Big shake up in Education – but will it raise standards?

Whatever you think of Education Minister Leighton Andrews he's certainly not afraid of shaking things up and challenging people head on which makes the 14 – 19 Qualifications Review published two weeks ago and today’s announcement of a new Welsh Qualifications body today for the same age group all the more interesting.

The new body will be called ‘Qualifications Wales’ was recommended in the Welsh Government’s Review of qualifications for 14 – 19 years olds. It said that the regulation of qualifications in Wales should be strengthened and separated from the Welsh Government and Huw Evans, the Chair of the Review of Qualifications, has agreed to chair a task and finish group, to be established early in 2013, to steer the early delivery of ‘Qualifications Wales’.

And as Leighton Andrews acknowledges ‘Clearly the creation of Qualifications Wales will have implications for the WJEC. We have already commenced discussions with the organisation and with local government leaders on this issue and will be continuing this dialogue. The WJEC will continue to be a key and valued provider of qualifications in Wales and in other nations as these discussions progress.'

It’s a bold step and a welcome one, but the test will be do these changes help raise standards and give out kids the education they need and give them the skills for life – only time will tell.

The Qualifications Review for 14 – 19 years old report with all the recommendations is here and today's announcement is here  

Opposition debate on Welsh Public Financial Management

While the pantomime around AWEMA at the Public Accounts Committee continues to unfold, a potentially more significant debate on public funding in Wales was held by the Welsh Conservatives during Opposition Debate time in the Assembly last Wednesday (28^th Nov).

The Labour Welsh Government unsurprisingly won the vote and absolved themselves of any blame despite 19 damming reports from the Wales Audit Office regarding their failures to management money since devolution began.

The debate did however raise some issues that could help avoid such catastrophic failures of financial management in the future.

Firstly it had to be scheduled in Opposition time, not Government time proving as if we needed additional confirmation that no Welsh Government Minister has learned anything from the AWEMA farce of the past 12 months.

Secondly Conservative Suzy Davies asked whether the type of financial scrutiny debate it needs to be a regular feature of Assembly business from now on – the Welsh Government is culpable but if the 19 reports are anything to go buy the opposition needs to up it game as well.

Thirdly the point was raised by former Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones  that Wales is more dependent on grants than any other devolved administration , he said ‘That is, of course, very important, but the auditor’s report also says that the use made of grants in Wales in very much higher than in other countries—he refers specifically to other devolved Governments, such as those in Scotland and Northern Ireland. He is, in fact, saying that we depend more on grants and use more of them than is the case with others. Naturally, when that happens, examples of mismanagement also increase.'

A fair point and one that should surprise nobody, Jane Hutt called Grant giving the 'Welsh Way' which sums up the prevailing attitude in Wales and sadly shows why if we want a more successful, enterprising Wales there is a lot of work to do to change ingrained attitudes of dependence that are.

The full transcript of the session is here