Thank you very much, and can I thank Darren for his questions this afternoon? If I can try to get through them all, he began by quoting the evidence of Professor David Reynolds, and I would note that Professor Reynolds made those comments without any detailed knowledge of the policy announcement. In fact, those of you who watched the ITV news last night would have seen Professor David Reynolds supporting wholeheartedly the policy and the approach that was announced by the Government. So, Professor Reynolds fully endorses the approach that I am taking.

You then moved on to the issue of Estyn, and I addressed that in my opening comments. Estyn did say in 2003 that, if a policy of class-size reduction was to be engaged in and pursued, it had to target specific learners where Estyn recognised that the benefit was greatest. Those are our youngest children, those are our poorest children, and those are our children who are in our schools for whom Welsh or English is not their first language. I am following the advice that Estyn provided in 2003 and am targeting the resources in such a way.

Now, then, you also quoted the Sutton Trust. The Sutton Trust said that using the pupil premium in England and the pupil deprivation grant in Wales to cut class sizes was not the optimum way to use that resource. And I am not using PDG money to reduce class sizes. So I am, again, following absolutely the advice that was supplied by the Sutton Trust. And then Darren went on to talk about the OECD. Can I tell you what the OECD said only last month with regard to class sizes? It said this in its full report:

‘On average across OECD countries, students in smaller classes reported more frequently than students in larger classes that their teachers adapt their instruction to students’ needs, knowledge and level of understanding.’

Only today, in Estyn’s report, we have seen that we are not doing enough for our more able and talented children. The ability of a teacher to differentiate in the classroom to meet the needs of all students—all students: those who are falling behind, those with additional learning needs or who are more able and talented, and I must say we need to find a better way of expressing that particular group of children—. We are better able to do that if teachers have fewer children in their classroom. Teaching does not exist, teaching does not happen in a vacuum. The quality of teaching, Darren, is influenced by its context—any teacher will tell you that—such as class sizes, the opportunity to innovate in the classroom, to employ different ways of teaching because you have fewer students in your classroom, as well as pupil interaction and class behaviour. It does not operate in a vacuum. And I don’t know what teachers you’re talking to, and I don’t know what teaching unions you’re talking to, but can I remind you that, not so long ago, teachers in England were on strike and their primary reason for doing so was concern over class sizes. So, I don’t know which schools you’re visiting, I don’t know which schoolteachers you’re talking to, but, believe me, this is an issue for our teaching profession.

You say, ‘Where are we going to get these teachers from?’ Well, again, evidence shows that reducing class sizes is a crucial element in the recruitment and retention of teachers. Maybe we won’t be losing some of our teachers if we address these concerns. Maybe we can attract more people into the profession because they will know they will be practising their craft and their skills in an environment that allows them to do that, not in an environment that confines their ability to be the professionals that they want to be.

You talked about who we have discussed this with. Now, believe me, Darren, I would have liked to have got this policy out of the door on day one, but the reason it has taken us this time is because we have been discussing at length with local authorities and with the regional consortia the best way of addressing this issue. We have been studying the evidence. We have been refining our ability to influence this agenda and working with our partners—because it won’t be us that’s delivering this, it’ll be coming from the sector—on how best to do it. Therefore, the approach that we’re taking is fully informed, and the figures that we have been able to put together are fully informed by feedback that my officials have had from talking to regional consortia and talking to individual local authorities.

Now, you’re quite right, and I said so in my statement, that on its own, this is not the silver bullet to address the issues that we need to address in the Welsh education system, and I don’t minimise what those issues are, Darren; you know I don’t. I am fully aware of the challenges that we face, but as I said in my opening statement, this policy is not the only policy we are pursuing. With regard to improving teaching and teaching standards, we have already announced and we are already part of a huge reform programme for initial teacher education. Only yesterday, I was meeting with Trinity Saint David to hear about the changes that they’re making now, and the changes they will continue to make to make teacher training better than it has been.

We are working now with Professor Mick Waters to develop a new set of professional teaching standards and headteaching standards that will be published in the spring. You know that I am establishing my leadership academies so that we get leadership right. To say that this is the only thing we’re doing is to completely misunderstand the reform regime that we are currently developing, implementing and driving forward, of which this will form a part.