8. Will the Minister provide an update on plans for changes to school holidays in Wales? OQ60501

Proposals around the structure of the school year are subject to a public consultation that was published on 21 November last year and runs until 12 February this year.

Thank you for the update, Minister. I'm sure you will acknowledge that there are deep challenges with education in Wales, and, as Laura Anne Jones pointed out earlier, some of the most recent PISA results being further evidence of that. What that points to, in my view, is the life chances of children across Wales being damaged because of those poorer educational outcomes, and it's going to take a huge endeavour to turn this system around, but instead of using every bit of energy possible to turn this system around, what we are presented with is some tinkering, trying to change the school holidays. Looking to change school holidays to try and improve educational outcomes doesn't seem to stack up. We know that much better performing European nations, like the Republic of Ireland and Estonia, who have outstanding education results, have significantly longer summer holidays than we do in Wales, with Estonia having around three months of summer holidays. That continued attempt to diverge from holidays in England—and I know you've mentioned how you felt it was embarrassing to look at English results, even though they are far more successful in terms of results and a more equitable education system than here in Wales. So, I wonder, Minister, could you convince me that your choice to look to consider changing the school holidays is not just you trying to tinker with things, and how are you actually going to tackle the real issues that our schools are facing?

Well, actually, learning loss, which, as you know, refers to learners falling behind academically during school breaks, is actually more prevalent during the summer break compared to any other break, and there's a huge amount of evidence to do that. This is an education policy, and the focus that we have here is making sure that every young learner has the best possible education. There is clear evidence that the long summer break can be very challenging for many of our learners, including and in particular, perhaps, many from the least advantaged backgrounds. He tempts me once again to draw the comparison with England. Of the, I think, five or six authorities that have most recently moved to the model that the consultation document proposes, I think, from memory, that all but one of them are Conservative authorities. I assume they'd be persuaded, as we have, that there is merit in looking at this, because it supports their young people to get the best start in life.

Thank you, Minister.