Estyn Report - Williams Comment (Kirsty Williams AM )

Cymraeg
English

Kirsty Williams AM <info@kirstywilliams.org.uk>

Estyn Report - Williams Comment

February 26, 2008 6:00 PM

Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Education Kirsty Williams AM said:

"Whilst it is welcome that overall standards within education and training in Wales are improving it is hugely concerning that the gap between the best and worst schools is widening. Those institutions that are struggling the hardest are finding it the most difficult to change up a gear. We need to offer these schools the resources they need to make the changes that they want to make on behalf of their children.

"Given the correlation between child poverty and educational achievement this means that the most deprived children in Wales, the children who already have the least advantage in life, are being held back yet further by their education - a tool which should be helping them to improve.

"We need greater support for teachers who are all too often working their hardest in the most difficult of situations, they are left to fight against behavioural and disengagement issues which are as a result of wider social problems beyond their responsibility and beyond their limited resources.

"The Welsh Assembly Government must also work to address the Schools and FE funding gap between England and Wales to ensure that our pupils are getting access to the same quality of education as their English counterparts."