Interview: Leighton Andrews
On Wednesday 14th September, Adam and Sinéad from theSprout and I interviewed Leighton Andrews – Minister of Education and Skills for Wales in the Senedd. At this interview we asked the Minister of Education eight important questions drawn up by young people from across Wales.
The first question answered by the minister was: What are your plans to improve numeracy and literacy? Leighton Andrews replied that the Welsh Government are planning on introducing reading and numeracy tests in primary schools from next year to ensure that at ages 7 - 11 and on leaving primary school all children are at the correct level in terms of reading age and coping with numbers. But I believe the test will show results on the level of numeracy and literacy skills but it doesn’t solve the problem.
The second question I had great passion for was: Why isn't the UNCRC part of the school curriculum, as the government is obligated to make young people aware of their rights? He replied that the Welsh Government expects schools to be broadly covering issues such as citizenship and a wider understanding of society, and they hope that as the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Children (UNCRC) is an increasingly important part of the law-making process in Wales that in future, as the curriculum in school develops, it will start to reflect this. This answered my question as now I know that it is down to my school individually to be making sure they are teaching a broad understanding of society.
The next question was asked by Adam, this was to address funding and support for young people across Wales to get into higher education: How do you ensure that people have fair access to support when they're trying to get into higher education? For example if a student gains low grades at A-level and cannot afford to do retakes. Mr Leighton explained how generous the Welsh Government are at the moment as the costs of higher education are going up in autumn 2012, but no student living in Wales will have to pay the additional costs, wherever they go to study in the UK. As for students whose problems lie with the benefit system, the Welsh Government does not hold the power over the benefit system, it’s the big boss in Westminster that have control over that; however there are financial contingency funds available and I would encourage students to talk to their student unions about those. Mr Andrews also wanted me to be clear that if there is anyone who is struggling to find support, please comment below or get in touch with your local Assembly Members to raise it to his attention. While this discussion was being heatedly discussed, I raised the fact that less people in Wales would not have the opportunity of accessing Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA), but Mr Andrews said due to the cuts the Government are unable to continue everything, but they have made a decision to keep the £30 a week rate as a priority. Do you agree with this decision? Is there a better way?
The next question was suggested on the CLIC website to be asked in the interview: Why do some schools, despite still being public schools, have access to better equipment - faster computers, lockers etc.? Mr Andrews replied that this situation is very much down to schools spending their money - some local authorities may buy in bulk from computer suppliers while others are left to buy alone, so money doesn't go as far, or some schools may choose to spend money on different areas of student support. However, the budget for school improvements has been cut by 40% and the Welsh Government would hope that local authorities would do their best to keep standards the same.
The discussion lead to a sub-question: Is the way in which schools are measured in terms of quality fair? This was answered by the fact that the Welsh Government are looking at banding schools. No, I do not mean getting rid of schools, by this they are looking to make it clear to everybody on how well a school is progressing, and then it will be up to the local authority to take action with schools, whatever band they come under, to make sure they are up to standard. This means local authorities will have the opportunity to shift money around within the system to put more investment into certain schools that maybe under performing to bring them to a high quality standard. The banding will take into account many factors, not just public examination results, and the priority will be getting money to teaching and learning as opposed to administration. What do you think of this proposal? Do you think it would benefit all schools?
Another question from the website was: Do you think that the compulsory Welsh Baccalaureate is an important qualification? Mr Andrews said yes and believes there's an increasing number of universities around the UK, including Oxford, that are accepting the Welsh Bacc as equivalent to 120 UCAS points (the same as an A at A-level) and he expects it to grow in importance as a qualification as universities adjust to it as a new qualification. Mr Andrews mentioned that in terms of teachers not having a firm grip of how to teach the Welsh Bacc, this is something that he would advise the student councils of schools to definitely take up directly with teachers and head teachers.
To close the interview we asked the question we have all being waiting for: What happens if a young person raises a question or important issue on CLIC that needs an answer from a local or national politician? How do we go about getting an answer? Mr Andrews explained to us that there are various ways in which young people should be able to bring issues to the Welsh Government's attention, CLIC is one of them and if you feel that answers are not being provided to your questions then Mr Andrews said he would look into it, also you are able to bring petitions to the National Welsh Assembly, and a minister is obliged to respond in detail. The Assembly Members for your area are there to answer your questions and you could get in touch with ministers by writing letters to them.
All in all, I believe the interview was a great success and I felt Mr Leighton Andrews managed to answer all the questions asked. He also made us aware us of his Facebook and Twitter profiles where young people's question are also answered when asked.
Please feel free to reply to questions raised in this article by posting a comment below.
Info » Education » Higher Education
Organisations » EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance)
Info » Money » Money while you learn » Post 16 education
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3 Comments – Post a comment
GeoffCLIC
Commented 7 months ago - 8th October 2011 - 11:26am
Great interview, searching questions - well done!
syhrtaylor
Commented 7 months ago - 10th October 2011 - 11:03am
Banding schools and 'grading' schools isn't going to help improve schools - grading and the publishing these reports it's just a great, dirty mark against the school's name. They should be available to schools, LEAs and governors and they should be able to decide on how to improve. Telling parents that a school is failing is going to make matters worse.
The guidelines and criteria for EMA should be far less lenient - people aren't always using EMA for its intended purpose, and some people receive the higher amount of £30 which doesn't reflect their family's situation.
Personally, I don't agree with the subsidy of tuition fees. The government should only be partially subsidising fees, possibly the £6,000 mark that Ed Milliband and Co. proposed not long ago. I believe it should be domicile students who receive the subsidy, but even then the policy doesn't appear sustainable long-term.
P3
Commented 4 months ago - 11th January 2012 - 12:17pm
Hi. Sorry for the delay, this experience was great and I had a fantastic time, hopefully future opportunities will come up soon.