providers’ curriculum to determine the next steps in their progression and the learning and teaching needed to make that progress
take place within 6 weeks of the learner first being provided with education through local authority EOTAS provision.

A local authority must keep the curriculum for any learner for which they make education arrangements under section 19A of the Education Act 1996 (other than at a PRU) under review and must revise it if it no longer complies with the Act. In considering whether a curriculum for a learner complies with those requirements, the local authority must have regard to information derived from any assessment arrangements.

The local authority must keep under review the on-going assessment arrangements and the arrangements for assessing on-entry for a curriculum secured for a learner. They must revise these arrangements if they no longer comply with the requirements of the regulations ; if the secured curriculum for a learner is revised or if the local authority considers it appropriate to do so.

The Multiple Settings Regulations place a requirement on local authorities to prepare and review plans as to the learning and teaching to be provided for individual learners subject to the Curriculum for Wales who are registered in more than one education setting. For example, learner may be registered at the same time a maintained school and at a non-PRU EOTAS provider.

arrangements for reporting the learner’s progress to parents and carers
not a looked after child, the appropriate local authority is the local authority responsible for the child

The purpose of these provisions is to ensure children registered in more than one setting receive the full curriculum as appropriate for them. The benefits include making provision for enabling easier transition of EOTAS learners back into mainstream education, where appropriate to the needs of the learner, and reducing the ambiguity over who is responsible for providing learning and teaching where a learner is registered in more than one setting.

The Act contains further duties for listed persons, including local authorities, when they exercise functions under this Act. Those listed must:

Relationships and sexuality education

RSE is a mandatory element of the Framework and a curriculum must accord with the RSE Code. This means schools and settings must include the learning set out in the Code. A curriculum does not encompass the mandatory element of RSE unless it accords with the provision in the RSE Code. In other words, learning and teaching must accord with the RSE Code and the themes and matters set out in it.

The RSE Code is set out and signposted in the RSE section of the Framework guidance.

This Code is issued under section 8 of the Act.

RSE guidance

The RSE section of the Framework guidance also includes guidance on developing RSE within a curriculum and how to implement it. This is statutory guidance and is issued under section 71 of the Act. Those responsible for designing and developing a curriculum must read and have regard to this guidance when designing it.

Under the Act, this guidance is statutory for the following:

the headteacher of a maintained school or a maintained nursery school
the governing body of a maintained school or a maintained nursery school
a provider of funded non-maintained nursery education
the teacher in charge of a pupil referral unit
the management committee for a pupil referral unit
a person who provides teaching and learning for a child, otherwise than at a maintained school, maintained nursery school or pupil referral unit (EOTAS)
a local authority in Wales

As outlined in section 50 of the Act, EOTAS settings must include provision for teaching and learning that encompasses RSE, and this must be developmentally appropriate.

RSE is best realised drawing on partnerships with a wide range of people and organisations. It therefore may also be useful for businesses; communities; public sector charitable and voluntary organisations and others who work in partnership with schools and settings. It also includes information that parents and carers are likely to find useful.

Pluralistic requirement

In all schools and settings, RSE must be objective, critical, and pluralistic as to its content and manner of teaching (see the case of ‘Dojan and Others v. Germany 2011 application no. 319/08’). By pluralistic we mean that that where questions of values are concerned, schools and settings must provide a range of views on a given subject, commonly held within society. This also means providing a range of factual information on RSE issues. In all schools, where they explore specific beliefs or views, this must include a range of other faith and non-religious views on the issue.

For example, schools may include learning about current tensions, disagreements or debates within society, or they may explore different perspectives within faiths on issues. Developing this pluralism is important in ensuring learners develop as informed citizens who are aware of and sensitive to a range of different opinions, values and beliefs. This supports them to engage with and navigate potential tensions.

A good understanding of learners’ views, emerging values and backgrounds is central to developing this pluralism. Positive relationships with wider communities can help to create a constructive context for exploring aspects and tensions in a sensitive way.

Children’s rights

Children Rights under the UNCRC are central to all of the Welsh Government’s work, in line with its commitments and duty to have regard to the UNCRC in all that it does.

Schools and settings can also link learning to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Schools and settings are also encouraged to effectively link learning where appropriate to the Public Sector Equality Duty (2010); and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act (2015).

Equality Act 2010

Schools are required to comply with relevant requirements of the Equality Act 2010.

In particular, schools and settings should note that compliance with the public sector equality duty is a legal requirement for local authority maintained schools (including PRUs) in Wales and it makes good educational sense to comply with it. The public sector equality duty helps schools to focus on key issues of concern and how to improve outcomes for all learners. The duty includes identifying where we can take action to advance equality of opportunity, eliminate discrimination and foster good relations, and where possible, mitigate negative impacts which may result from decisions.

In all schools and settings teaching should reflect the law (including the Equality Act 2010) as it applies to relationships, so that learners clearly understand what the law allows and does not allow, and the wider legal implications of decisions they may make.

Under the provisions of the Equality Act, schools must not unlawfully discriminate against learners on the basis of their age, sex, race, disability, religion or belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, marriage or civil partnership, or sexual orientation (collectively known as the protected characteristics ). Schools must also make reasonable adjustments to alleviate disadvantage.

Provisions within the Equality Act 2010 allow schools to take positive action, where it can be shown that it is proportionate, to deal with particular disadvantages affecting one group because of a protected characteristic. This should be taken into consideration in designing and teaching RSE.

Schools should consider the makeup of their own body of learners, including their gender and age range, and consider whether it is appropriate or necessary to put in place additional support for learners with particular protected characteristics (which mean that they are potentially at greater risk). Schools should consider what they can do to foster healthy and respectful peer-to-peer communication and behaviour between learners, and provide an environment, which challenges perceived limits based on their gender or any other characteristic, including through curriculum areas and as part of a whole-school approach.

Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015

The Welsh Government passed the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. The 2015 Act provides a focus on violence against women and girls by requiring persons exercising functions (local authority and Local Health Board) under the Act (defined in section 2(2) of that Act as “relevant functions”), to have regard to the need to remove or minimise factors which increase the risk, or exacerbate the impact on victims, of violence against women and girls. However, a person exercising relevant functions must also have regard to all other relevant matters. In so doing the Welsh Government has sought to raise awareness of these issues and to impose functions on those strategic bodes to have a plan to remove or minimise such behaviours.

Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence touches many lives. This has particularly serious implications for learners, as victims themselves, in households where domestic abuse plays a part. It can impact on their safety, mental and physical health and general well-being. It affects family and peer relationships, and potential to enjoy healthy, happy, respectful relationships in the future; and it can impact on current and future educational attainment.

There will be learners and staff within schools who are currently experiencing, or at risk of using abusive behaviour against women, domestic abuse or sexual violence, or have done so in the past. Schools and settings should be responsible for making sure their learners and staff are safe and healthy.

The Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 presents an opportunity to lead the way on prevention work in Wales. Schools and settings provide an environment where positive attitudes towards gender equality and healthy, respectful relationships can be fostered through a rights-based approach.

Adopting a whole-school approach that includes preventative education within, and which also involves the wider community is vital.

The Welsh Government's Whole Education Approach to Violence against Woman, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence in Wales: Good Practice Guide was developed in conjunction with Welsh Women’s Aid. It is intended to be a practical and useful toolkit for embedding principles of a whole education approach to address violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. It recognises the importance of education settings being environments where positive attitudes towards gender equality and healthy, respectful relationships can be fostered.

The Welsh Government has also published practical guidance for school governors on the need to develop a policy on violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence; how to recognise indicators of abuse and where to get support for themselves, their colleagues or their learners.

Religion, values and ethics

Legal status of the rve guidance.

The guidance on RVE contained within the Humanities Area is statutory and published under section 71 of the Act and designed to assist those responsible under the Act for designing the RVE syllabus as part of the school curriculum.

Advice on the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) can also be found in the legislation summary of the Framework.

Legislative changes for the provision of religion, values and ethics

Under the Act the legislative changes set out below have taken place in relation to religious education.

Agreed syllabus

The change from religious education to religion, values and ethics.

The change of name reflects the expanded scope of religious education (RVE) and ensures the legislation itself is clear that RVE includes non-religious philosophical views. Provision in the Act is linked to the term “philosophical convictions” within the meaning of Article 2 Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (A2P1). In other words the RVE provided in accordance with the Act must be compatible with A2P1 in that it must include teaching on philosophical convictions within the meaning of A2P1.

The scope of RVE in the agreed syllabus

The Act makes it explicit that any agreed syllabus for RVE must reflect both religious beliefs and also non-religious beliefs which are philosophical convictions within the meaning of A2P1. These include beliefs such as humanism, atheism and secularism. That is not an exhaustive list but just examples of the sort of beliefs that are within scope of RVE. These changes make explicit what the law already requires in respect of pluralistic RVE.

Meaning of non-religious philosophical convictions in the agreed syllabus

When considering religions and non-religious philosophical convictions, it is helpful to refer to the 2008 Council of Europe recommendation on the dimension of religions and non-religious convictions within education which states:

“Religious and non-religious convictions are diverse and complex phenomena; they are not monolithic. In addition, people hold religious and non-religious convictions to varying degrees, and for different reasons; for some such convictions are central and may be a matter of choice, for others they are subsidiary and may be a matter of historical circumstances. The dimension of religions and non-religious convictions within intercultural education should therefore reflect such diversity and complexity at a local, regional and international level”.

(Council of Europe 2008a, appendix; paragraph 3).

Signposts: Policy and practice for teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews in intercultural education (Council of Europe, 2014, p.67).

The Act refers to ‘non-religious philosophical convictions’ and not ‘philosophical convictions’. This is because religious philosophical convictions are already covered by the section that refers to ‘religions’.

The Act requires agreed syllabus RVE to include non-religious philosophical convictions. The courts have held that when taken on its own, it is not synonymous with the terms “opinions” and “ideas”. It denotes views that attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance (Valsamis v Greece, §§ 25 and 27).

Set out below are some examples where the courts have decided a belief is a philosophical conviction within the meaning of the ECHR. It should be kept in mind that these are just examples and not an exhaustive list:

atheism, agnosticism, and scepticism have been held to be philosophical convictions. (R (Williamson) v Secretary of State for Education and Employment [2005] AC 246, paras 24 and 75)
pacifism was found to be a philosophical conviction. (Arrowsmith v the United Kingdom, Commission report, § 69)
principled opposition to military service was found to be a philosophical conviction. (Bayatyan v Armenia [GC])
veganism and opposition to the manipulation of products of animal origin or tested on animals was found to be a philosophical conviction (W v the United Kingdom, Commission decision)

Meaning of religion

The Act requires the agreed syllabus element of RVE to be designed to include the mandatory element of Religion, Values and Ethics. What is meant by that is clarified in section 375A of the 1996 Act which refers to religious traditions to mean religious traditions in Wales which are in the main Christian but which also takes account of the teaching and religious practices of other principal religions in Wales. In summary what must be included is a range of different religions and non-religious views. The term “religion” in this context is given its conventional or ordinary meaning and as conventionally understood. We regard a religion to have the following characteristics:

the followers have a belief in a supreme being (the concept of a supreme being includes but is not limited to the longstanding concept of a monotheistic Christian God)
the followers take part in worship of that supreme being, that is acts or practices in which they give expression to their belief in the supreme being and show reverence for, or veneration of, it
the organisation advances that religion through its activities.

Set out below are some examples where the courts have decided a belief is a philosophical conviction within the meaning of the ECHR. These are just examples of some religions and not an exhaustive list.

Alevism (Cumhuriyetçi Egitim ve Kültür Merkezi Vakfi v Turkey; Izzettin Dogan and Others v Turkey)
Buddhism (Jakóbski v Poland)
the different Christian denominations among many other authorities (Svyato-Mykhaylivska Parafiya v Ukraine; Savez crkava “Rijec života” and Others v Croatia)
the various forms of Hinduism, including the Hare Krishna movement (Kovalkovs v Latvia (dec.); Genov v Bulgaria
the various forms of Islam (Hassan and Tchaouch v Bulgaria [GC]; Leyla Sahin v Turkey [GC]), including Ahmadism (Metodiev and Others v Bulgaria)
Judaism (Cha’are Shalom Ve Tsedek v France [GC]; Francesco Sessa v Italy).
Sikhism (Phull v France (Dec); Jasvir Singh v France)
the Jehovah’s Witnesses (Religionsgemeinschaft der Zeugen Jehovas and Others v Austria; Jehovah’s Witnesses of Moscow and Others v Russia)

Community schools, foundation, and voluntary schools without a religious character

In the case of community, foundation and voluntary schools without a religious character, the Act requires the provision in the curriculum for teaching and learning encompassing RVE to have been designed having regard to the agreed syllabus. (The “agreed syllabus” in the context of the Schedule is the RVE syllabus adopted by the local authority under section 375A of the 1996 Act for use in schools maintained by the authority). The Act requires this RVE provision to be implemented for all learners.

Foundation and voluntary controlled schools that have a religious character

For these schools, the Act requires the provision in the curriculum for teaching and learning encompassing RVE to have been designed having regard to the agreed syllabus.

However, in the case of these schools, there is an additional requirement which applies only if the provision that has been designed having regard to the agreed syllabus does not accord with the school’s trust deed, or the tenets of its religion or religious denomination.

The first step in determining whether this additional requirement applies is to consider whether the provision designed having regard to the agreed syllabus accords with any provision in the school’s trust deed that relates to teaching and learning in respect of RVE. If there is not any provision in the trust deed that relates to teaching and learning in respect of RVE, the next step will be to consider whether the provision accords with the tenets of the religion or denomination specified in relation to the school by an order under section 68A of the Schools and Standards Framework Act 1998 (the 1998 Act). Only if the provision does not accord with the trust deed or the relevant tenets will the additional requirement apply. If this additional requirement applies, the school’s curriculum must also include provision for RVE that does accord with the school’s trust deed, or the tenets of its religion or religious denomination.

The Act requires the teaching and learning secured for learners to be designed having regard to the agreed syllabus. But there is an exception to this general requirement which enables parents and carers to request that their child be provided, instead, with the additional provision that accords with the school’s trust deed, or the tenets of its religion or denomination. If a request of this type is made, it must be complied with.

Voluntary aided schools that have a religious character

For these schools the Act requires the curriculum to make provision for teaching and learning in respect of RVE that accords with the school’s trust deed or the tenets of its religion or denomination (“the denominational RVE”). This aspect of RVE at such schools does not have to be designed in accordance with the agreed syllabus.

Again, there is an additional requirement. For schools of this type, the additional requirement applies only if the provision that has been designed (that is, which accords with the trust deed or tenets of the school’s religion or denomination) does not accord with the agreed syllabus. In this case, the school’s curriculum must also include provision for RVE that has been designed having regard to the agreed syllabus. In practice this may mean a voluntary aided school with a religious character has two forms of RVE: its denominational RVE and its non-denominational RVE (that is, designed in accordance with the agreed syllabus).

The Act requires the teaching and learning secured for learners to be that for which provision accords with the school’s trust deed or its religion or denomination. But again there is an exception to this general requirement which enables parents and carers to request that their child be provided, instead, with the additional provision designed having regard to the agreed syllabus). If a request of this type is made, it must be complied with.

Changes to the constitution of agreed syllabus conferences and standing advisory councils on religious education

The Act provides for the appointment of persons who represent holders of non-religious philosophical beliefs in the same way as they permit the appointment of persons who represent holders of religious beliefs.

It is a matter for the local authority to decide on the appointment of appropriate persons. The final decision on an appointment is dependent on the relevant local authority’s determination that such a representative would help ensure the relevant traditions of the area are appropriately reflected. Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education will be renamed Standing Advisory Councils for RVE.

The local authority must take all reasonable steps to secure that the membership of the group is broadly proportionate to the strength of each religion, denomination, or conviction in its local area (see new subsection (6A) and (6B) of section 390 inserted by paragraph 9(8) of the Schedule.

RVE Post 16

While the Framework relates to learners aged 3 to 16, this guidance is included here for completeness.

RVE post 16 is no longer mandatory by virtue of the Act provisions. In accordance with section 61 of the Act all learners over the age of 16 will now be able to opt into RVE, where previously there was a requirement for all learners in sixth form to study religious education. If a learner chooses to opt into RVE then the school must provide RVE which is objective, critical and pluralistic. This approach is consistent with the principle that learners of sufficient maturity should be able to make decisions that relate to their own learning.

Where a learner requests RVE pursuant to section 61 of the Act the RVE must be designed so that it:

reflects the fact that the religious traditions in Wales are in the main Christian while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Wales
also reflects the fact that a range of non-religious philosophical convictions are held in Wales

See paragraphs above for explanations of terms.

Section 61 of the Act does not prevent a school from imposing a requirement that all learners in its sixth form undertake compulsory RVE classes; nor does it prevent a school that adopts this approach from providing compulsory sixth form RVE that accords with the school’s trust deeds, or the tenets of its religion, or religious denomination (“denominational RVE”). The content of such denominational RVE remains a matter for the school.

Agreed Syllabus Conferences and the agreed syllabus for religion, values and ethics

This section is for local authorities, Standing Advisory Councils on RVE and Agreed Syllabus Conferences to clarify their roles and legal responsibilities with regards to RVE in the Curriculum for Wales and the agreed syllabus under the Act.

Legislative Changes

The legislative changes in the Act relating to the roles and legal responsibilities of Agreed Syllabus Conferences and Standing Advisory Councils are:

The Act makes it explicit that any agreed syllabus for RVE must reflect both religious beliefs and also non-religious which are philosophical convictions within the meaning of A2P1
provision for the appointment of persons who represent holders of non-religious philosophical convictions in the same way as they permit the appointment of persons who represent holders of religious beliefs

These are the only legislative changes within the Act relating to the roles and legal responsibilities of Standing Advisory Councils on RVE and Agreed Syllabus Conferences. The legislation relating to all their other existing roles and legal responsibilities remains unchanged.

More information on this can be found in this Legislation summary within the Framework.

The Act does not specify a date by which a first Agreed Syllabus Conference must prepare and recommend an agreed syllabus. A new syllabus replacing the current agreed syllabus must be adopted by a local authority for use in schools and settings implementing the Curriculum for Wales. Standing Advisory Council’s on RVE and Agreed Syllabus Conferences will therefore need to be constituted in sufficient time to feed through an agreed syllabus in line with the implementation of the Curriculum for Wales in 2022. The administration of this sits with the local authority.

Aims of the agreed syllabus

The agreed syllabus is not designed to be a scheme of work, but rather a helpful guide and legal reference point for schools to support them in designing an appropriate and relevant curriculum for their learners which includes RVE within the Humanities Area. The approach of the Framework is based on the principle of subsidiarity and, as such, each agreed syllabus should recognise and reflect the autonomy of each school and setting in realising its own curriculum. One of the intentions of this statutory RVE guidance is to provide the right balance between the central steer of the Framework and the requirements of local determination for RVE, as set out in agreed syllabi across Wales. Therefore, the statutory RVE guidance has been written as the basis for the agreed syllabus. Should a local authority wish to adopt or adapt this guidance as their agreed syllabus they may do so. It will ultimately be the responsibility of the provider to ensure that non-denominational RVE is provided pluralistically.

Agreed syllabuses should recognise that while the principal religions and their traditions in Wales should be taught in all schools, other beliefs (including non-religious philosophical convictions such as humanism and atheism) are now a recognised part of life within local areas in Wales and beyond. This is reflected in the Act which states that the agreed syllabus:

must reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Wales are in the main Christian while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Wales
must also reflect the fact that a range of non-religious philosophical convictions are held in Wales

The agreed syllabus and the Curriculum for Wales Framework

Establishing the relationship between the agreed syllabus and the Framework is the legal duty of Agreed Syllabus Conferences. Local authorities, Standing Advisory Councils and Agreed Syllabus Conferences must have regard to the Framework, which includes statutory RVE guidance, when developing and adopting an agreed syllabus. The agreed syllabus is the first point of reference for RVE provision in schools and settings, therefore it is essential for the agreed syllabus to recognise and reflect the approach of the Framework and the principles set out in the statutory RVE guidance in order to create balance and maintain coherence across the Curriculum for Wales. The statutory RVE guidance enables Agreed Syllabus Conferences to establish, with confidence, this relationship between the locally agreed syllabus and the Framework for learners aged 3 to 16. This includes guidance to support schools and settings in ensuring that there is appropriate breadth and depth in RVE while recognising the principle of subsidiarity.

The status of the agreed syllabus

An Agreed Syllabus Conference is a statutory body convened to prepare and recommend, or reconsider an agreed syllabus for RVE for the local authority to adopt. The local authority is responsible for convening the Agreed Syllabus Conference which implies a duty to provide funds and support for its work. The Agreed Syllabus Conference is a separate legal body from a Standing Advisory Council. However, it has the same group structure as the Standing Advisory Councils:

Group A - a group of persons to represent: Christian denominations and other religions and denominations of such religions; non-religious philosophical convictions. A local authority in Wales, in appointing such persons must take all reasonable steps to secure the outcome that the number of members appointed to the committee to represent a religion, denomination or non-religious philosophical conviction shall, so far as consistent with the efficient discharge of the committee's functions, reflect broadly the proportionate strength of that religion, denomination or non-religious philosophical conviction in the area.
Group B - a group of persons to represent such associations representing teachers as, in the opinion of the authority, ought to be represented, having regard to the circumstances of the area.
Group C - a group of persons to represent the authority.

There is no legal provision for an Agreed Syllabus Conference to include co-opted members, but it can seek the advice it considers appropriate from those it considers appropriate, to inform the development of effective RVE provision in its area.

Legal requirements for an Agreed Syllabus Conference

Every local authority is required to establish and support an Agreed Syllabus Conference which must:

schools maintained by the local authority
the religious traditions in Wales are in the main Christian while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Wales
a range of non-religious philosophical convictions are held in Wales
have regard to any guidance given by the Welsh Ministers
ensure that any sub-committees appointed by the conference shall include at least one member of each of the committees constituting the conference
give one vote only for each of the committees constituting the conference, upon any question to be decided by the conference or by any subcommittee thereof
seek unanimous agreement upon a syllabus of RVE to be recommended for adoption by the local education authority

As with a Standing Advisory Council, the Agreed Syllabus Conference must also meet in public and be chaired by an appointee of the local authority or be permitted to choose its own Chair.

Whenever a local authority is of the opinion (whether upon representations made to it or otherwise) that the agreed syllabus for RVE ought to be reconsidered, the local authority is responsible for convening an Agreed Syllabus Conference for that purpose. Reconsideration of an agreed syllabus for RVE should take place no later than every five years.

Questions for Agreed Syllabus Conferences and standing advisory councils to consider

Are religious and non-religious philosophical convictions appropriately represented?
Would it be useful to identify faith and belief groups represented locally in the agreed syllabus?
Would it be appropriate to offer schools and settings useful information about these faith and belief groups and how to contact them?
Would it be helpful to include exemplar material and resources to support the locally agreed syllabus?
How can collaboration between the Agreed Syllabus Conference and local authority schools and settings be facilitated to ensure an appropriate agreed syllabus is produced for your area?
Are there any other groups or organisations in Wales that could support the Agreed Syllabus Conference in developing the locally agreed syllabus for your area?
How will the locally agreed syllabus be promoted to schools and settings and other interested parties in your area?
How will your local Standing Advisory Council support schools and settings with RVE provision that has regard to the locally agreed syllabus?
In addition to the statutory RVE guidance for learners from 3 to 16, do schools and settings in your area require anything further to support curriculum design for RVE in ways which support the principle of subsidiarity? For example:
advice on links to other Areas
suggestions for optional post 16 RVE
a glossary of terms
advice on engaging with sensitive issues in RVE
guidance on what critical, objective and pluralistic RVE might look like

The right to withdraw in the Curriculum for Wales

From September 2022, there will be no parental right to withdraw from RVE in respect of all learners up to and including year 6, as the Curriculum for Wales will be implemented by all primary schools and settings from this date.

The guidance below is provided to support Standing Advisory Councils in advising secondary schools and settings on phasing out the right to withdraw from RVE correctly and appropriately for learners from year 7 to year 11 from September 2022.

In respect of year 7 learners, schools will have flexibility on whether to ‘opt in’ to the Curriculum for Wales in September 2022, or to introduce the new curriculum for years 7 and 8 together in September 2023. Guidance on the ‘opt in’ is provided in Journey to the curriculum rollout .

During the period of curriculum roll out, as a secondary school or setting ‘adopts’ the Framework for a particular year group, there will be no right to withdraw for learners in that year group from that academic year. Therefore, for those secondary schools and settings that do not opt in to the Curriculum for Wales in respect of year 7 in September 2022, the right to withdraw will remain for year 7 learners in the 2022 to 2023 academic year but will cease to exist for their year 7 and 8 learners in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

From September 2023, there will be no right to withdraw in respect of years 7 and 8 as all schools and settings will have implemented the Curriculum for Wales for those learners. Thereafter, the phased roll-out of the Curriculum for Wales will continue, and the right to withdraw will be removed for:

year 9 learners in September 2024
year 10 learners in September 2025
year 11 learners in September 2026

Careers and work related experiences

Status of guidance.

Guidance on how to develop a school or setting’s curriculum to incorporate careers and work related experiences (CWRE) is contained with the designing your curriculum section of this Framework guidance, as well as for each Area.

The guidance for CWRE is statutory and is issued under section 71 of the Act. Those responsible for designing and developing CWRE must read and have regard to this guidance when designing their curriculum.

the head teacher of a maintained school or a maintained nursery school

As outlined in section 50 of the Act, EOTAS settings are not required to design a curriculum for all Areas. However they must include the Health and Well-being Area and only include the other Areas to the extent reasonably possible and appropriate to do so. These settings should read the CWRE section of guidance, and in particular alongside the Health and well-being Area, on how to contextualise CWRE in the curriculum. The teacher in charge, management committees and local authorities should refer to separate guidance on designing a curriculum for these settings.

The CWRE guidance can be useful for those who are part of the planning, design and implementation of a curriculum such as:

senior leaders
CWRE co-ordinators or leaders
work placement co-ordinators
all practitioners in schools and settings, including those working with learners who have additional learning needs
those working in other education establishments that work in partnership with schools and settings, such as in further and higher education
those working in funded non-maintained nursery settings

CWRE is best realised in partnership with a wide range of people and organisations. While not statutory for them, it may also be useful for the following people and organisations with an interest in CWRE to note this guidance:

businesses, communities, charitable and voluntary organisations and others who work in partnership with schools and settings
learning coaches
personal tutors
Careers Wales
parents and carers

Wider requirements

There are a range of legislative requirements which settings and schools may need to consider or have regard to when managing their organisations. This section is not intended to detail these, but provide a signpost to those that have curriculum and assessment implications.

Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (the 2015 Act) does not place specific duties on schools. However it does require local and national government (alongside other public bodies) to carry out sustainable development. This means that they must work to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales.

This requires the Welsh Ministers and local authorities, among others, to set objectives designed to maximise their contribution to achieving each of the seven well-being goals and to take all reasonable steps in exercising its functions to meet those goals.

The 2015 Act also requires them to apply the sustainable development principle which includes adopting ways of working which will help to further sustainable development.

One of the Welsh Ministers’ well-being objectives is: ‘supporting young people to make the most of their potential.’ Our approach to curriculum reform contributes to achieving that objective and, through that, maximising our contribution to the well-being goals. It also reflects the sustainable development principle and the ways of working.

We encourage schools, funded non-maintained nursery settings, providers of EOTAS including PRUs to consider how they can embed the ways of working and contribute towards the well-being goals in the way they go about designing, adopting and implementing their curriculum and engaging learners, parents and carers and their wider communities, businesses and partners in that process.

UNCRC and UNCRPD

Human rights are the freedoms and protections to which all people are entitled. Learners have specific human rights enshrined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), including optional protocols. In Wales children’s rights are a fundamental entitlement, not an optional extra. These are enshrined in law through the Rights of the Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 .

In designing, adopting or implementing a curriculum, section 64 of the Act also places a duty on schools, settings, and providers of EOTAS including PRUs to promote knowledge and understanding of Part 1 of the UNCRC, and of the UNCRPD, among those who provide teaching and learning.

Further guidance on the UNCRC and UNCRPD can be found in the Human rights section of the Framework.

Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018

The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 creates a legislative framework to improve the planning and delivery of additional learning provision, through a person-centred approach to identifying needs early, putting in place effective support and monitoring, and adapting interventions to ensure they deliver desired outcomes.

The legal framework established by this Act plays a crucial role in enabling the curriculum to deliver strong and inclusive schools committed to excellence, equity and well-being.

The Framework seeks to allow for a broadening of learning, ensuring that all learners with ALN are supported to overcome barriers to learning and achieve their full potential.

Both the ALN system and the Framework are designed to deliver an inclusive and equitable education system in Wales. The provisions of the Act give life to this principle by placing a duty on local authorities to ensure that, wherever feasible, children and young people are supported to participate fully in mainstream education.

First published 28 January 2020
Last updated 31 January 2024

What is the Welsh Education System?

In General by Think Student Editor November 14, 2022 Leave a Comment

The United Kingdom is made up of four nations; England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The majority of students, in the UK, follow the English curriculum. However, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have their own separate education systems as well. Although each is fairly similar in terms of content, the structure varies from nation to nation. Depending on where in the UK you live and which exam boards your teachers choose for you, it’s important to understand each separate education system.

In the UK, students from Wales tend to follow the curriculum set by the Welsh Government. The structure is largely the same as the English one. However, in Wales, students do not have to follow the national curriculum until they reach the age of 7, and the curriculum provided is different from that of the English system. Unlike England, compulsory education in Wales ends at the age of 16 rather than 18.

For more information about the Welsh education system, how it differs from the English system and the laws on education which are in place as of 2022, read on.

Table of Contents

Is the Welsh education system the same as in England?

There are many similarities between the English and Welsh education systems. Children follow a national curriculum and must partake in GCSEs. These are both also features of the English education system.

One of the main differences between the Welsh and English systems is how young children are educated. In both England and Wales, the compulsory school starting age is technically 5 years old. Most parents choose to put their children into primary school at age 4 or nursery at age 3.

English primary education is split into early years (nursery), key stage 1 and key stage 2. In Wales, however, the key stages no longer exist.

Children aged between 3-7 years old are put into the “Foundation Stage” which has no curriculum. Instead, teachers are given the freedom to teach pupils what they deem to be important, as long as they follow four main principles of learning.

From ages 7-16, there are no set levels or stages. However, the national curriculum does start from this point. The curriculum flows smoothly and continuously through primary and secondary education, meaning there are no step-ups from year to year.

In England, children are assessed at the end of KS1 and KS2, as part of the SAT exams. You can read more about the SATs in England in this Think Student article . In Wales, the SAT exams do not exist. Although pupils took “national tests” until July 2022, those exams are no longer in place and have no replacement.

There are some other minor differences between the two education systems, such as how GCSE students in England are given a number grade. On the other hand, Welsh GCSEs still use the old A*-E letter grade system. To learn more on these differences and others, check out this article by Relocate Magazine.

Does Wales have a national curriculum?

From September 2022, the Welsh Government began enforcing a new national curriculum for all state school pupils in Wales . This new curriculum follows a different path to the English national curriculum and focusses less on purely giving children knowledge.

This new curriculum aims to give students equal weightings of knowledge, skill, and experience. The new curriculum has six main areas of learning which must be taught. The six compulsory areas of learning are as follows:

Expressive arts – this is for subjects such as drama and music, which will teach children how to be creative and express themselves.
Humanities – geography, history and religion alongside other social sciences are important in allowing children to understand the world around them.
Health and wellbeing – this covers any subject affecting children’s physical and mental wellbeing, including P.E and life skills.
Science and technology – chemistry, biology and physics are the essential sciences alongside others such as ICT and DT.
Mathematics and numeracy – in the Welsh curriculum, maths will fulfil the independent and collaborative elements of the scheme, as the subject should be taught with a mixture of individual and group work.
Language, literacy, and communication – seeing as Wales is a nation of two languages, children from ages 3-16 will all be taught both English and Welsh.

For more information about these 6 areas and the new national curriculum, look at this guide by The School Run. You can also check out this governmental guide to see what the main changes are.

As part of the national curriculum in Wales, pupils must learn the Welsh language. Although it is rarely used, seeing as most, if not all the citizens of Wales are able to speak English, it is seen as important that the children learn and understand it.

The language is part of Welsh culture and is an important part of the country’s history which the Welsh people are proud of. For more information about the Welsh language being taught in schools in Wales, check out this article by Cymru Online.

Are GCSEs and A-Levels studied in Wales?

In Wales, GCSEs are compulsory and are taken at age 16, the same as English students. You can read more about why GCSEs are compulsory in this article .

However, as the curriculum is changing, so are GCSEs in Wales. With the changing world, Welsh exams will have a greater emphasis on the use of technology.

This means there will be less learning information for fact-recall in exams. This is because, in most workplaces, employees can easily research information if they need to know it.

Instead, pupils will need to apply researched information to the given questions. These new GCSEs will start being taught in 2025. For more information about this, check out this article by the BBC.

A-Levels are also available in Wales but differ slightly from the English version of the qualification. Have a look at this Think Student article for more information about A-Levels.

In Wales, schools can choose for students to take AS exams at the end of the first year and A2 exams at the end of the second. They do have the option to take both AS and A2 exams at the end of Year 13.

However, students still have to take separate exams on the content from Year 1 and Year 2. For the majority of pupils in England, the content from both years is compiled into one set of exam papers, meaning questions could combine Year 1 and 2 knowledge.

The content is the same across both countries, which means that Welsh schools can choose from English exam boards, as well as WJEC. Lots of schools in England opt to enter their students with the Welsh exam board as well.

To learn more about GCSE and A-Level exams in Wales, check out this article by Relocate Magazine. For more information about the education system in England to make a comparison between the two nations, have a look at this Think Student article .

When does compulsory education end in Wales?

In England, children must be in full-time education until the age of 18, which you can read more about in this article from Think Student. This can be in any form, such as an apprenticeship or BTECs at college.

On the other hand, in Wales, students are only required to be in education until they turn 16. This means that all Welsh pupils must take GCSEs, but they don’t necessarily have to continue learning after this. Instead, they could go and get a job which will earn them some money to take them into the next stage of their career.

For more information about the different school leaving ages in the UK, check out this governmental guide .

Although lots of school children like the idea of leaving school at age 16, it’s advised that they continue with education beyond this. It is quite difficult to get a job when the only qualifications you have are GCSEs .

A-Levels, BTECs and T-Levels are all great further education qualifications that can lead you into higher education. This Think Student article explains more about further education and this article explains more about higher education and where it can take you in the future.

If you have a plan of what you want to do post-16, and it doesn’t involve gaining any further or higher qualifications, then leaving school would be great idea for you.

However, if you simply like the idea of getting out of school, you may need to think about how this may limit you in the future. This article from Think Student goes into more detail about the importance of A-Levels to employers.

What is the Welsh education board?

In every nation in the UK, there is an education board overseeing the running of free schools and what they’re teaching. In Wales, this is the Department for Education and Skills, and is run by the Welsh government.

They are in charge of writing the curriculum guidelines and deciding on public, legally required exams for pupils. They decide on the funding schools will receive and are the first point of contact for the teacher’s union if there is an issue.

Alongside this, they are also in charge of organising and carrying out inspections in schools to make sure a good quality of education is being maintained across the country. This means they’re also responsible for dealing with issues and mediating any arguments over the outcome of these inspections.

To learn more about the Department for Education and Skills, check out this guide by Operation Fatherhood. You can visit the Welsh Department for Education and Skills’ website using this link. You’ll be able to find support and guidance in budgeting as a school, how to care for special needs children in a school environment and much more.

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Annual Education Workforce Statistics

Ewc annual education workforce statistics for wales 2023, key findings.

Every year we publish a detailed breakdown of the education workforce in Wales. This covers a wide range of practitioners across the groups we register. Prior to May 2023 these were:

teachers and learning support staff in school and further education (FE) settings
qualified youth workers and youth support workers
work-based learning (WBL) practitioners

Practitioners in the independent sector have been required to register with the EWC since May 2023. They are therefore not included in this publication, but will be included in future publications from 2024.

The statistics we produce come from our Register of Education Practitioners (the Register). The real-time Register provides detailed and comprehensive data on all registered groups.

As at 1 March 2023, there were 88,748 individuals registered with us.

Read the Annual Education Workforce Statistics for Wales 2023 .

How is our data different?

The data we provide is unique and is not available through any other organisation or body. For that reason, it should not be compared with other sources such as the Welsh Government’s School Workforce Annual Census (SWAC).

Our statistics differ in that we report on the whole education workforce in Wales. For the school sector in particular, unlike the SWAC, our data is more comprehensive. This is because it includes all supply teachers, peripatetic workers, and others providing education or training in a range of education settings. We also hold significant historic data – in the case of teachers, this is 20+ years. This enables us to provide extensive trend information.

We calculate the percentages quoted on ethnicity, national identity, and Welsh language from the total number of registrants. This includes those where the value is unknown. The percentage of ‘unknowns’ in each area is noted for completeness.

School teacher

The number of registered school teachers increased in 2023 from 2022 by 1.6% (35,837 in 2023, 35,256 in 2022). This is the second year on year increase since 2021.

The majority of school teachers are female (75.5%). The gender balance is stable with little change year on year.

The age profile of school teachers is balanced, with a good spread of teachers across the age ranges. 92.3% of school teachers declared their ethnicity as white and 1.7% declared a black, Asian, or minority ethnic group (4.7% unknown). In respect of national identity, 63.1% identify as Welsh and 23.9% as British (4.5% unknown).

As with the age range, there continues to be a good spread of teachers in each year grouping since gaining qualified teacher status (QTS). The number who gained QTS under six years has increased again (20.5% in 2023, 19.2% in 2021, 19.2% 2020).

The trend of Welsh speaking school teachers (33.2%), or those who are able to work through the medium of Welsh (26.5%), has remained fairly static with little year on year variance. The Welsh language ability of school teachers is unknown for 2.6%.

In Wales, QTS is non age range or subject specific. Of the secondary and middle school teachers that teach English, Mathematics, or Welsh, 75.2%, 78.0%, and 71.2% respectively are trained in the subject they teach. In the foundation subjects, with the exception of Information Technology (43.1%), secondary and middle school practitioners that are trained in the subject they teach ranges from 73.3% to 88.8%. This data varies little year on year.

From the 2023 data, retention within the workforce appears stable with 75.5% of school teachers still registered after 5 years and 57.1% after 10 years. Of those that do not retain registration after 5 years, 61% are aged 55 or over, and after 10 years, 48.4% are aged 55 and over. Unless ill-health benefits are granted, 55 is the minimum pension age for school teachers currently, rising to 57 from 2028.

School learning support workers

The number of registered school learning support workers has increased by 47.7% since 2017 (33,424) and 16.0% in the last year to 49,380 in 2023.

A higher proportion (85.5%) are female in comparison to the other registration groups. The next highest is school teachers (75.5%).

18.1% are under 25 years of age which is an increase from 16.2% in 2022. This is considerably higher than school teachers at 4.2%.

72.6% declared their ethnicity as white and 6.0% declared a black, Asian, or a minority ethnic group. In respect of national identity, 42.9% of school learning support workers identify as Welsh (20.4% and 20.3% unknown respectively). 19.9% are able to speak Welsh and 16.3% have declared that they are able to work through the medium of Welsh (15.0% and 15.1% unknown respectively).

From the 2023 data, it appears that retention in the workforce is significantly different from school teachers with 39% not retaining registration after 5 years, and 30.2% of those not continuing being under 30 years of age.

The number of registered FE teachers in 2023 (6,785) was 11.5% higher than in 2017 (6,083).

The gender split is more balanced in comparison to the school sector with 59.3% female and 40.7% male.

The FE workforce is older than the school workforce. 45.6% are aged 50 and over in comparison to 25.9% of school teachers.

76.2% of FE teachers declared their ethnicity as white and 4.2% declared a black, Asian, or minority ethnic group. In respect of national identity, 45.0% identified as Welsh and 26.4% as British (17.1% unknown in both ethnicity and national identity).

17.1% are fluent or fairly fluent Welsh speakers and 12.0% are able to work through the medium of Welsh (14.3% unknown in both).

84.7% of FE teacher records include qualification information (15.3% are unknown). Of those, 75.2% have recorded a qualification at level 6 or above.

From the 2023 data, 60.9% of FE teachers were still registered in the same category after 5 years. Of the 34.4% not retaining registration with the EWC, 47% were aged 55 and over.

FE learning support workers

The number registered in the FE learning support worker category has increased from 4,222 in 2017 to 6,182 in 2023 which is largely attributed to the number who now register in multiple categories of registration (3,948 of the 6,182) in order to be able to work across sectors.

The majority of FE learning support workers are female (68.6%) which is different to FE teachers where the gender is more balanced (59.3% female, 40.7% male).

FE learning support workers are a younger workforce than FE teachers in that 65.8% are aged under 50 compared with 54.4% of FE teachers. 21.3% of FE learning support workers are aged under 30.

79.7% of FE learning support workers declared their ethnicity as white and 7.2% declared a black, Asian, or a minority ethnic group. In respect of national identity, 43.4% identified as Welsh and 31.3% British (10.6% unknown).

15.2% are able to speak Welsh and 10.2% have declared that they are able to work through the medium of Welsh (8.7% and 7.5% unknown respectively).

42.6% of FE learning support workers have not retained registration after 5 years. Of those, 23.9% were under 30 years of age.

WBL practitioner

The number registered in the WBL category has remained consistent with 2021 and 2022. 63.3% of WBL practitioners are female and 36.6% are male.

Like school teachers, the WBL practitioner age range is balanced with a good spread of practitioners across the 30-60 age ranges.

81.5% of WBL practitioners declared their ethnicity white and 2.6% declared a black, Asian, or a minority ethnic group. In respect of national identity, 46.5% identified as Welsh and 29.0% as British (13.7% unknown).

14.3% of WBL practitioners who have made a declaration said that they are able to speak Welsh and 10.7% are able to work through the medium of Welsh (9.3% unknown in both)

77.5% of WBL practitioner records include qualification information. Of those, 51.2% have a qualification at level 5 or above.

45.6% of WBL practitioners remain registered in their category after 5 years.

Qualified youth workers

Youth workers are eligible to register with the EWC if they hold one of the mandatory qualifications listed in the Regulations. See Applying for registration . The numbers registered in the youth work sector has had little variation since 2018.

Like the other registration categories, the youth work sector is mostly female at 69.6%

The age profile of youth workers is balanced.

73.2% of youth workers declared their ethnicity as white and 3.1% declared a black, Asian, or a minority ethnic group (21.0% unknown).

49.7% have declared their national identity as Welsh, and 19.9% as British (21.0% unknown).

13.0% of youth workers are able to speak Welsh and 8.1% have declared that they are able to work through the medium of Welsh (14.5% and 14.8% unknown).

18.0% of youth support workers are able to speak Welsh and 13.5% have declared that they are able to work through the medium of Welsh (16.9% unknown in both).

62.9% of youth workers remain registered in their respective categories after 5 years.

Qualified Youth support workers

Youth support workers are eligible to register with the EWC if they hold one of the mandatory qualifications listed in the Regulations. See Applying for registration .

Like the other registration categories, the youth support work sector is mostly female at 66.1%. The age profile of youth support workers is balanced.

74.4% of youth support declared their ethnicity as white and 2.7% respectively declared a black, Asian, or a minority ethnic group (20.2% unknown).

42.5% have declared their national identity as Welsh, and 19.2% as British (20.4% unknown).

48.8% of youth support workers remain registered in their respective categories after 5 years.

Previous workforce statistics

pdf EWC 2022 Statistics
pdf EWC 2021 Statistics
pdf EWC 2020 Statistics
pdf EWC 2019 Statistics

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Education workforce survey

pdf Further Education and Work-Based Learning Education Workforce Survey report 2023
pdf National Education Workforce Survey report 2021
pdf National Education Workforce Survey report 2017

ITE student results

Initial teacher education student results.

pdf ITE student results 2022-23 Open University
pdf ITE student results 2022-23
pdf ITE student results 2021-22 Open University
pdf ITE student results 2021-22
pdf ITE student results 2020-21
pdf ITE student results 2019-20
pdf ITE student results 2018-19
pdf ITE student results 2017-18
pdf ITE student results 2016-17
pdf ITE student results 2015-16
pdf ITE student results 2014-2015

School teachers

pdf Welsh speaking registrants data analysis 2023
pdf NQT data analysis, 2022
pdf Induction data analysis, 2019
pdf NQT data analysis, 2019
pdf Retention tracking analysis, 2019
pdf School teacher and school learning support worker supply data analysis, 2019
pdf Routes to QTS in Wales, 2019
pdf Regional consortia data analysis, 2015
pdf Data analysis by the medium of the school, 2013

QTS, NQTs and Induction

Qts, nqts and induction.

pdf NQT data analysis, 2023
pdf Data analysis of NQTs focusing in career changers, 2013
pdf Data analysis of QTS recognition under European Directive 2005/36/EC, 2008 - 2013
pdf GTP data analysis, 2012
pdf Tracking analysis of those awarded QTS in 2007, 2012

Leadership and NPQH

pdf Leadership data analysis, 2022
pdf Headteacher data analysis, 2013
pdf NPQH data analysis, 2013
pdf Headteacher and senior leadership data analysis, 2012

School Learning Support Worker

pdf Supply within the school teacher and school learning support worker categories, 2021
pdf Supply school teacher data, 2022
pdf Supply school learning support worker data, 2022
pdf School learning support worker data including supply, 2016
pdf Supply school teacher data, 2016
pdf Supply school teacher data, 2014
pdf Supply survey summary report, 2014

Further education teachers

pdf Further education teachers data, 2015

Work-based learning practitioners

pdf Work-based learning practitioner data, 2018

Youth worker and youth support workers

pdf Youth worker and youth support worker data, 2018

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Why Wales' sign language GCSE is being delayed

In British Sign Language, like other languages, signs can vary depending on where you live.

Colours, numbers and phrases such as "good morning" are different from area-to-area.

Extra time to work out how dialects are reflected in Wales’ new GCSE is one reason the qualification will be delayed by a year.

It was due to be introduced in September 2026, but it will now start being taught from 2027.

One expert said a pause was “good” to make sure the GCSE was high-quality.

Sarah Lawrence, a British Sign Language (BSL) teacher and campaigner said: "It's a wonderful opportunity but it needs to be done right."

She said there was a shortage of qualified BSL teachers to teach the GCSE.

"There's two big problems really", she said.

"First of all the qualified teachers out there - but they don't have the BSL skills and then you have people with high-level BSL but they don't necessarily have a teaching qualification."

She said some in the deaf community believed only deaf people should teach BSL.

But Sarah does not agree, saying "how are we going to have enough deaf people to teach it?"

The new BSL qualification is being introduced as part of wider reforms to GCSEs in Wales.

Qualifications Wales, which is leading the changes, said the aim was for it to be ready for first teaching from September 2027, as part of a phased introduction of new made-for-Wales GCSEs.

It said there were "additional challenges" because it was a brand new qualification.

One of those, according to Qualifications Wales, is "establishing an agreed lexicon of language and regional dialect differences".

It said that, unlike other UK nations, "Wales does not currently have a centralised means for developing and agreeing new signs for BSL".

Ms Lawrence is an expert in the "Welsh regional dialect" and feels strongly it should be reflected in the qualification.

Historically, different dialects were linked to the location of deaf schools and it has led to varying signs for some of the most basic terms such as colours, "people" or "cake".

Young deaf people often use different signs too, she said.

At Nant y Parc Primary School in Senghennydd, Caerphilly county, children are already familiar with the language.

Osian and his classmates started having BSL lessons at the start of Year 6.

"If someone is deaf, I could start a conversation with them", he said.

Mali enjoys sharing what she has learnt.

"I like to teach people in my football club and my parents and friends that are not in this school how to do BSL," she said.

It is a useful skill, Khyas said: "You could use it in sports, you could use it in school, you could use it outside of school in your job – you could use it anywhere."

'They ask to go to the toilet in BSL'

Emma Winter, who is in charge of the curriculum at the school, said the response from pupils had been "really positive".

"Learners are actually using BSL in the classrooms - asking to go to the toilet using BSL is just one little example", she said.

"We also use it now in any Christmas concert performance - it was incorporated in our eisteddfod".

The school introduced it so pupils "learn to communicate in lots of ways that’ll help them when they eventually leave school and go into the big world".

The GCSE would be open to deaf and hearing children and would be suitable for beginners.

Qualifications Wales said it would be consulting on the design of the qualification later this year.

It said the main emphasis would be on communicating in the language with an element on the history of BSL.

A separate GCSE in British Sign Language is being introduced in England from September 2025.