The first guest lecture

Dean of Humanities at SMU, Ken Jones

The first guest lecturer for policy and practice was taken by the Dean of humanities, Ken Jones. The lecture was based on the Policy of education in Wales and how it differs from that in the other British countries.

    Within Wales 20% of primary pupils and 15% of secondary pupils have the Welsh language as the sole or main medium of instruction. However, there is now a potential shortage of Welsh-medium head teachers with The NPQH qualification. This is possibly because 50% of the population live in the South or South east of Wales. In the North, Central and South West there are only small rural schools which suffer as there is not enough access for teachers to develop in leadership. In Wales there were previously 8 local authorities. Following a re-organisation in 1999, there are now 22 unitary authorities. As a result there is an issue of size and capacity of the local authorities. The response is to move into 4 consortia.

      The Welsh assembly Government response to the 2006 PISA results was to set up a school effectiveness framework. This "Represents the commitment of the Welsh Assembly and the Local Authorities to apply this knowledge in the particular circumstances of Wales..." They sought to change system leaders; there would be a localized focus through professional learning communities. They believed that this would bring teachers together on one particular area such as maths etc. Nevertheless, in the 2010 PISA Wales had dropped in Maths, Reading and Science compared to the 2006 results and were now bottom out the Home Nations.

      In February 2011, the new Minister for Education in Wales, Leighton Andrews stated "Teaching Makes a difference." We will now wait and see what the Education system and policies will look like over the next year.