5. 5. Statement: Reducing Infant Class Sizes and Raising Standards

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:28 pm on 24 January 2017.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 5:28, 24 January 2017

Thank you for that. I am always very conscious, Deputy Presiding Officer, when answering questions from either Rhianon or Vikki, that they have a professional expertise and experience in the classroom that I’ve never had and I’m always in danger of teaching grandmas to suck eggs, and I wouldn’t want to do that. But, like Vikki says, for many teachers this is an issue, because we know that, if class sizes are smaller, that gives that teacher the ability to introduce new pedagogical approaches to teaching a class that may be cut off to them if their class is of a certain size. So, that is the basis and many of the reasons why we’ve decided to take this forward.

I would be delighted to visit the school that the Member has mentioned. I don’t think I’ve had the opportunity to visit a school in your Constituency since taking up this offer, and I’m always very particularly keen to meet schools that are willing to go above and beyond for the pupils of their own school. We need a self-improving school system where people are able to work across schools to drive standards forward. I welcome very much the commitment of teachers in those schools that are willing to do that. What strikes me is that they recognise that not only do they have a responsibility to their children but they have a responsibility to the education system of Wales. If the Member would be good enough to arrange an opportunity to visit, I would be very pleased to go with her to look at the good practice that is on offer there.

You’re quite right; as Llyr Huws Gruffydd mentioned, sometimes the issue around class sizes has arisen because of the sheer physical constraints of a building. The people there know it’s not ideal, but they don’t know what else they can do. That’s why we have listened to that. This budget has a revenue line, as well as a capital line. It will work in conjunction with the twenty-first century schools programme, but we also recognise that some of those projects may have to sit slightly outside, but we will be again looking to make sure that there is sustainability built into that. We don’t want to be putting in classrooms if that school is shortly to be replaced by perhaps a new build. Even more importantly, we build this in conjunction with the childcare offer. We know that’s coming. It’s not a surprise to anybody; and therefore we need to use the resources to build facilities that will help us achieve both policy objectives in a way that is helpful, reinforces the good pedagogical standards that we have in the foundation phase, that they can be replicated and built upon in the childcare offer, as well as providing sites where parents have ease of access so that they can take advantage of both the foundation phase and childcare.

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