On Tuesday, 18 August, the Senedd’s Children, Young People and Education Committee held a virtual meeting with WJEC, Qualifications Wales and the Minister for Education, Kirsty Williams MS, to discuss the issues surrounding this year’s exam results in Wales.
Following the meeting, the Chair of the Committee, Lynne Neagle MS, has released this statement:
“I am grateful to WJEC, Qualifications Wales and the Minister for Education for agreeing to meet with us at such short notice to discuss what has been a very stressful and concerning situation for thousands of young people across Wales.
“I thank the Minister for her apology to all those affected by the standardisation of grades this year. We have learned that the system devised to set those grades had faults and the impact of those shortcomings is clear.
“What is important now is to ensure those young people worst affected by this system are supported and able to move forward with the next steps in the career or learning paths they have chosen.
“Longer term, we need to know what the Welsh Government is doing to make sure this does not happen again. No one can predict if or when we may see another lockdown like this one, so we must learn from these experiences and avoid the confusing, confidence-sapping decisions we have seen over the last few weeks.
“We are reassured by the Minister’s commitment to an independent review of this issue. We will take an active role in monitoring its progress and findings, and we will keep a close eye on ensuring that lessons from this period are learned for future years. In the meantime, we will be continuing our work to represent and support children and young people in Wales through what has been one of the most challenging times of their lives.”
The meeting is available to watch on-demand at www.senedd.tv
